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Manhattan 1931

32 x 24 in
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The Bookstore

A reading list of recommended titles
Links lead to Amazon.com for more details, price, and purchase info.

note: a full list of nyc photography books can be found here

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- Photography -

New York: Photographs Celebrating the Celebrity of Cities
by Gerald Hoberman, Marc Hoberman
Gerald & Marc Hoberman Collection, 2001. 176pp.
book dimensions: 12.1 x 9.6 inches

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"In this brilliant portrayal of New York, renowned photographers Gerald and Marc Hoberman have captured the quintessence of this great city. With a flair for photographing the incisive, the spectacular, and the unusual, from the vantage point of a helicopter to macro-detail, the Hobermans present a fresh and insightful vision of one of the world's most exciting cities. The book is produced to the highest standard, and the reproduction and printing are arguably without parallel. Their inspired images are coupled with fascinating and well-researched text by Ray Furse. "New York" is destined to become a classic. With something to marvel at with every turn of the page, this book epitomizes the metropolis Henry James once called "remarkable, unspeakable New York."" --book description

sample images from this book can be viewed here.

Chinatowns of New York City (Then and Now)
by Wendy Wan-Yin Tan
Harper Collins, 2006. 384pp.

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For a span of more than a century, New York's Chinese communities have grown uninterruptedly from three streets in lower Manhattan to five Chinatowns, over 100 street blocks, across the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. This book documents the changes through past-and-present photos." book description

Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York
by James and Karla Murray
Gingko Press, 2009. 336pp.

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"... The Murrays photographs, however, do not romanticize these not very picturesque locales. The images are bright and crisp, though most of what the authors photographed was dingy and covered with graffiti; quite a few fronts and signs were falling apart or grungy to begin with. Yet it is in this state of decay that the stores hold a curious fascination indeed, a raw beauty for anyone concerned with vernacular design. I was particularly taken with the Lower East Side remnants that are slowly being squeezed out by hip restaurants and shops. .."
-new york times book review april 5, 2009.


Manhattan's Chinatown (Postcard History: New York)
by Daniel Ostrow
Arcadia Publishing, 2008. 128pp.

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For generations of New Yorkers and visitors, Chinatown represents the very embodiment of exotica. With its ancient tenements, temples, fragrant food aromas, neon signs, colorful sites and sounds, and aromatic curio shops, it provides the ultimate journey of the senses, revealing an energetic and vibrant world. Through vintage postcards, Manhattan's Chinatown chronicles how this community has continually evolved over 150 years." book description

New York: Photographs Celebrating the Celebrity of Cities
by Gerald Hoberman, Marc Hoberman
Gerald & Marc Hoberman Collection, 2002. 36pp.
book dimensions: 7.7 x 7.0 inches

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"This is the smaller gift version of the book."

sample images from this book can be viewed here.

Impressions Of New York: Prints From The New York Historical Society
by Marilyn Symmes
Princeton Architectural Press. 2004, 304pp.

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"From its birth as a remote trading outpost on the fringes of the Dutch empire to its current status as the so-called Capital of the World, New York has always captivated visual artists. The extraordinary prints collected by the New-York Historical Society over the course of its history vividly preserve these impressions on paper. In this handsome volume more than 150 of these views of the city -- including two spectacular gatefold panoramas -- speak eloquently of the surging power of this dynamic urban center. At the same time, they present an intimate portrait of everyday life as it has been lived and savored in this great city for more than three centuries. The companion to an exhibition celebrating the New-York Historical Society's bicentennial anniversary, this beautifully printed volume presents a full range of historic images, from 1672 to the present. In the lively essay and information-filled captions, curator and historian Marilyn Symmes tells the unique stories behind the people and places, parks and buildings, streets and neighborhoods, parades and events depicted in each image -- in essence, the story of New York City itself." --book description

Harvey Wang's New York
by Harvey Wang
W.W. Norton & Co, 112 pp.
book dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 inches

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"Beautiful, black and white portraits of individuals with unique, and vanishing jobs. A Seltzer bottler, a burlesque comedian, knife sharpener, a diarist, a rope fender maker, boxing trainer, etc."

some photos from his book can be viewed at his site.

Flophouse : Life on the Bowery
by David Isay, Stacy Abramson, Harvey Wang (Photo)
Random House, 2000. 176pp.
book dimensions: 8 x 8 inches.

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"From the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, nearly 100,000 men found shelter each night in places with names like the Dandy, the Niagara, the Palace, and the Grand Windsor Hotel. These lodging houses, located in the infamous skid row known as the Bowery, are almost gone now, but those that remain provide a fascinating view of old New York and a vanishing era. Isay, an award-winning radio documentary producer, and Wang, a professional photographer, have captured this world in Flophouse. To present the story of this neglected population, the authors interviewed a number of residents in each of four remaining "flops." Each short narrative is told in the resident's own words and is accompanied by one or two full-page photographs. These are stories of immigrants, drug addicts, and men who are just down on their luck. There's John, who gets up every night at three in the morning to bleach his floor; Jack, who's been shooting dice for over 50 years; and Ted, the intellectual dishwasher, who set out to be nothing and succeeded." --Deborah Bigelow for Library Journal

The Sunshine Hotel
by David Isay, Stacy Abramson
Sound Portraits, 1999. Audio CD

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"This is an audio portrait of one of the final vestiges of the Bowery, New York's notorious skid row. In the first half of the century, the mile-long Bowery's bars, missions and cheap hotels (or flophouses) were home to an estimated 35,000 down-and-out men each night. Today, only a handful of flophouses, virtually unchanged for half a century, are all that remain of this once teeming world. For several months in 1998, David Isay and Stacy Abramson had unprecedented 24-hour access to the Sunshine Hotel, one of the last of the no-frills establishments." --description

Everyday Matters
by Danny Gregory
Princeton Architectural Press, 2003. 112pp.
book dimensions: 8.3 x 6.4 inches

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"When Danny Gregory's wife was severely injured, his life was changed in an instant. Searching about for meaning for what had happened to his little family, he began to create a richly illustrated journal of his life. Gregory as driven to record and comment on every aspect of his life, from dirty dishes to cathedrals, from hospital wards to life-drawing classes, from brunch with Hell's Angels to book shopping at the Strand. This unique book chronicles his discovery of drawing, his wife's rehabilitation, his son's infancy, and the life of the city he loves. Funny, bittersweet, romantic, and perverse, Everyday Matters is an inspiration, an invitation to look for the beauty and significance in the details of our daily lives." --book description

sample illustrations from this book can be his site.

One Night on Broadway
by Horst Hamann, Jimmy Breslin
Schirmer/Mosel, 2004, 128pp.
book dimensions: (PB) 14 x 12 inches, color.

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"...The night of September 10 to 11, 2002, Hamann walked down Broadway with his Leica Digilux. One year after 9/11, he began his marathon at sunset in Harlem. Proceeding south, 164 blocks and 12 hours later he arrived at Battery Park at sunrise. His book is a block-to-block, minute-to-minute documentation of one night in the life of New York’s "Great White Way."" --book description

Waterworks: A Photographic Journey Through New York's Hidden Water System
by Stanley Greenberg, Matthew Gandy (Intro)
Princeton Architectural Press, 2003. 160 pp. 43 duotone photos

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"The photographer/author captures sublime beauty in 43 duotone photographs of machinery, architecture, and natural features of New York City's water system, which delivers 1.3 billion gallons of water a day to 9 million people through a vast network of reservoirs, tunnels, aqueducts, and controlled lakes. Greenberg spent nine years photographing the sites, many of which were restricted after the events of September 11, 2001. An extensive introduction gives a history of the water system and provides perspective on the large scale of the engineering achievement. " Book News

Berenice Abbott: Changing New York
by Berenice Abbott, Bonnie Yochelson
New Press. 1999, 400 pp.
book dimensions: (PB) 12 x 9 inches, 307 duotones (complete WPA archives), 113 halftones and line drawings.

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"A midwesterner who came to New York in 1918, Abbott moved to Paris in 1921 and worked as Man Ray's photographic assistant. Inspired by French photographer Atget, Abbott returned to America in 1929 to photograph New York City. With the financial support of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1939, she was able to realize her ambition to document a "changing New York," a project that remains the centerpiece of her career. ...Berenice Abbott features more than 300 duotones, arranged geographically in eight sections tracing the photographer's New York City odyssey. It also includes 113 variant images, line drawings, and period maps, as well as an explanatory text, which explores Abbott's compositional choices, her artistic and historical preoccupations, and the history of New York."

New York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott's New York
by Douglas Levere, Bonnie Yochelson, Paul Goldberger
Princeton Architectural Press. 2004, 191pp.
book dimensions: 11 x 8.5 inches, 170 duotones images.

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"In 1935 the renowned photographer Berenice Abbott set out on a five-year, WPA-funded project to document New York's transformation from a nineteenth-century city into a modern metropolis of towering skyscrapers. The result was the landmark publication Changing New York, a milestone in the history of photography that stands as an indispensable record of the Depression-era city. More than sixty years later, New York is an even denser city of steel-and-glass and restless energy. Guided by Abbott's voice and vision, New York photographer Douglas Levere has revisited the sites of 100 of Abbott's photographs, meticulously duplicating her compositions with exacting detail; each shot is taken at the same time of day, at the same time of year, and with the same type of camera. New York Changing pairs Levere's and Abbott's images, resulting in a remarkable commentary on the evolution of a metropolis known for constantly reinventing itself." --book description

New York, Empire City : 1920-1945
by David Stravitz
Harry N Abrams, 2004. 160pp.
book dimensions: 12 x 10 inches.

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"New York between the wars: the city of Babe Ruth, Checker cabs, and Zelda Fitzgerald's infamous dip in the fountain at the Plaza Hotel. That is the city that comes gloriously to life in this fascinating collection of 100 historical photographs of New York's notable streetscapes and landmarks. Discovered serendipitously by author David Stravitz when he was on a hunt for used camera equipment, these rare photographs of the city are accompanied here by informative captions and an insightful essay by architectural historian Christopher Gray. Not only are these photographs being published for the first time, but the clarity and detail of the images, taken with a large-format camera, are astonishing. One can read the signage on the sides of buildings, examine the items in store windows, and see how people on the streets and sidewalks are dressed. From Trinity Church to Harlem, from Coney Island to Yankee Stadium, these images transport the reader into the heart of a vanished era, when men wore fedoras and the Empire City sparkled with promise." --book description


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