Baedeker to have three of his four sons − Hans, Ernst and Dietrich − beside him in the firm, as editors and writers. Karl Baedeker III, the fourth son, entered academia and rose to become a professor of physics at the University of Jena. He was killed in action at the Battle of Liège in August 1914. It was his son Karl Friedrich who revived Verlag Karl Baedeker after the Second World War. During his reign, which lasted over 50 years, Fritz produced 73 new "Baedekers", as they came to be known universally. The Baedeker travel guides became so popular that
Karl Baedeker of the House of Baedeker invariably recount anecdotes about its founder and these are not without substance. He was renowned for his hard and careful work, his high standards, both personal and professional, and for being absolutely incorruptible. Baedeker generally went around conducting his research incognito. In an article entitled "The Baedeker Guide Books" published in the November 1989 issue (68) of the now defunct "Book and Magazine Collector", Michael Wild, the Baedeker historian and author of "Baedekeriana: An Anthology" wrote: On September 22, 1975, The New Yorker magazine ran a 38-page profile of the "House of Baedeker". Its author,