M. J. B. Baddeley

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1895 edition of the Thorough Guide to North Wales
1895 edition of the Thorough Guide to North Wales

Mountford John Byrde Baddeley (1843-1906) was a distinguished English guidebook writer of the late 19th and early 20th century. His Lake District guide (entitled 'Thorough Guide to the English Lake District', first edition, Dulau & Co, 1880) was particularly highly thought of. It continued to be revised and reissued, and remained in print into at least a 26th edition (1978, edited by R. J. W. Hammond).

The guidebook was largely text-based, with maps by John Bartholomew. Compared with later photographic volumes directed mainly at rock-climbers and hill-walkers, produced by the Abraham Brothers and by W. A. Poucher, and the highly detailed hand-illustrated guides of Alfred Wainwright, Baddeley's guide was more general, giving motoring and accommodation advice and low-level walks as well as outline guides to walks on the fells.

The 'Thorough Guide' series, edited by Baddeley and his colleague, Charles Slegg Ward, also included guides to Glasgow, the Scottish Lowlands and Highlands, Ireland, Bath and Bristol, North Wales, Yorkshire, and the English Peak District.

Baddeley also wrote a Latin coursebook for schools entitled Auxilia Latina (1875).

Baddeley is commemorated by the 'Baddeley clock' in Windermere