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History Book, Business Tour of Chicago, Published 1887

$1,200

A Business Tour of Chicago Depicting Fifty Years’ Progress
Marr-Richards Photoengraving (printer)
Elmer Epenetus Barton, Chicago: 1887
Red cloth cover with gold lettering, quarto
12.25 x 9.5 inches, overall
$1,200

Pictorial book Chicago business history, issued in 1887 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the city. The text describes a large, diverse number of prominent Chicago businesses including manufacturers, railroads, banks, retailers, etc. Some of the descriptions are accompanied by illustrations. For example, one page discusses Rand McNally & Co. with an image of their factory. The book also describes A.H. Andrews & Co. a globe manufacturer. The rear portion consists of numerous advertisements of local businesses. The publisher apparently intended the book as a promotional tool for Chicago businesses by including a decorative chromolithograph frontis page that could be inscribed to the recipient, imprinted, “With Greetings of the Business Men and Business Interests of Chicago. From ___ See Page __. “

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Description

The title page describes the contents:

Sights and Scenes in the Great City. Her Growing Industries and Commercial Development, Historical and Descriptive. Prominent Places and People. Episodes in Useful Lives, and Local Reminiscences. For the use of the Buyer, Shipper, Tourist, Inventor, and all others interested in the growth and advancement of the Garden City. For Popular Distribution. Illustrated.

Elmer Epenetus Barton published a series of city business books like this one, including volumes on Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. Given the rarity and desirability of the Chicago book, it was reprinted in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing.

Condition: Contents generally very good, though printed on inexpensive paper and toned overall. Spine cracked and end pages loose. Covers worn, soiled, lightly dampstained, but intact. Could use minor work by Green Dragon Bindery.

Additional information

Century

19th Century

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