Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York
Murray, James T.; Murray, Karla L.
Language: English
Published by Gingko Press, 2009
- First Edition
- Signed
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: virtualrarities, san francisco, CA, U.S.A.virtualrarities
AbeBooks seller since January 12, 2009
Condition: Used - Near fine
£ 269.13
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Murray, James T. and Karla L. Murray. STORE FRONT: THE DISAPPEARING FACE OF NEW YORK. Corte Madera, California: Gingko Press, 2008. First edition. Quarto, hardcover in dust jacket. ISBN 978-1-58423-227-8. SIGNED BY BOTH PHOTOGRAPHERS on the title page: "Best wishes from NYC," followed by both signatures. Not personalized. The Murrays spent years photographing the independent storefronts of all five boroughs — candy stores, bodegas, luncheonettes, hardware stores, tailors — assembling each façade from multiple frames into seamless straight-on compositions, then presenting them in linear runs so that whole blocks read at a single glance. Most of the businesses documented here are gone. The book became the standard visual record of a New York that vanished in the decade after publication, and the original edition has long been out of print. The true 2008 first edition, not one of the later Gingko printings or the reduced-format Mini edition. Condition: Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. Boards square and clean, text block bright and unmarked apart from the signatures. Jacket with light crumpling to the head of the spine and minor scuffing to the dark panels — the navy stock shows handling readily — but complete, unclipped, and without loss.…
Seller Inventory # 510613
- Title
- Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York
- Author
- Murray, James T.; Murray, Karla L.
- Publisher
- Gingko Press
- Publication year
- 2009
- Condition
- Near fine
- Dust jacket
- Very Good
- Signed
- Signed by Author(s)
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1584232277
- ISBN 13
- 9781584232278
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item weight
- 6.64 pounds
- Dimensions
- 11.99 inches width by 13.14 inches height by 1.55 inches depth
Are New York City's local merchants a dying breed or an enduring group of diehards hell bent on retaining the traditions of a glorious past? According to Jim and Karla Murray the influx of big box retailers and chain stores pose a serious threat to these humble institutions, and neighborhood modernization and the anonymity it brings are replacing the unique appearance and character of what were once incredibly colorful streets.
Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York is a visual guide to New York City's timeworn storefronts, a collection of powerful images that capture the neighborhood spirit, familiarity, comfort and warmth that these shops once embodied.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
"The Murrays' photographs, however, do not romanticize these not very picturesque locales. The images are bright and crisp, though most of what the authors photographed was dingy and covered with graffiti; quite a few fronts and signs were falling apart or grungy to begin with. Yet it is in this state of decay that the stores hold a curious fascination indeed, a raw beauty for anyone concerned with vernacular design. I was particularly taken with the Lower East Side remnants that are slowly being squeezed out by hip restaurants and shops. Zelig Blumenthal s religious articles store, on Essex Street, appears not to have changed since my grandparents lived nearby. The Hebrew lettering on the window is as clean as it was back then. Meanwhile, at Rabbi M. Eisenbach's shop, the painted signs seem to be fading. Beny s Authorized Sales and Service, which sells fine jewelry, electric shavers, lighters, pens, is not just a throwback; it also exhibits a totally alien aesthetic compared with that of most stores today. Store Front is not mired in nostalgia....The book is also a study of urban migration." - Steven Heller for The New York Times Book Review
"Overly affectionate accounts of days gone by make up an entire genre in America these days, part of the general shift in the past generation from future-focused optimism to nostalgia-laced longing. You see it in paeans to roadside America, to lost highways and long-forgotten attractions. Most of it is unabashed ode. Rarely, though, do you see an account that zooms in on a chunk of the American landscape what was, what is and the hint of what may be and manages to be both lyrical and documentarian, elegant and decidedly anthropological. That's exactly what awaits when you crack open "Store Front," which at nearly 7 pounds is a mighty volume that functions as a visual catalog of New York City retail architecture and all the stories behind it. This is an appealing, unmatched tale of individualism and the tapestry of entrepreneurial zeal, all wrapped up in brick, mortar and colorful signage." -The Associated Press
"New York's storefronts constitute the city's vernacular architecture, shaping the look and feel of the five boroughs no less than more celebrated elements of the skyline. These unfussy, elegant, and richly colored photographs of butcher shops, bakeries, fabric wholesalers, cuchifritos stands, stationery and sporting-goods stores, laundromats, groceries, and dive bars give connoisseurs of signage, folk typography, and ambient erosion much to pour over. Shops that opened in the 1970s now look as ancient as those dating back to the twenties. The tone is elegiac as much as it is celebratory; interviews with shop owners make it clear how close to extinction many of them stand, and the photographers report that nearly a third of these businesses have gone under in the time that it took to make the book." - The New Yorker Copyright (c)2008
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