Connecticut: A Guide to Its Roads, Lore, and People
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover with Dust Jacket.
THE WPA GUIDE TO CONNECTICUT — A LANDMARK OF AMERICAN DOCUMENTATION.
A first edition of the Connecticut volume in the celebrated American Guide Series, produced under the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. Created through the work of writers, researchers, historians, and local contributors across the country, the series documented the landscapes, communities, history, architecture, folklore, and cultural character of the United States.
Connecticut: A Guide to Its Roads, Lore, and People is among the most highly regarded state guides in the series, distinguished by its extensive historical material, architectural descriptions, transportation routes, maps, and photographic documentation.
A DISTINCTIVE AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES VOLUME.
This Connecticut guide is notable for its prominent association with author John H. Davis and for its extraordinary publication history. It became one of the most frequently reprinted volumes in the American Guide Series, reflecting enduring interest in Connecticut history, travel, architecture, and regional culture.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
+++ Red fabricoid binding with gilt-stamped lettering to spine; octavo; 8.25 inches tall; xxxiii, 539 pages, including index and bibliography.
+++ Illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs arranged in eight sections emphasizing Connecticut architecture and historic sites.
+++ Includes 23 maps within the text, a large folding colored map with three additional maps on the verso housed in the rear pocket, and a tour map guide printed on the front endpapers.
+++ Includes the original rear pocket map assembly and the original dust jacket.
+++ Published as part of the American Guide Series by Houghton Mifflin Company in association with the Federal Writers' Project.
CONDITION: VERY GOOD WITH DUST JACKET. The binding is tight and square. Text clean with light, even age-toning. Moderate shelf handling wear with foxing confined primarily to the preliminary pages.
The original dust jacket is present, protected in Mylar. The jacket is price-clipped, lightly rubbed, and edge-worn, with a small area of loss at the top of the spine.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: THE AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES & THE WPA ERA:
The Federal Writers' Project's American Guide Series stands as one of the most ambitious documentary publishing efforts of the New Deal era. Beginning during the Great Depression, the project employed writers and researchers throughout the United States to record local history, geography, architecture, folklore, industry, and culture.
The resulting state guides remain important primary sources for understanding America during the 1930s, preserving descriptions of communities, landmarks, and regional identities that might otherwise have disappeared.
CONNECTICUT DOCUMENTED IN THE NEW DEAL ERA:
The Connecticut volume combines travel information with historical interpretation, architectural observation, regional folklore, and documentary photography. Its emphasis on roads, towns, historic buildings, and local traditions reflects the broader goal of the American Guide Series: presenting the United States as a collection of distinctive communities rather than simply a collection of destinations.
GENRES: American Guide Series, WPA Publications, Travel Guides, Regional History, Americana, Documentary Photography, New Deal Literature, Architectural History
SUBJECTS: Connecticut History, Federal Writers' Project, Works Progress Administration, WPA, American Guide Series, New Deal, New England Travel, Connecticut Architecture, Historic Sites, American Folklore, Regional Studies, Road Guides, Depression-Era Publishing
Ref: Scharf & Schoyer, #108; Hunter, 6
Item #19183
Price: $135.00
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