(NEW YORK CITY) Albums documenting the construction of Manha

Sale 2473 - Lot 171

Price Realized: $ 5,460

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000

(NEW YORK CITY.) Albums documenting the construction of Manhattan Bridge. 370, [23] silver-print photographs, most about 4 1/2 x 6 inches, a few about half that, each numbered, captioned, and dated in the negative, mounted in albums. 4 volumes, oblong 8vo, original limp cloth, minor wear, minor vermin damage to boards; contents well-preserved; compiler's stamps and tags on front pastedowns. New York, 1907-10

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

The Manhattan Bridge opened to traffic in 1910, the last of three suspension bridges connecting lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. These albums document the project from the anchorage foundations in June 1907 through raising of the cables in June 1908, to laying of the railroad tracks and roadway in May 1910. The danger faced by the construction workers and even their managers is evident in many of the photographs. These albums were likely compiled by civil engineer Western Radford Bascome (1867-1940), a graduate of Washington University. They were acquired from the Bascome family along with similar albums documenting the Williamsburg Bridge which had Bascome's ownership tags (Swann's 28 September 2017 sale, lot 190), although the present albums are unmarked.