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
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,