Rare Book Monthly
Collecting Travels and Voyages in the Modern Era
America: before we got slick
The advertisements begin to be familiar. Moore-McCormack Lines, now gone but once the epitome of luxury travel, offer trips to the Caribbean from New York, Norfolk and Baltimore. RCA and Zenith buy regular space to create the "concert hall in the home," an advance on the Victrola. Cadillac offers barges that were almost every man's dream. Pontiac offers the Grand Prix with 389 cubic inches of V-8 engine and [but not mentioned] 4 miles to the gallon. Who cared? Gas was twenty-five cents. There is an on-going increase in ads for alcohol. Pot was taking off and alcohol probably felt the need to compete publicly with its silent but increasingly popular alternative. The booze is noticeably hard. We were already drinking Catawba Pink and pronouncing it good. And we were also pronouncing Kraft's Macaroni and Cheese good so we were half right. We would shift to European Cabernet in another ten years and then discover we could grow our own grapes in California, Oregon, Washington, New York and Pennsylvania.
Both Volkswagen and Mercedes were offering European Delivery in the age before conflicting emissions standards would render this impossible. Citroen offered a similar arrangement although we now know not many of them made it to the American shores. Whoever tried them overseas probably left them there. Their look was decidedly '30s and we were now in the modern age. The few that did make it to America were stared at every day until years later when we realized they were rare, even collectible, at least over here. By that time we could not find any Edsalls either. Life was simpler then.
Just enough time has gone by for the content of Holliday to become both quaint and interesting and I have come to realize this is the bedrock anchor of a collection of travels and voyages in the modern era. If someone would like to own this run they should contact me. My groaning shelves are demanding respite and perhaps someone is ready to get serious about building that collection. If so, the price is $2,500. Shipping will be extra. The memories, that every page evokes, are on the house.
56 volumes
Each 11 x 13.75"
Roughly 8.5 feet
450 lbs plus packing
wikib2009@gmail.com or 415.823.6678
