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More Baedekeriana

11 Feb 2007

Baedeker didn't just publish guidebooks - particularly in the early years, the firm published many books on varied subjects. One such publication is currently for sale here - it's an 1850 German translation (with comparative original French text) of the five important Napoleonic laws (the Code civil, Code de procédure civile, Code du commerce, Code pénal and the Code d'instruction criminelle).

You might think that this would not be a bestseller, but in fact, these laws applied in the Rheinland of the day - it had been occupied by France until 1814 and "Boney" had introduced French law there. Remarkably, although this rather cosmopolitan part of Germany became annexed to Prussia (in 1822), the laws were kept and at least the Code civil stayed in force there until 1900, when the great German civil code, the BGB took over. (Not so sure when the other laws were replaced, though.)

So you can see why these might have been quite important to a publisher in Koblenz in 1850!

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