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Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2012 Issue

Rare and Unexpected Items from Extant Americana

- by Michael Stillman

The Graf Zeppelin docks to the Empire State Building – an event that never happened.

The Graf Zeppelin docks to the Empire State Building – an event that never happened.

Item 8 is a photograph of the Graf Zeppelin tethered to the Empire State Building. Did this actually happen? The answer is that it was supposed to. The idea was that the dirigible would moor to the top of the world's tallest building and a gangplank would allow passengers to move from the building to the airship. That is not a plank I would have wanted to walk. It turned out no one did. The wind currents alongside the building made the mooring way too unsteady. The photograph, then, is a fake, the ship and the building cut and pasted together in an early version of photoshopping. $750.

Extant Americana may be reached at 646-504-1775 or info@extantamericana.com. Their website is www.extantamericana.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <b><center>Sotheby's<br>Fine Books, Manuscripts & More<br>Available for Immediate Purchase</center></b> <b>Sotheby’s:</b> William Shakespeare.<br><i>The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare,</i> 1960. 7,210 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Charles Dickens.<br><i>A Christmas Carol,</i> First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> William Golding.<br><i>Lord of the Flies,</i> First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD <b><center>Sotheby's<br>Fine Books, Manuscripts & More<br>Available for Immediate Purchase</center></b> <b>Sotheby’s:</b> Lewis Carroll.<br><i>Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There,</i> Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> J.R.R. Tolkien.<br><i>The Hobbit,</i> First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD <b>Sotheby’s:</b> John Milton.<br><i>Paradise Lost,</i> 1759. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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