LIBRARY NOTES
New York City has been the inspiration of many books. The Library's Book Award was established in 1994 to honor current authors who capture the essence of the city. The 1995 recipient was
The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson (Yale University Press and The New-York Historical Society). The 1996 recipient was
Brooklyn! An Illustrated History, by Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier (Temple University Press). This year's award was divided between
Manhattan in Maps and
Terra-Cotta Skyline, featured below.
The Award Committee consists of the following Library members: Barbara Cohen, proprietor of the New York Bound bookshop; Hope Cooke, author of Seeing New York and Time Change; Joan K. Davidson, civic leader and former commissioner of New York State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; Christopher Gray, architectural historian and author of the "Streetscapes" column for The New York Times; Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, executive director of Cityscape Institute; and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein.
Manhattan in Maps, 1557-1995
Paul E. Cohen and Robert T. Augustyn
(Rizzoli International Publications)
"The illustrations of the maps (many never published before) are lapidary, the weight and touch of the volume's pages a voluptuous pleasure. It is the text, however, brilliantly describing the mind set of the different era's map-makers which makes this book extraordinarily valuable." (The Award Committee)
This lavishly illustrated volume explores New York's urban and social history through rare and beautiful maps of the city produced during the past four hundred years and collected from archives and libraries throughout the world. From a crude woodblock engraving depicting Giovanni da Verrazano's first glimpse of New York Harbor in the sixteenth century to the latest satellite photographs of Manhattan, these important documents offer an unprecedented "avenue to New York's past."
Paul E. Cohen has been a dealer in antique maps and rare books with the New York Firm of Richard B. Arkway, Inc. for the past ten years. He has served as director of the New-York Historical Society's library and worked at Columbia University Libraries. Robert T. Augustyn is one of the owners of the antique map and rare book firm of Martayan Lan in New York and has worked in the field for twenty years.
"Through her patient documentation over fifteen years, with the help of Peter Mauss's astutely positioned camera lens and consummate photographic artistry, Susan Tunick has made a ubiquitous but often unnoticed element of the New York City streets dramatically and enticingly visible to the average New Yorker."
(The Award Committee)
Architectural terra cotta became an integral part of the buildings in New York City well over one hundred years ago. During much of the last century, however, this exceptional material has received little attention from most city dwellers. Terra cotta had its modern roots in the nineteenth century industrial era, grew in popularity in Stanford White's Gilded Age, and achieved its fullest realization in the geometry of the Art Deco period. Today, terra cotta is enjoying a quiet renaissance in restoration projects as well as new construction.
Susan Tunick is a national spokesperson for the preservation of architectural terra cotta and an established artist working in ceramic mosaic. Peter Mauss photographs architecture, interiors, and landscapes for the design professional.
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