Hardcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 336 pages. In a world where nearly everyone has a cellphone camera capable of zapping countless instant photos, it can be a challenge to remember just how special and transformative Polaroid photography was in its day. And yet, theres still something magical for those of us who recall waiting for a Polaroid picture to develop. Writing in the context of two Polaroid Corporation bankruptcies, not to mention the obsolescence of its film, Peter Buse argues that Polaroid was, and is, distinguished by its processby the fact that, as the New York Times put it in 1947, the camera does the rest. Polaroid was often dismissed as a toy, but Buse takes it seriously, showing how it encouraged photographic play as well as new forms of artistic practice. Drawing on unprecedented access to the archives of the Polaroid Corporation, Buse reveals Polaroid as photography at its most intimate, where the photographer, photograph, and subject sit in close proximity in both time and spacemaking Polaroid not only the perfect party camera but also the tool for frankly salacious pictures taking. Along the way, Buse tells the story of the Polaroid Corporation and its ultimately doomed hard-copy wager against the rising tide of digital imaging technology. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap.
Hardcover. NY, Basic Books, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Credit-card debt is choking American prosperity off at the neck. In Credit Card Nation, Robert D. Manning tells a fascinating story about the present and future consequences of credit dependence across all strata of U.S. society. Through extensive interviews with consumers, Manning talks to debtors, and to average Americans, affected by what Manning describes as our "credit card nation": an American juggernaut of indebtedness that spans personal, corporate, and governmental debt. 406 pages, clean copy.
Softcover. NY, Bell System Telephone/AT&T, 1930, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 32 page booklet with green wrappers, promoting historical facts about the telephone. B&w line illustrations throughout, Stapled, 10 x 6.75".
Hardcover. Brussels, 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, light blue cloth stamped in dark blue, 58 pages. An illustrated history of the Belgian financial institution. Tipped in color frontis of founder Samuel Lambert, b&w photos and illustrations. Text in English. A promotional piece. Clean copy.
New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 375 pages including index, color and b&w illustrations. When George Washington embarked on his presidential tours of 1789?-91, the rudimentary inns and taverns of the day suddenly seemed dismally inadequate. But within a decade, Americans had built the first hotels?, large and elegant structures that boasted private bedchambers and grand public ballrooms. This book recounts the enthralling history of the hotel in America?a saga in which politicians and prostitutes, tourists and tramps, conventioneers and confidence men, celebrities and salesmen all rub elbows. Hotel explores why the hotel was invented, how its architecture developed, and the many ways it influenced the course of United States history. The volume also presents a beautiful collection of more than 120 illustrations, many in full color, of hotel life in every era. Clean, bright copy.
Softcover. Boston, Harvard Business School, 1st wraps, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Articles: U.S. Advertising in Latin America, Industrial Structure: the American Pottery Industry, Selling Elegant Glassware, etc. Paperback.
Softcover. Detroit MI, Burroughs Adding Machine Company, 1st, 1910, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Gray cardboard covers with brown cloth spine, two-color title label on front. 179 page booklet promoting their new product-an adding machine. Illustrated with photos (several in color) and diagrams and charts. This is the original printing of 1910. Small name on half-title page, otherwise clean, sound.
Softcover. NY, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1938, Book: Very Good, Softcover, blue wraps, 6 3/4 x 10 inches, 22 pages of text + 24 pages of plates (photos). Account of the massive effort to restore telephone service after the devastating hurricane of September 21, 1938. Clean copy, mild musty odor.