Washington On View: The Nation's Capital Since 1790
by: Reps, John William

Hardcover. Chapel Hill & London, The University Of North Carolina Press,, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 297 pages. illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Oblong folio. Light gray cloth with gilt title to spine. Pictorial dust jacket. Minor wear to covers, else like new. The 15x11.5" format accommodates 160 color and 12 b&w illustrations, many of them decidedly horizontal, and accompanying text laid out in two wide (5.5") columns. Before photography, Washington, DC was the subject of numerous engravings, aquatints, and lithographs which were published separately as well as in newspapers and magazines, souvenir booklets, and guidebooks and brochures. A selection of these illustrations depicting buildings or districts, views from public structures, and bird's-eye views is presented along with descriptions of Washington from contemporary published works by journalists, architects, travelers, politicians, and others. Nine chapters review successive periods of growth and identify events that shaped the city's character.