The impetus comes from Erika and Klaus Mann – the two eldest children of Thomas Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. I discover her by accident book from the riviera, Originally published in 1931 and now in one with historical photos new edition available: While the Nazi dictatorship is already approaching, the avant-garde and hedonistic male siblings, both in their mid-twenties, whiz along the Côte d’Azur in an open Ford. They visit Marseille, Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo and write their observations and experiences, garnished with hotel and restaurant tips, in a travelogue – idiosyncratic, unpretentious, ironic, subjective, slightly snobby, easy to read. A time document.
If I a kind–Tissue Look, which follows the route of the two, I realize that the book was originally a commissioned work and part of a series with changing well-known authors: Since 1927, the Piper publishing house has been bringing What is not in the Baedeker out, a feuilletonistic-alternative answer to the prototype of the travel guide at that time – the classically designed volumes from the Publisher Karl Baedeker with the usual tourist information, in a red cloth cover and with gold-embossed lettering. Basically it seems to be What is not in the Baedeker about the predecessor and source of inspiration of the series Instructions for use for … to act, which has been published since 1978 – also by Piper.
I immediately ask myself whether there was also an issue about Düsseldorf in the 1920s. Result of the first research: Yes, even if only to a “third”. More on that later. First I have to have the book. At the usual online second-hand bookshops, I find a well-preserved edition for just under 80 euros and a second-hand one for 25. I take the second one. And now, after reading it, I dare to try: a “manual” for the “manual”.
The book
Of the German cities, only Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Leipzig made it to a “headliner” appearance in the series mentioned. And just as Frankfurt is included in an anthology with Mainz and Wiesbaden, Düsseldorf must also “cooperate” with two neighboring cities. What is not in the Baedeker. The book of Cologne, Dusseldorf, Bonn includes 230 pages. Of these, 137 are in Cologne, 50 in Düsseldorf and 12 in Bonn. In the appendix: an index of names and subjects, a “small dictionary of the Cologne dialect” and a carnival song.
The slightly different travel guide was published in 1928 by Piper-Verlag. The title drawing is by Ernst Aufseeser, who was a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
