The others

A couple of the books in that box were not for me--one about great sailing ships and another about World War I. I might get around to exploring them further but for the time being they'll sit on the other nightstand. Meanwhile, to comment, however briefly on the Maxfield Parrish book: it's a treasure!

Large and heavy, 12" x 9 1/2", "Maxfield Parrish and The American Imagists" by Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler and the National Museum of American Illustration, is composed of a brief bio of Parrish, more than 200 pages of his illustrations, a very brief chapter about some of the American Imagists (N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, J.C. Leyendecker, Howard Chandler Christy, Charles Dana Gibson and Jessie Wilcox) and a final chapter which goes into greater detail about most of those "illustrators". I was familiar with quite a few of these artists as their work illustrated most of the books I enjoyed reading as a child and whose works were found on the covers of magazines like Collier's and Saturday Evening Post. As a young adult living in Manhattan I had the pleasure of seeing the mural "Old King Cole" in the St. Regis Hotel. I learned from this book that it was recreated in 1906 from an earlier version for the Hotel Knickerbocker and in 1935 was moved to the St. Regis where it is now a "must-see" for visitors to New York.

Maxfield Parrish's colors are intense, the cobalt blue he used still referred to as "Parrish Blue".

"His images were captivating yet powerful, hard to ignore and with a degree of fantasy so arresting that their creator became a legend in his lifetime."

I'll never tire of looking at those presented in this marvelous book.

A Great Loss

The other book dealing with railroad stations has to do with one which was so much a part of my growing up in Manhattan. It was the station we departed from when we made our summer trip to Atlantic City. It was the station with a glamourous restaurant, The Savarin. It was the station whose interior was exotic, majestic, emblematic of exciting trips. It was, of course, Pennsylvania Station, the Pennsylvania Station that was destroyed by a thoughtless city administration or maybe just thoughtless people. The current book about Penn Station, "New York's Pennsylvania Stations" by Hilary Ballon, a 2002 publication, consists of three parts: The First Pennsylvania Station, A Landmark Dismantled: A Photographic Essay and The New Pennsylvania Station.

The history plus photos, before and after, is for one who knew the station almost heart-breaking. It is the final section of the book that gives one hope. The Post Office building, right behind the old, original Penn Station is being proposed as the NEW Penn Station. Drawings and other illustrations as to what this building might look like, what it could be as a railroad terminal (in a perhaps old-fashioned meaning), a landmark structure functioning as an interlocking transportation medium, connecting subways, commuter trains, connections to airports, etc.

How long this remains a dream is still unknown. The book was published six years ago and I haven't seen anything out of New York City reporting any serious action to date.

A couple of railroad books

Two of the books in that box have to do with railroads. It's no surprise given my other blog "ridingtherails" that I would find these interesting books.
"Classic American Railroad Terminals" takes the reader on a journey across the country highlighting the still-used and the neglected "gateways of transport and commerce". It's a book that has as much to do with architecture as it does with railroads and for those that have survived America should be grateful. Beginning with a chapter on "Style and Substance" the author, Kevin J. Holland, offers the view that railroad stations were "gateways" to the places where they were built. They were often lofty, awe-inspiring buildings designed by great architects of their day and are comparable to today's airport. Holland carries on with a description of railroad terminals by region: "Eastern Icons", "Through the Heartland", "Crossroads", "Southern Delights", "Heading West" and "Ties That Bind" a glimpse of some Canadian stations. Each section provides a brief history of the regional stations and a goodly number of photographs, some of old postcards showing the station shortly after construction and many of their current appearance. Included also are photographs of the trains that came into these stations and of the great train yards that provided access and space for freight trains as well as passenger trains. All in all it's 154 pages of great history and wonderfully illustrated.