Packard Estep E Ralph (1 results)

Detroit, Packard Motor Car Company, 1909. 107 pp. B./w. frontispiece & [19] b./w. photograpic ills on [13] plates, all plts with tissue guards with red-printed captions, each chapter provided with a small photographic image at the head of the page. Orig. publisher's hardcover binding (brown h.cloth with pictorial light brown paper-covered boards, col. pastdown on front boards). 8vo. - With ex libris on pastdown, and owner's signature en date ("Nov. 5 1912") on first free endpaper; corners of cover with light shelfwear. A travelogue from 1909, written by E. Ralph Estep, describing an adventurous journey through the rugged interior of Cuba. An early promotional and adventurous road trip that highlights the capabilities of the Packard Model 30. The book describes the extreme conditions under which driving took place at that time, such as driving through deep ox cart ruts, removing fallen palm trees with machetes, and wading through rivers on foot to test the water depth before driving through them. The book was produced by the publicity department of the Packard Motor Car Company to demonstrate the durability and strength of their vehicles in unfamiliar territories. It contains exceptional photographs from the early twentieth century documenting Cuban landscapes, rural life, and the reality of travel at that time. - The Packard Motor Car Company was an iconic American luxury automobile manufacturer that operated from 1899 to 1958. Established in 1899 in Warren, Ohio, by brothers James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard alongside partner George Lewis Weiss. Henry Bourne Joy bought into the company in 1903 and moved operations to Detroit, Michigan, turning it into a premier luxury marque.…