The first 'Baedeker' of Berlin. The town's description from Johan Heinrich Gerken 1714-1717

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The project will deliver a first edition of the town description of Berlin which Johan Heinrich Gerken created from 1714-1717, both manuscript of which are kept at the Landesarchiv Berlin (F Rep. 237, No. 7 and 8). Most of his information has been gained from autopsy, it constitutes an historical source of the highest grades of authenticity and originality. Its quality and quantity, 300 and 387 folio pages respectively, justify labelling it the first 'Baedeker' of Berlin. Later 18th century city descriptions made unattributed use of this first textual topographical description. The text is relevant to the larger context of research on residences as it uniquely illustrates the boundaries between court and city, hard to discern, fluid and semi-permeable as they were. Manuscript No. 7, finished in 1716, is the basic text for the edition, to which the differences of manuscript No. 8, finished in 1717, will be added. Thus the differences in the descriptions' timeframes become apparent. Copper plates will be reproduced; illustrations indicated in but missing from the manuscripts will be added. An overall commentary as well as a detailed, running commentary will place the work in context; indices of persons, objects, places make it accessible. An electronic edition will follow the print edition as part of larger corpora. An internet site will present the edition's content as well as other illustrations spatially distributed on a contemporary early 18th century plan of Berlin.