Guidebooks up until this point tended to be lacking in practical information, however Baedeker realised that more information was now required and he also noticed in his bookshop travellers clutching small red books, ‘Murray Handbooks’. John Murray had started publishing his own guide books with ‘A Handbook for Travellers on the Continent’ in 1836 after realising previous travel books which were distinctly lacking in information.

John MURRAY. Continent. Handbook for the Continent: being a guide through Holland, Belgium, Prussia, and Northern Germany, and along the Rhine, from Holland to Switzerland. 1843.Both Murray and Baedeker recognised the importance of information both descriptive and practical for the traveller. There are many similarities between the two series – both arranged their guidebooks along transport routes and eventually both used red cloth and the name ‘Handbooks’. The massive expansion of the railway network was another reason for the burgeoning of tourism which started in the 1830s. However there were also differences between the two, and Baedeker’s great success was due to his large amount of detailed information, excellent maps and his ‘star ratings’ contained in the pocket sized books.

John MURRAY. Switzerland. Handbook for Switzerland and the Alps of Savoy and Piedmont including the Protestant Valleys of the Waldenses. 1838.One of the main elements of Baedeker’s success was the use of maps by Wagner & Debes who had premises close to Baedeker in Leipzig. Their maps were remarkable in their detail and quality. The Murray handbooks usually contained fewer maps, often just one folding map in a pocket at the rear, however they tended to contain more descriptive information and were easier to read. John Murray had a great reputation already as a literary publisher, and his guidebooks were often written by well-known authors such as Richard Ford, Edward Lane Poole and Augustus Hare.

Karl BAEDEKER. Allemagne. Le Rhin de Bale a Dusseldorf avec des excursions dans l'Alsace, le Palatinat rhenan, les vallees de la murg et du Neckar, la Bergstrasse l'Odenwald, le Taunus, les vallees de la Nahe, de la Lahn, de l'Ahr et de la Wupper et a Aix-la Chapelle. 1846. As founders, Karl Baedeker and John Murray also contributed to their guide books in 1830’s and 40’s, and both were concerned with the accuracy of the content. Murray however did include adverts in his guides after the 1840’s whereas Baedeker only used adverts after World War I when the company began to suffer economically.

Railways began to spread across Europe after the mid 1830’s, with the first railways opening in Belgium and Bavaria in 1835 and in France in 1837. By 1850 Germany had over 3000 miles, France 2000 miles and Austria 1000 miles of track – England by comparison had 3000 miles by 1830. This meant that by 1850s previously out-of-reach areas were within the reach of the ordinary traveller who required detailed information, and the publication of guide books blossomed. Baedeker and Murray dominated this market and for many years were friendly with each other- with Baedeker only publishing in German and Murray dominating the English market even going so far to recommend one another. However rifts appeared after Baedeker decided to change his elaborate Biedermeier covers to a red cloth similar to Murray and the unwritten agreement was broken when in 1861 Baedeker decided to publish his first guidebook in English on the Rhine. The friends became rivals.

Karl BAEDEKER. Germany. Rhine from Switzerland to Holland.The Black Forest, Vosges, Haardt, Odenwald, Taunus, Eifel, Seven Mountains, Nahe, Lahn, Moselle, Ahr, Wupper, and Ruhr. 1861. Both series became very successful in the late nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. In fact they became so powerful that any disparaging remark or comment could result in a town, hotel or inn losing its tourist trade. A prime example of this is the case of Howard versus Baedeker. There was a lawsuit brought by Howard (a hotel owner in Jaffa and Jerusalem) against Baedeker with reference to some disparaging remarks in the Palestine and Syria volume about his hotels. Howard won the lawsuit and Baedeker was ordered to remove the critical comments. However in the next edition Howard’s hotels were omitted and his business suffered greatly as a result.