Baedeker "baedekering" became an English-language term for the purpose of traveling in a country to write a travel guide or travelogue about it. Fritz Baedeker became the most successful travel guide publisher of all time and turned the publishing house into the most famous and reputable publisher of travel guides in the world. In 1909, Leipzig University conferred an honorary Ph.D. (a rare honour at the time) on him at its 500th anniversary convocation. This era in its history was brought to an end by the outbreak of World War I, after which the house of Baedeker went into decline, the
Baedeker guides. Baedeker would provide the text and Mair the finished product. The Baedeker Autoführer Verlag, Stuttgart was born. The slim guides called "Baedeker-Shell" guides were designed to fit into a man's jacket pocket or in the glove compartment of a car. The first ones covered Germany and were a huge success. Guides on other European countries followed in both German and English. Karl Friedrich was now operating on two fronts. He continued to produce city and regional guides from Malente and with the publication of his 1954 "Berlin" guide in German, English and French, the Baedeker brand had been well