Sunday, 19 April 2020

Looking backwards


















I found this in a second-hand bookseller some years ago and I always enjoy looking through it now and again (usefully it has an good Index). What makes it stand out from similar pictorial histories of the period are the captions written by Frederick Lewis Allan. He was an Editor at Harper and Brothers for many years and with his wife Agnes they edited a similar looking visual book in 1934 called 'Metropolis' also published by Harper, revealing twenty-four hours in the life of a generic big city (actually New York). He also wrote two well known histories of the twenties and thirties.

'I remember distinctly' has a good selection of photos, especially personalities of the day (probably more than three-quarters of all the images have people in them) and others of notable news events from 1918 to 1941 but nicely it also includes photos of culture and entertainment, products, sport, fashion and more. The layout is rather bland and oddly the two authors 1934 'Metropolis' book looks much better.

If you are curious about the state of the Nation decades ago I think it's worth searching out a good copy, it shouldn't cost too much.



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