The nearly nine hundred fifty postcards document New York City's changing identity and culture over the last century

New York is a global iconthe quintessential metropolis. Over three centuries it has morphed from the colonial fur trading hub of New Amsterdam into one of the most vibrant and exciting cities on earth. The history of the Big Apple has been documented many times over in many diverse ways, including books, photographs, and songs. But this lavish, beautiful volume offers a new perspective, telling the story of New York through Andreas Adam's (*1945) vast collection of rare picture postcards that recount the city's changing identity and culture over the last century.

The nearly nine hundred fifty well-preserved, vintage cards in New York in Postcards 18801980 bring to life the look and feel of their eras in concise visual statements. The cards' striking prints, organized by subject and geographic area, vividly depict every aspect of New York City over the centuries: the Native American village that became Manhattan; nineteenth-century street scenes; famous architectural landmarks; lush gardens; cars and trains; and historical events. The images themselves are a fascinating mélange of artistic mediums. There are archival photographs, as well as paintings and drawings that represent a range of styles from art nouveau to neo-objectivism, naturalism, and pop art. The book is rounded out with essays by Andreas Adam; Paul Goldberger, the New Yorker's renowned architecture critic; and art historian Kent Lydecker that address the visual narrative and the architectural history of New York and the cultural history of the picture postcard.

New York in Postcards 18801980 is not conventional scholarship, or even a conventional kind of illustrated history, it offers something that these types of books cannot. It is at once an architectural history of New York, and a history of ways of seeing New York. Paul Goldberger in his essay

«Das gut 560 Seiten starke Buch zeigt seine Liebe zu einer unglaublichen Stadt mit einer unermesslichen Fülle an Fotografien und Illustrationen, Schrift- und Strassenzügen, Farben und Formen, Grafiken und Gemälden » Die Welt Online

«Es ist ein grandioses Buch, das die Geschichte der Stadt und ihrer Architektur ebenso nachzeichnet wie die Ästhetik des 20. Jahrhunderts.» Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

«New York Postcards is not to be missed by anyone fond of the history of this metropolis. Highly recommended!» www.hotbrandscoolplaces.com

«This lavish, beautiful volume offers a new perspective through Andreas Adam's vast collection of rare picture postcards that recount the city's changing identity and culture over a century.» COLLECTORS Companion

«In the age of e-mail the postcard, it seems, continues to flourish, I'm glad to say: and if you leaf through a beautiful book such as New York in Postcards, 18801980, you're bound to feel inspired.» Erica Wagner, The Times

«Dank der einzigartigen Sammlung des Schweizers Andreas Adam vermittelt der prächtige Band nicht nur 100 Jahre New Yorker Architekturgeschichte, sondern entfaltet auch ein Panorama des Stadtlebens zum Gegenwert eines frugalen Zwei-Personen-Lunchs in Manhattan.» Börsenblatt

«In der Überlagerung zeitlich versetzter Blicke betreibt das Buch gewissermassen nebenbei eine spannende Archäologie des New Yorker Stadtbildes.» Fotogeschichte