Customer Reviews

Gotham Comes of Age: New York Through the Lens of the Byron Company, 1892-1942

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This book has many things to commend it, from th fine paper stock to the marvelous images selected by Peter Simmons. Look at the pictures - really look at them and you will be brought back to a different era! I recommend it!

"Travel back with us to turn-of-the-century New York, when the raucous spirit of vaudeville and burlesque colored the stage, Turkish baths were all the rage, and the city's newly wealthy industrialists fashioned grand palaces that rivaled those of European royalty. Gotham Comes of Age unveils 170 images selected by the Museum of the City of New York from the vast collection of the New York-based Byron Company photographic studio (in business from 1892 to 1942). In addition to capturing the high-society high jinks of New York's most gaudy and profligate era, Gotham Comes of Age also presents many views of the city's daily life: skaters in Central Park, tenement dwellers seeking fresh air on the stoops, and today's landmarks--such as the Church of St. John the Divine and the original Times building--in the early stages of construction.

"Together, the photographs in Gotham document the maturation of a great metropolis and offer an absorbing and evocative perspective on the lives and pursuits of yesterday's New Yorkers. The book includes an introduction by E. L. Doctorow, text that puts the Byron Company's work in historical context, a brief introductory essay for each chapter, and informed, insightful notes on the photographs.

"216 pages, over 170 duotone photographs, size: 8 1/2 x 11". Smythe-sewn paperbound book, with flaps. ISBN: 0-7649-0906-1."--© Pomegranate