JF Ptak Science Books // Blog Bookstore

The World's Most Beautiful 1930's Work on Traffic Signals (?)

• Is this *really* the most beautiful traffic signal catalog of the 1930's? I don't know, but it is (1) beautiful and (2) the only traffic signal catalog that I have ever seen.

Crouse-Hinds Company, Syracuse, NY: Traffic Signals and Controls. Catalog 226, December 1, 1936. 27x21cm, 130pp.

Profusely illustrated. Includes the following section, each with a printed tab divider: traffic signals, 26pp; Beacons and Flashers, 6pp; timing switches, 16pp; traffic controls, 10pp; traffic flow regulator, 10pp; accessories, 12pp; ornamental poles, 10pp; signal replacement parts, 8pp; color sequences, 12pp;and two other sections for pricing.

Heavy stiff decorated wrapper, brass tack bound, printed on glossy papers. Very Good condition. Provenance: Library of Congress, with their surplus rubber stamp on the front cover. Scarce: WorldCat locates 2 copies of this catalog; the next iteration (#227) has 14 listings in WorldCat; after this, there are no other listings for any other editions from Crouse-Hinds. Lovely! $250

• These images are about as basic as it gets for the common, everyday, overlooked objects from the disappeared past. They come from the Course-Hinds manufacturer’s catalog for traffic lights and other control systems called, yes, Traffic Signals and Controls, published in Syracuse (NY) in 1936. It is a beautifully designed catalog—excellent illustrations laid out perfectly on their pages, with all of the data you’d ever need to order these things for your municipality. What I find so fascinating about the images here is that they depict ubiquitous objects that today would today—given their ephemeral nature—be exceptionally difficult to find. Given this catalog, today they are not. 

The Great Bank of the United States Failure of 1931, from the White House

JF Ptak Science Books

William Sternberg.  Finis. The Bank of the United States, 1913-1930.  No publisher or place of publication listed, though copyrighted by William H. Sternberg, 1931, and "distributed " by National Distributors. 23x15.5cm, 40pp. Highly decorated cover. Original wrappers.  Provenance:  the White House, and then the Library of Congress (stamped "by transfer/The White House, Jul 29 1931". Very Good copy, with the LC surplus/duplicate stamp on rear cover, and a 6mm perforated "LC" stamp at the very bottom of the title page.  $125

I was about to write that not many written works begin with the word "Finis" as its title, but a quick check in WorldCat proved this incorrect--there are at least hundreds of books that have been published with a title like this.

The cover art--perhaps by Sternberg?--is very striking, and as with lots of political art, could be understood without having to read it, a glancing view being pretty much enough to tell the story.  The image features the Bank of the United States as a sort of 16-legged octopus, being fed money food from a merger/depositor pitcher, underneath which and perhaps keeping the whole thing afloat are a banker, lawyer, and politician. Sternberg evidently didn't think much of the BOUS' many acquisitions/mergers since it went into business in 1913, being particularly upset with the late 1920's movements. Anyway this is a pretty screedy diatribe, though it also seems to be an informed one. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events led to an infamous run on the BOUS' Bronx branch, with 25,000 people showing up and wanting their deposits, all of which fed into the making of the Great Depression. The bank did not do well after the run.  

A History of Black & White in Color (continued)

Putting Black-and-White Back into Color: 1930's Schoolrooms

ref:  JF Ptak Science Books    Post 1840, expanded.

Paint Specifications for the Model School, prepared for the East Cleveland Board of Education under supervision of the Foremost Authorities, and published by ARCO in 1939. 12x9 inches, spiral bound, stiff printer wrappers.  8 stiff leaves, 6 of which contain heavier paint sample chips of color, and each separated by a heavy glassine (bound-in) sheet.  Very good copy, bright and fresh.  This was formerly in the Pamphlet Collection of the Library of Congress.  Scarce. There's some minor bruising on the cover edge; also, there's one paint sample missing (from the stadium/athletics colors, pictured). NO COPIES located in WorldCat/OCLC. $300

Its easy to assume a modern prejudice regarding the interior decoration of 1910-1940 school rooms, allowing a certain conceit and picturing them in shades of gray, the images formed being "colored" by the images of those things that we have seen, almost all of which have turned up in black-and-white photographs or movies. But of course we know that this can't be true, and that Humphrey Bogart didn't always wear a gray worsted in his movies, and didn't move that gray suit through gray rooms. Its just that the image-formation is influenced by what we've seen, and since what we've seen of these rooms is mostly without color, then our images are difficult to assemble outside black-and-white.  This applies to just about everything from that era, which explains why it is such a glorious shock to see motion pictures or photographs of (say) New York City street scenes from 1944. (And why is it such a jolt to the visual system to learn that police cars in Chicago during the 1933 World's Fair were orange?)

This thinking came to the surface again this morning when I uncovered the Paint Specifications for the Model School, prepared for the East Cleveland Board of Education under supervision of the Foremost Authorities, and published by ARCO in 1939.  It reminds us that the only thing that lived in black-and-white in those days are in our memories.  (I've written about unexpected color in Lost German Color of 1927,  The Very Describale Macro COlor of 1937, The Color Green in the History of Squares, and of course the non-immortal 200,000,000 Pounds of Buttocks-or-Putting the Black-and-White back into Color, and others.

ref:  JF Ptak Science Books    Post 1840, expanded.

Paint Specifications for the Model School, prepared for the East Cleveland Board of Education under supervision of the Foremost Authorities, and published by ARCO in 1939. 12x9 inches, spiral bound, stiff printer wrappers.  8 stiff leaves, 6 of which contain heavier paint sample chips of color, and each separated by a heavy glassine (bound-in) sheet.  Very good copy, bright and fresh.  This was formerly in the Pamphlet Collection of the Library of Congress.  Scarce. There's some minor bruising on the cover edge; also, there's one paint sample missing (from the stadium/athletics colors, pictured). NO COPIES located in WorldCat/OCLC. $300

Its easy to assume a modern prejudice regarding the interior decoration of 1910-1940 school rooms, allowing a certain conceit and picturing them in shades of gray, the images formed being "colored" by the images of those things that we have seen, almost all of which have turned up in black-and-white photographs or movies. But of course we know that this can't be true, and that Humphrey Bogart didn't always wear a gray worsted in his movies, and didn't move that gray suit through gray rooms. Its just that the image-formation is influenced by what we've seen, and since what we've seen of these rooms is mostly without color, then our images are difficult to assemble outside black-and-white.  This applies to just about everything from that era, which explains why it is such a glorious shock to see motion pictures or photographs of (say) New York City street scenes from 1944. (And why is it such a jolt to the visual system to learn that police cars in Chicago during the 1933 World's Fair were orange?)

This thinking came to the surface again this morning when I uncovered the Paint Specifications for the Model School, prepared for the East Cleveland Board of Education under supervision of the Foremost Authorities, and published by ARCO in 1939.  It reminds us that the only thing that lived in black-and-white in those days are in our memories.  (I've written about unexpected color in Lost German Color of 1927,  The Very Describale Macro COlor of 1937, The Color Green in the History of Squares, and of course the non-immortal 200,000,000 Pounds of Buttocks-or-Putting the Black-and-White back into Color, and others.

A Superior and Very Stout Four-Volume Dictionary of Design (1890)

Henry Havard (1838-1921). Dictionnaire de l'Ameublement et de la Décoration, depuis le XIII è siècle jusqu'à nos jours. Printed in Paris by Maison Quantin, (1887- 1890). Four very stout volumes, 32x23cm, and containing more than 2000 pages, 2500 text illustrations, and 250+ engraved and lithographed plates. (The pagination is actually made in columns, with two columns per page, so 1086 columns= 543pp, and so: Vol 1, vii, 1086pp; Vol II 1250pp; Vol 3, 1222pp; Vol 4, 1638pp.)  This copy is ex-library from a NYC library, and rebound in a workman's very sturdy blue cloth--given that each volume weighs about five pounds (or more) the rebinding did the reader a favor by providing such a very useful addition to the book.  Blue cloth; call numbers gilt-stamped on spine bottom; there are perforated library stamps (about 1x1.5") on each title page; AND on nearly every plate there is a small (half-inch or so) circular library stamp in the bottom corner of each image--this doesn't detract too terribly much from the image, though the stamp is mostly visible. If this is a "scholar's copy", I would say "machts nichts", especially as it is offered at a good price. Now, regarding the book itself, it is a wonderful and encyclopedic work on decoration and design from the 13th century to the 19th century. For example, there is a very good section on locks and locked boxes, and there is a good wide selection of professions from the well known work by Abraham Bosse.  $300

Here it is, online, via Gallica: 

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6154896q.r=%22Dictionnaire%20de%20l%27Ameublement%20et%20de%20la%20D%C3%A9coration%2C%20depuis%22?rk=85837;2

 

 

Document for the Great Port of Authority Bus Terminal, Manhattan, 1940

JF Ptak Science Books  

Charles B. Jenkins. Traffic Congestion in the City of New York as Related to the Operation of Interstate Buses within the Borough of Manhattan, 1940. Provenance: Library of Congress, this copy transferred from Copyright, April 30, 1940. 11x8.5",  Nice copy.  $500

I'm pretty sure that this is a x^th generation carbon copy and not an offset printed affair--there are definite impressions on the back of the sheets that certainly feel as though they and several other sheets of paper were sent though a typewriter in 1940. 55pp, including 16 maps.  This is a proposal to remedy a traffic problem in Manhattan caused by interstate buses, and that proposal would wind up being the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The building square-block building would be opened in December 1950 after two and a half years under construction (about teh same amount of time it is taking to fix the exits around the Asheville Regional Airport). 

"By 1939, growing interstate bus traffic was causing chaos in New York City. Buses would drive to and from eight separate bus terminals scattered throughout Midtown. Congestion was a major problem, and the City needed a good answer. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia appointed a committee of City officials to resolve the issue. The committee arrived at several solutions, which were quickly shot down by the City's smaller bus terminals. That's when the Mayor asked the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921, to promote and protect the commerce of the bistate region, to evaluate the concept of consolidating all smaller bus stations into one central terminal."-Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

If you're interested in Manhattan, or buses, or city planning, or the Honeymooners, you'll like this document. 

History of Art in 780 Engravings, 1814-1828

Gallerie du Musee de France publiee par Filhol, Graveur, le Texte Redig par Lavallee...Printed in Paris by Filhol, 1814-1828. 11 volumes (the standard volume 1-10 plus the rare supplemental volume 11, which includes a very useful index to the entire set).
9x6 inches, 780 engraved plates. All uniformly bound in red morocco with red boards. Each engraved plate has a tissue guard. The engravings are very strong and nicely executed; the text describes the image as well as the artist. This is simply a lovely history of art. $900.00

The set is ex-library, with old paper stamps on the spine bottoms, plus the name of the library stamped on the exterior text blocks at top, side and bottom--besides the attractive bookplate at front pastedowns and the perforated library name on the title pages, there is very little else from the library. This parts aside, the set is in very nice condition, the text and plates fresh.


An earlier edition of the book (published 1804-1815 but basically the same as this edition) can be seen in its entirety at the Hathi Trust. A nice, large paper copy of the present edition can be found at Gallica.

Other copies of this set--not ex-library but also not including the rare 11th volume--are available online for double our price.

Ars Morendi, 1771

JF Ptak Science Books  

Woodcut, printed in 1771.  6x4 inches.  Goodcopy.  $150 {Description follows]

The lare Medieval/early Renaissance Tractatus artis bene moriendi was a work book of the dead--rather, a book for those about to be dead, an instructional for the process of dying the good death along the (loose) order of the Tibetan Bardo Thodol and the Egyptian book of the dead.  The Ars was written in the early the 15th century (some sources say 1415) and began appearing in some of the earliest illustrated printed books by about 1450--it was a wildly popular/necessary book, going through some 100 editions by 1500¹. 

The books basically readied the dying for death, for a holy death, a death filled with high possibilities of a rewarding afterlife, for dying in the good graces of Christ and the christian ideals.  The images were such that non-readers could understand them--and this is still pretty much the case.

Many of the variants of this work include a dozen or more woodblock illustrations, an example of which is found above.  We see the soon-to-be-departed at the very last instant before death, surrounded by all manner of distractions and entertainments aimed at luring the person to an earthly- rather than holy-demise. Demons, conjurers, makers of greed, and devils surround his bed in temptation, all while the Virgin Mary, Christ and the creator look down upon the besieged from behind the top of the bed. 

Death was not an uncommon visitor in Europe in the early/mid 15th century, and perhaps this book served some in the way it taught people how to die a noble and religious death, especially when clergy may not have been so available. 

(We offer a version of this print--printed in 1771 in Leipzig, and published in Heinecken's Idee Generale d'une Collection Complette d'Estampes.  True this woodcut comes some 200 years or so after the original, but it still has a flavor of substantial age, of one of the earliest images to ever appear in a printed books.)

Here's another example, this time the dying man is beign attacked by agents of pride and greed.  The images are genuinely upsetting--scary even.

Notes:

1. English editions/variation of this work include The Waye of Dying Well and The Sicke Mannes Salve, and then in 1650 the Holy Living and Holy Dying. 

Wallpaper, Color Perfect 1938 Wall Decorating Guide, Sears, Roebuck and Co. 

Chicago:  Sears,  1938.  96 leaves and samples!  10x10 inches  Printed color wrappers.  Very good, rubber stamp on front cover  This wonderful production includes 95 10-inch square samples of wallpaper that Sears was selling to the middle-income world of the USA in 1938. The backs of the samples are somewhat browned, but the samples themselves are still bright and fresh.  This is an unusual and wonderful insight into some of the forgotten aspects of culture just before WWII.   $150

[Nils Christian Tonsberg.] Norske Nationaldragter, tegnede af forskjellige norske Kunstnere, og ledsagede med oplysende Text. Udgivne af C. Tönsberg.  Christiana, [n.d.] 

15 very fine chromolithogrpahic plates. Each illustration with a sheet of accompanying text. 38x25 cm.

Ex-libris; rebound in cloth. Each plate has a small circular ownership stamp on lower left.

This seems to be the second book published on costumes and dress of the Norwegians and Lapps (the other published in 1847). There is no date on the chromolithographic title page of this work; OCLC/WorldCat calls for an edition of 33 plates in 1852. According to the table of contents, this edition is complete with 15 plates. From what I can see the plate numbers in this work and the 1852 edition are different; also, the present edition seems to be larger--or taller--than are the descriptions for the 1852 edition (15.5 vs 13 inches tall).  

Overall, a good, sturdy copy. $SOLD

German Furniture Design (DIY), 1927

Farbige Wohnräume, 24 Tafeln farbig dargestellter neuzeitlicher Räume (5 Wohn-, 6 Speise-, 6 Herren-und 7 Schlafzimmer) mit den einzelnen Nöbeln im Masstab 1:20. Dazu weitere 24 Tafeln mit den zur Anfertigung erforderlichen Grund- und Aufrissen und Detailschnitten einschliessich der Sitzmöbel.  Berlin,  Verlagsanstalt Deutschen Holzbeiter Verbanes GMBH. Rebound in library cloth, very nice, workable copy.  $250.00

37x26cc, 24 color plates of room designs, followed by 24 heavy leaves of associated blueprints printed front and back, these showing a profile of the furniture to be constructed on recto and some cutting instructions on verso.  The color illustrations of the furniture in a room setting is correlated with the blueprints in rear, each of the color plates with a corresponding sheet of blueprints. 

Only four copies located in WorldCat: Yale, University of Illinois, Grand Rapids Public Library, and Cornell.