Vintage Transportation Books | Used & Rare

Softcover. San Francisco, Pomegranate Books, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 112 pages, color photos. "Art cars" are vehicles transformed by their creative owners into elaborately decorated statements of individual mobility. Blank, an independent filmmaker and art car aficionado, spent two years traveling the highways and byways of America in search of people who shared his unusual passion for artistically personalized transportation. The result was an independent documentary film (also entitled Wild Wheels ) and this book: a zany testament to the far reaches of the creative spirit enlivened by more than 100 color photographs and descriptions of 42 attention-grabbing autos with humorous names like the Beaded Bug, the Hippomobile, and the Grass Car. The book also contains brief stories about the artists who created them, providing insight into the ideas and emotions that sparked this novel pop art form.

Softcover. Irvine CA, Bowtue Press, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 256 pages, b&w illustrations. This book contains invaluable lessons for avoiding nasty accidents. Presenting new tips and topics geared toward protecting riders from road dangers with a special focus on mental and physical preparedness. Diagrams, examples, plain talk. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Salem, MA, The Essex Institute, 2nd pr., 1922, Book: Good, Hardcover, 122 pages. Ex-library copy with white tape on spine and small stamp on copyright page, otherwise clean. Blue cloth, gilt title to spine, no dust jacket. The second edition adds additional material and illustrations. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Hershey PA, Bonhams & Butterfields, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 82 pages illustrated in color. Clean copy.

Softcover. Cambridge MA, The MIT Press , 1st, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 373 pages. A history of New York subway passengers as they navigated the system's constraints while striving for individuality, or at least a smooth ride. When the subway first opened with much fanfare on October 27, 1904, New York became a city of underground passengers almost overnight. In this book, Stefan Hohne examines how the experiences of subway passengers in New York City were intertwined with cultural changes in urban mass society throughout the twentieth century. Hohne argues that underground transportation--which early passengers found both exhilarating and distressing--changed perceptions, interactions, and the organization of everyday life. Clean copy.

Softcover. Down East Books, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 384 pages. SIGNED BY AUTHOR on the front fly leaf.Tugboats hold a fascination not only for anyone who has worked aboard a vessel or around a harbor but for many land-bound folks as well. There is something about their chunky, powerful build and their often risky but vital work that excites our interest and admiration. The captains and crews of the tugboats are justifiably proud of what they do, and they have some great stories to tell about the ships and barges they tow or push; the harbors, storms, tides, and dangerous passages they must negotiate; the unions; the pilots; the different designs and capabilties of their boats; and the way the boats and their livelihood are irrevocably changing. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Novato CA, Newton K. Gregg, reprint, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, reprint of the 1925 Simmons-Boardman edition. 1131 pages featuring steam locomotives, electric locomotives, industrial locomotives, and methods employed in their construction and repair. Many hundreds of photographs and dimensional diagrams of locomotives and various parts. Bound in original dark green cloth. Bright dust jacket taped to covers. Clean copy. DUE TO SIZE, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. NY, Praeger Publishers, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 214 pages. Social history on two wheels (sometimes more or less), many b&w pictures, early photographs of the famous Dursley-Pedersen (1893), complete with hammock-saddle; the astonishing Crypto "Bantam" (1895); and the stylish Singer de luxe of the Edwardian period, to name but a few. There is even a photograph of the legendary G.P. Mills on the Humber tricycle aboard which he beat the Land's End to John O'Groats record in 1893. Small owner's stamp on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. London, David & Charles , reprint, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a dust jacket. 79 pages with b&w illustrations. A reprint of a 1874 British publication. Clean copy.

Softcover. Osceola WI, Motorbooks International , 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 128 pages. Softcover. Illustrated with full color photographs. Light rubbing to covers. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Salisbury CT, Salisbury Association, reprint, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 54 pages, b&w illustrations. Clean copy.

Softcover. Medford OR, Webb Research Group, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in pictorial wrappers, 127 pages, b&w illustrations. Fascinating history of the Rogue River Valley Railway which connected Jacksonville and Medford, Oregon and the Southern Oregon Traction Co., an electric street railway that served Medford. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos. With maps, locomotive roster, timetables, and bibliography. 127 pages with index. Clean copy.

Softcover. Clinton ME, self-published, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, stapled binding, 103 pages illustrated with b&w photos, maps, one a fold-out. Engaging history of the Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad from its incorporation in 1854 to its last run in 1933. Full of stories. and anecdotes handed down by actual workmen on the railroad or members of their families, on all the important events in the life of the railway, and examines the role it played in the small Maine communities through which it passed. Clean copy.

Softcover. Iowa City IA, State Historical Society of Iowa, 1960, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, monthly magazine, stapled color wraps, 86 pages with b&w illustrations. Entire issue devoted to "Railroads Come to Iowa" by William Petersen. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Liveright, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Years before Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris electrified the nation, a group of daredevil pilots, most of them veterans of the World War I, brought aviation to the masses by competing in the sensational transcontinental air race of 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight, yet despite its significance, it has until now been all but forgotten. In The Great Air Race, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America. His thrilling chronicle opens with the race's impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation's future was in the skies. Mitchell's contest--critics called it a stunt--was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel: engines caught fire in flight; crude flight instruments were of little help in clouds and fog; and the brake-less planes were prone to nosing over on landing. The race was a test of endurance that many pilots didn't finish: some dropped out from sheer exhaustion, while others, betrayed by their engines or their instincts, perished. For all its tragedy, Lancaster argues, the race galvanized the nation to embrace the technology of flight. A thrilling tale of men and their machines, The Great Air Race offers a new origin point for commercial aviation in the United States. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Ames IA, Iowa State University, 1ST, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, The author of aviation books and the "Flying Carpet" column in AOPA Flight Training magazine entertainingly shares "some lessons a pilot never forgets." Illustrations include maps of US destinations and b&w photos of his planes and family.

Hardcover. NY, Rand McNally & Co., 1st, 1937, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 80 pages. Written at the height of the Steam Age, this book combines Otto Kuhler's striking dry-brush locomotive pictures with Robert Henry's clear account of the development of the American steam locomotive. This happy combination of dramatic and realistic pictures and fascinating fact makes the book entertaining reading for all who are interested in the expansion and development of the country. Illustrated with almost 40 drawings plus pictorial endpapers. No markings.

Hardcover. NY, Whittlesey House, 1st, 1943, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. recounts Joseph Bromley's career as a locomotive engineer on the Lackawanna Railway in New York. Beginning as a teenager as a callboy, by age 17 Bromley was aboard the engine, throwing wood pieces into one of the last of the old wood-burning models. At 20 he was promoted to the right-hand side of the cab, becoming the youngest engineer with the line. His entertaining reminiscences describe the more relaxed freight schedules of the day, when the crew could stop on a siding for several hours of fishing or to visit family and friends. Illustrated with line drawings by Stephen Voorhies, 288 pages. Long inscription on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Softcover. privately printed, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, spiral bound, 91 pages illustrated in b&w. Clean copy.

Softcover. Reading Lines, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 60 pages, illustrated in 2-colors. The history of the Reading Railroad. Mild crease to cover, otherwise clean.

Softcover. privately printed, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 63 pages, illustrated with many b&w photos. Clean copy. No date but appears to be mid-1970s.

Softcover. NY, Dover Publications, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, oblong format, 147 pages. B&w engravings. Clean copy.

Softcover. Fonthill Media, reprint, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 144 pages illustrated in color. Cuba Cars and Cigars is full of glorious color images of the rare and varied Cuban-owned 1950s American and European automobiles, trucks, and station wagons that were imported before 1961. Among the famous Marques that feature are Cadillacs, Chevys, Buick, Dodge, Oldsmobile, Ford, Packard, De Soto, Pontiac, Plymouth, Edsel, Mercury and Metropolitan, Hillman, Singer and Austin, Nash Sedans, a Lloyd 600 German 2-cylinder/4-stroke 596cc car, Ramblers and SAABs, Mercs, Humber, Standard Vanguard, Ford Consul/Zephyr, Hillman Husky and Minx, Singer Gazelle and Austin. Most of these vehicles are still in running order, and are passed down from generation to generation. Trucks include Fords, a Fargo, Dodges and Chevys, not forgetting cigars, street urchins, and the lovely ladies of Havana. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, PublicAffairs, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 350 pages. Before the "Big Three," even before the Model T, the race for dominance in the American car market was fierce, fast, and sometimes farcical. Car Crazy takes readers back to the passionate and reckless years of the early automobile era, from 1893, when the first US-built auto was introduced, through 1908, when General Motors was founded and Ford's Model T went on the market. The motorcar was new, paved roads few, and devotees of this exciting and unregulated technology battled with citizens who considered the car a dangerous scourge, wrought by the wealthy, that was shattering a more peaceful way of life. Clean copy.

Softcover. Newton MA, Stanley Motor Carriage Company, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 36 pages with stapled gray paper covers. B&w drawings/detailed diagrams of various parts, lists of parts with specs for the various models: running gear and mud guards, valves, boiler fittings, engine parts, etc. Includes prices circa 1910. Covers with soil, interior clean with mild wear.

Softcover. Logan Airport, Northeast Airlines, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 64 pages, profusely illustrated with b&w photos. No author but with opening statement by Bill Michaels, President of the airline at the time. Lively commemorative booklet published by Northeast for its employees on July 31, 1972, the day before officially merging with Delta. Features many black & white photos of personnel, advertising and operations. Clean copy.

Softcover. Annapolis MD, Air Show Publishers , 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 208 pages, b&w illustrations. A detailed study about the Shenandoah together with a bibliography about the big airships. Many rare photographs and documents, map of flight routes. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York , Funk & Wagnalls, Ltd. Ed., 1944, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, bright blue cloth stamped in gilt. Illustrated in b&w. One of a Collector's numbered limited edition, this copy #B133, inscribed on limitation page to Edward H. Mitchaw, Jr., SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Foreword by Eddie Rickenbacker. John P. V. Heinmuller (1892-1960), the Swiss president of Longines-Wittenauer Watch Company, was an aero-philatelist and historian of manned flight, a friend to zeppelin designers and captains and to Charles Lindbergh. "Man's Fight to Fly" was called "the foremost handbook of aviation records and aero-philatelic information."

Hardcover. London, Conway Maritime Press, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 264 pages, many b&w illustrations. The editor of this volume has created a fascinating and coherent narrative which describes the development of the sailing ship in both northern and southern Europe from mediaeval times through to the renaissance. Amongst the contributors are R Morton Nance, H H Brindley and Geoffrey Callender who might be viewed as the very fathers of modern maritime research. Beautifully written and clearly illustrated with the original line drawings, these extracts will come as a revelation to modern-day enthusiasts and historians, and represent a valuable reference tool for all those with an interest in the age of sail. Clean copy.

Softcover. Forest VA, TLC Publishing, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 128 pages, profusely illustrated in b&w. This book outlines the history of railroading in West Virginia from the earliest entry of Baltimore & Ohio into what was then western Virginia up to the 1860s. In addition to B&O, Chesapeake & Ohio, Western Maryland, Norfolk & Western, and Virginian have major chapters. Smaller sections cover the New York Central, short lines, logging railroads, and others that had only a smaller presence in the state. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 292 pages, b&w illustrations. SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS on the title page. Additionally INSCRIBED BY COHN on the dedication page. Kevin J. Crisman and Arthur B. Cohn show how a confluence of geographic, technological, economic, and social conditions in the United States and Canada turned an ancient idea into a practical alternative to more expensive and dangerous steamboats. Reviewing evidence from travelers' memoirs, regional histories, pictorial records, and the only horseboat ever studied by archaeologists - a wreck on the floor of Lake Champlain's Burlington Bay, in Vermont - the authors trace the evolution of horseboats from early mechanisms that forced the animals to walk in tight circles to "endless floor" treadmills that resembled modern exercise machines. In a lively narrative interspersed with quotes from passenger accounts, the book charts the rise and demise of horseboat businesses on the Hudson River, as well as in New York City, St. Louis, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The authors also describe and record the underwater excavation of the Lake Champlain wreck, revealing a wealth of detail about the construction and operation of a typical treadwheel horseboat of the 1830s and 1840s. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 375 pages, b&w illustrations. A man-made wonder, a connective network, an economic force, a bringer of blight and sprawl and the possibility of escape--the U.S. interstate system changed the face of our country. The Big Roads charts the creation of these essential American highways. From the turn-of-the-century car racing entrepreneur who spurred the citizen-led "Good Roads" movement, to the handful of driven engineers who conceived of the interstates and how they would work--years before President Eisenhower knew the plans existed--to the protests that erupted across the nation when highways reached the cities and found people unwilling to be uprooted in the name of progress, Swift follows a winding, fascinating route through twentieth-century American life. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Knopf, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 333 pages. With his marvelous eye for detail and his contagious enthusiasm, Ted Conover explores six key byways worldwide. In Peru, he traces the journey of a load of rare mahogany over the Andes to its origin, an untracked part of the Amazon basin soon to be traversed by a new east-west route across South America. In East Africa, he visits truckers whose travels have been linked to the worldwide spread of AIDS. In the West Bank, he monitors highway checkpoints with Israeli soldiers and then passes through them with Palestinians, witnessing the injustices and danger borne by both sides. He shuffles down a frozen riverbed with teenagers escaping their Himalayan valley to see how a new road will affect the now-isolated Indian region of Ladakh. From the passenger seat of a new Hyundai piling up the miles, he describes the exuberant upsurge in car culture as highways proliferate across China. And from inside an ambulance, he offers an apocalyptic but precise vision of Lagos, Nigeria, where congestion and chaos on freeways signal the rise of the global megacity. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, Stanton and Van Vliet Co, 1st, 1918, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 403 pages + glossary with illustrations, photos and fold-out charts in b&w. Light wear and fraying to black covers with a few small holes through the cloth. Internally very good.

Hardcover. International Marine Publishing , 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 269 pages. From the dust jacket: "John Leather's definitive study of the gaff rig is twofold: the practical aspects of the rig and the history of gaff rigged craft. John Leather's story of gaff rig is exciting and romantic; featuring such delightful anomalies as a yard building a smuggling cutter alongside a Naval cutter and captains fishing in winter and skippering the great many racing yachts of the late-19th century during summer. The superlative drawings complement the lucid text and the forty photographs represent a unique historical collection". Clean.

Softcover. Gainesville FL, University Press of Florida, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 283 pages. Index and bibliography. Many never-published-before images and a complete history of the slow development and long decline of the railroad in Florida. Clean copy.

Softcover. Lake Forest IL, Shore Line Interurban Historical Society, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 11" x 8.5"; 83 pages in b&w and color. Fold-out maps in center.

Niagarail Publications, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 144 pages. INSCRIBED by both authors and stamped "Author's Proof Copy" on the front fly leaf. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, Central Electric Railfans' Association, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a brigh dust jacket, 256 pages, b&w illustrations, some color. Bulletin 143 of the Central Electric Railfans Association. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Minneapolis, Univ Of Minnesota Press, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 151 pages illustrated in b&w. Iowa Central Railway supporters fought for a north-south route across the state that would link Minneapolis and St. Paul and St. Louis. This is the history from station records, reports, newspaper articles, and interviews of "The Hook & Eye", which brought both the industrial and human sides of railroading into sharp and memorable view. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, William W. Fausser, 1st, 1976, Softcover, 68 pages. White coated paper stock covers with title and vintage photo ( in blue) on front. White covers show some light soil. This is the story of a small suburban railroad in what is now the Burrough of Brooklyn,which eventually became part of the New York City Transit System. It is also, partially, the story of Canarsie a section of Brooklyn that became the butt of many comedians in vaudeville. No markings.

Softcover. Forty Fort PA, Harold Cox, 1st, 1970, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 86 pages, b&w photos, drawings and maps. Some light soill to covers. Folded map in rear is missing.

Softcover. Forty Fort PA, Harold Cox, 1st, 1975, Book: Very Good, Softcover, 68 pages. B&w photos, drawings and maps. Clean, bright copy of a scarce pamphlet.

Omaha NE, Union Pacific Railroad, 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover brochure, 36 pages illustrated in color. A promotional piece issued by The Union Pacfic Railroad celebrating the 100th anniversary of the company. Clean.

Hardcover. New York, Atheneum, 1st, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 88 pages. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Light sun fading to dust jacket spine. Clean, tight copy. A history of barnstorming in America, with an ample number of anecdotes about the dangerous acrobatics and stunts performed by thrill-seeking exhibition flyers, mostly ex-military pilots, especially during the 1920s.

Hardcover. Boston Mills Press , 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. For a world coming out of economic depression in the 1930s, the Pan American Airways Clipper "flying boats" symbolized elegance and luxury, adventure and romance. Illustrated with rare period photographs, vintage travel posters, magazine ads and colorful company brochures, this fascinating book covers every aspect of the fabulous era of Pan American's graceful clippers. Like their maritime namesakes, the Clippers used the oceans to form a vast global network of travel routes. Pan Am founder Juan Trippe was a visionary who saw the importance of international travel to a changing world. His Clippers would play a key role in the evolution of transoceanic flight, setting time and distance records over the Atlantic and Pacific, providing airmail delivery between countries, and eventually serving the Allies as troop and cargo transports during World War II. A major appeal is the 200 color images and 100 historical black-and-white photographs. Clean copy.

Softcover. Portland ME, Maine Central Railroad, 1891, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 3 X 6" brochure, 16 pages.

Hardcover. Golden CO, Colorado Railroad Museum, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 238 pages. B&w and color illustrations. Five of the articles are on passenger and mixed (passenger and freight) trains and trolleys in a topographic setting that owing to mineral resources had a phenomenal network of rail lines. Written for the train buff, the historian of western transportation will find good material here. Heavily illustrated with modern and period photos. The sixth piece is on the steam-powered meter-gauge trains of Zimbabwe. Clean copy.