Rare, monumental six-volume study of the history of New York City: The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909, Vols. I-VI, by Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes. First edition, limited issue of 360 copies on hand-made paper (plus an additional 42 on Japanese vellum). NY: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-1928. Hardcover bound in full brown mottled calf with gilt-stamped seals, 8.75 x 11.25, 5742 pages. Compiled from original sources and illustrated by photo-intaglio reproductions of important maps, plans, views, and documents from public and private collections, this expansive work records and documents key events of the city's chronology from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Among other things, it shows the evolution of the Manhattan skyline up to the time of publication. Book condition: VG/None, with rubbing and flaking to spines, a large chip to the spine head of Vol. III, and the bookplate of Joel Davis Madden, Jr., affixed inside each volume. Accompanied by the original subscription announcement. Profusely illustrated with nearly 600 plates, The Iconography of Manhattan Island stands as the most elaborate and comprehensive history of New York City ever produced.
Joel Davis Madden, Jr., left Princeton University in 1905 and moved west to make his fortune in the railroad industry. He went on to become an executive with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and died suddenly in 1928 at the age of 41. His book collection, offered by his granddaughter, has not been publicly offered or privately sold in a century.
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