ABSTRACT
Denmark has perhaps the strongest tradition of directory publication of any Scandinavian country. The Kiobenhavns politiske Vejviser series continued until 1862, in which year Elias Christian Thorvald Krak applied for and was granted Royal Authority to publish the directory for Copenhagen. The importance of the Handelsspejl and Kraks Vejviser to the Danish directory trade is significant. Copenhagen was the only city for which a town-specific directory was published during the eighteenth century. The most innovative period for directory production appears to have been the 1860s following Krak’s accession to directory publication. Knowledge of directory compilation methods and the criteria by which town residents were included in directories is absolutely vital if the reliability of directory information is to be truly understood. The strength of directory material, as stressed in Danish source guides, is their representation of late eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century commerce and administration in urban environments.
