Posts by Doris Straus

What started as a simple comparison of beautifully illustrated books on fashionable dress, trades’ dress, and ethnic costume held in both the Art and Architecture Collection and the Rare Book Division turned into an open-ended bibliographic exercise with many rabbit holes to get lost in.

The Art & Architecture Collection has a large collection of women’s (and some men’s) 19th century fashion-plate periodicals. While French fashion dominated the 19th century this post features a selection of magazines from England, America and Sweden.

Rapidly evolving developments in printing technology and paper manufacture during the 19th century were a democratizing process which lowered costs and made books of all kinds accessible to a wider audience. In that context it is interesting that, even early on, one of the most popular genres of these inexpensive books was self-improvement. The selection that follows is the barest tip of the iceberg of what is available in the Art & Architecture 

The Art & Architecture Pamphlet Files contain material from galleries all over the world, but the initial focus was on the New York art scene. An excellent example of one of the earliest files in the collection is from the Macbeth Gallery.

Since the NYPL Art & Architecture Pamphlet Files have recently been updated, it is a good time to revisit this great resource. These files contain ephemeral material relating to over 4,200 art galleries, museums, auction houses and art events that are for the most part from the New York City area but also with substantial files from all over the United States, Europe, Central and South America. There is material from the late 19th century to the present, including many items that may well be the only