Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A little history of the Big Apple, in pictures
This Tiny Folio uses the extensive and extraordinary collections of the Museum of the City of New York to tell the story of the Empire City, from its beginnings as small Dutch trading post to its nineteenth-century flourishing as a Gilded Age metropolis and immigrant melting pot, to its crisis of the 1970s, to its reemergence as a global capital of finance and the arts. The artifacts and images illustrated herein range from a chair that belonged to Sarah Rapelje (the first European child born in New Netherland, and the seventh-great grandmother of Humphrey Bogart) to photographs by Berenice Abbott. In a new feature for the Tiny Folio series, fifty of the illustrations are accompanied by extended narrative captions that draw out their historical significance.
Synopsis
This Tiny Folio takes readers on a fascinating tour of New York City history--from the land of the Lenape to today's metropolis--as illustrated by some 250 diverse items from the incomparable collections of the Museum of the City of New York. These include paintings, photographs, drawings, manuscripts, decorative arts and fashion, and unique artifacts such as a lock of George Washington's hair, "Boss" Tweed's tiger-headed cane, and the famous Stettheimer Dollhouse, adorned with miniature works of art by the 1920s avant-garde. An insightful text places these objects in their historical context and relates them to the broader forces that have shaped New York into a world city. This little book is a perfect gift for first-time visitors and lifelong New Yorkers alike.