« Journey back to a bygone era when city streets and country roads were thronged with
a rich assortment of horse-powered vehicles : ice wagons, drays, lunch wagons, delivery
trucks, fire engines, buggies, carts, log wagons, stage coaches, hearses, and many
other such conveyances. You’ll find them all in this treasury of over 250 authentic
illustrations many unavailable elsewhere depicting a wide variety of commercial vehicles
of long ago. The author, a former member of the curatorial staff of the Smithsonian
Institution’s Division of Transportation, has carefully selected detailed engravings
of the period, many from rare trade periodicals in the collection of the Smithsonian,
as well as photographs. Well-researched captions accompany the illustrations, focusing
on how the design of each vehicle served its specific purposes and needs, and supplying
various dimensions, coloring, and other details. The author has also written an engrossing
historical introduction that sharply defines the development of commercial vehicles
in an age of headlong expansion and industrial advancement. Invaluable for anyone
interested in antique transportation, this volume is also an ideal source of royalty-free
illustrations for use in ads, catalogs, book and magazine illustrations, and elsewhere.
» Présentation de l’éditeur (2012)