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==Description== |
==Description== |
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Stokes's worldwide research teams |
''The Iconography of Manhattan Island'' is a scholarly ''tour de force'': the diligent work of Stokes's worldwide research teams scouring public and private collections of maps, guides and obscure source material to complete his encyclopedic monument to New York City. It describes in great detail the growth of a fortified Dutch settlement into the world's greatest city, and ultimately included six volumes sold to subscribers and libraries in a limited edition of 360 sets printed on Holland-made paper and 42 on Japanese [[vellum]]. |
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The ''Iconography''’s many writers lead the reader through picaresque stories about the humble as well as praising |
The ''Iconography''’s many writers lead the reader through picaresque stories about the humble as well as praising famous men. Containing long forgotten details: accounts from ledgers, accounting books and scraps of paper that the author concedes came from source material literally strewn about in unorganized piles from the floors of far flung academies and international halls of records. Much of this primary source material has been lost to time or destroyed by war. An interesting side note to the rare first edition is a one page apology Stokes makes to subscribers of the rare set of works indicating where paper stock was - by necessity of shortage - changed from the original supplier's high grade Holland paper to similar high grade stock due to the exigency of the [[World War I|Great War]]. |
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Unequalled in its density and architectural detail, as a tribute to a city the ''Iconography'' stands alone: it is required source material for anyone undertaking a serious study of the city's byways, including the genesis of street names and interesting rambles along the way. |
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==Stokes== |
==Stokes== |
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{{Main|Isaac Newton Phelps-Stokes}} |
{{Main|Isaac Newton Phelps-Stokes}} |
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I. N. Phelps Stokes |
I. N. Phelps Stokes himself is an interesting character. Scion of one of the most progressive, wealthy turn-of-the century New York families Stokes came from a world of privilege. Leaving [[Harvard University|Harvard]] with a desire to reform housing for the poor, Stokes' first contribution included model working class housing built not far from the infamous "[[Five Points]]" neighborhood of [[Lower Manhattan]]: a breeding ground of crime due to over-crowded housing, poverty and disease. His insights into better housing for New York's poor enabled better living conditions through improved sanitation brought by modern building methods, shared by reformers like [[Jacob Riis]], [[Stanton Coit]], [[Charles B. Stover]] and [[Carl Schurz]]. Stokes' involvement led to his writing of the [[Tenement Housing|New York Tenement Housing Law of 1901]]. |
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Stokes's three other lasting monuments include [[St. Paul's Chapel (Columbia University)|St. Paul's Chapel]] at [[Columbia University]] and 953 Fifth Avenue – an [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Italian Renaissance]] [[palazzo]]-style twenty-five foot wide, fourteen story apartment building occupying the west side of [[Fifth Avenue]] near [[76th Street (Manhattan)|76th Street]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Christopher|title=A Co-op Built by a Designer With an Unusual Obsession|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/realestate/29scap.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 29, 2006}}</ref> 184 Eldridge Street, also by the firm of Stokes and [[John Mead Howells]], has housed the [[University Settlement Society of New York]] since 1898, and is now an historic monument listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places, according to their website. |
Stokes's three other lasting monuments include [[St. Paul's Chapel (Columbia University)|St. Paul's Chapel]] at [[Columbia University]] and 953 Fifth Avenue – an [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Italian Renaissance]] [[palazzo]]-style twenty-five foot wide, fourteen story apartment building occupying the west side of [[Fifth Avenue]] near [[76th Street (Manhattan)|76th Street]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Christopher|title=A Co-op Built by a Designer With an Unusual Obsession|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/realestate/29scap.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 29, 2006}}</ref> 184 Eldridge Street, also by the firm of Stokes and [[John Mead Howells]], has housed the [[University Settlement Society of New York]] since 1898, and is now an historic monument listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places, according to their website. |
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Stokes's bad real estate investments had bankrupted him long after his monumental publishing effort left him in dire straits. Stokes spent his later years working as prints curator at the [[New York Public Library]], specializing in city views. |
Unfortunately, Stokes's bad real estate investments had bankrupted him long after his monumental publishing effort left him in dire straits. Stokes spent his later years working as prints curator at the [[New York Public Library]], specializing in city views. |
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==References== |
==References== |
Revision as of 03:36, 7 June 2016
The Iconography of Manhattan Island is a six volume study of the history of New York City by Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, published between 1915 and 1928 by R. H. Dodd in New York. The work comprehensively records and documents key events of the city's chronology from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Among other things, it shows the evolution of the Manhattan skyline up to the time of publication.[1]
Description
The Iconography of Manhattan Island is a scholarly tour de force: the diligent work of Stokes's worldwide research teams scouring public and private collections of maps, guides and obscure source material to complete his encyclopedic monument to New York City. It describes in great detail the growth of a fortified Dutch settlement into the world's greatest city, and ultimately included six volumes sold to subscribers and libraries in a limited edition of 360 sets printed on Holland-made paper and 42 on Japanese vellum.
The Iconography’s many writers lead the reader through picaresque stories about the humble as well as praising famous men. Containing long forgotten details: accounts from ledgers, accounting books and scraps of paper that the author concedes came from source material literally strewn about in unorganized piles from the floors of far flung academies and international halls of records. Much of this primary source material has been lost to time or destroyed by war. An interesting side note to the rare first edition is a one page apology Stokes makes to subscribers of the rare set of works indicating where paper stock was - by necessity of shortage - changed from the original supplier's high grade Holland paper to similar high grade stock due to the exigency of the Great War.
Unequalled in its density and architectural detail, as a tribute to a city the Iconography stands alone: it is required source material for anyone undertaking a serious study of the city's byways, including the genesis of street names and interesting rambles along the way.
Stokes
I. N. Phelps Stokes himself is an interesting character. Scion of one of the most progressive, wealthy turn-of-the century New York families Stokes came from a world of privilege. Leaving Harvard with a desire to reform housing for the poor, Stokes' first contribution included model working class housing built not far from the infamous "Five Points" neighborhood of Lower Manhattan: a breeding ground of crime due to over-crowded housing, poverty and disease. His insights into better housing for New York's poor enabled better living conditions through improved sanitation brought by modern building methods, shared by reformers like Jacob Riis, Stanton Coit, Charles B. Stover and Carl Schurz. Stokes' involvement led to his writing of the New York Tenement Housing Law of 1901.
Stokes's three other lasting monuments include St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University and 953 Fifth Avenue – an Italian Renaissance palazzo-style twenty-five foot wide, fourteen story apartment building occupying the west side of Fifth Avenue near 76th Street.[2] 184 Eldridge Street, also by the firm of Stokes and John Mead Howells, has housed the University Settlement Society of New York since 1898, and is now an historic monument listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places, according to their website.
Unfortunately, Stokes's bad real estate investments had bankrupted him long after his monumental publishing effort left him in dire straits. Stokes spent his later years working as prints curator at the New York Public Library, specializing in city views.
References
Notes
- ^ Dunlap, David W. (October 28, 2015). "A Visual Banquet of Manhattan Has Its Own Compelling Past". The New York Times.
- ^ Gray, Christopher (January 29, 2006). "A Co-op Built by a Designer With an Unusual Obsession". The New York Times.
Further reading
- Zimmerman, Jean. Love, Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780151014477.
External links
- I.N. Phelps Stokes; The Iconography of Manhattan Island Vol 1. 1915
- I.N. Phelps Stokes; The Iconography of Manhattan Island Vol 2. 1916
- I.N. Phelps Stokes; The Iconography of Manhattan Island Vol 3. 1918
- I.N. Phelps Stokes; The Iconography of Manhattan Island Vol 4. 1922
- I.N. Phelps Stokes; The Iconography of Manhattan Island Vol 5. 1926
- I.N. Phelps Stokes; The Iconography of Manhattan Island Vol 6. 1928
- I.N. Phelps Stokes : His Print Collection and the Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909 - Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York.