NEW!
New York Bound Books is pleased to announce that Silver Connections Volume II by Philip Ashforth Coppola is now back in print in a limited edition!
448 pages, 8 1/2 x 11
includes appendices, bibliography, & index
Limited Edition, 100 copies
$175.00
To please can order, please email
info@newyorkboundbooks.com
Read a recent article about Philip Ashforth Coppola by David Dunlap in The New York Times here.
Dual contracts coverDUAL CONTRACTS PORTFOLIO:
IRT PELHAM BAY LINE
by Phillip Ashforth Coppola
Four Oceans Press, 2015.
illustrated throughout, bibliography
$40.00
To please can order, please email info@newyorkboundbooks.com.
Silver Connections
A Fresh Perspective on the New York Area Subway Systems
by Philip Ashforth Coppola (The Four Oceans Press)
Silver ConnectionsVolume I (Books 1 & 2) REVISED $175.
Book I 430 pages, including bibliography
Book II 460 pages, including bibliography
Print run of 60 copies (28 copies remaining)
Silver Connections, Volume I, celebrates the construction of New Yorks very first subway line; it tells the story from the City Hall celebrations with fireworks when they commenced the project in 1900, through the years of trench digging and dynamiting and tunneling, to the October day in 1904 when the route opened to the public, and Mayor McClellan drove the first subway train careening around the curves of the brand-new tunnels until he surrendered the silver controller (a Tiffany special!) at last at 103rd Street. Theres an account of the advertising war (the ads won), and meanwhile a look at the subway pioneer All Stars Contractor J.B. McDonald, Chief Engineer Parsons, the architect C. Grant LaFarge, and August Belmont II, of Belmont Park racetrack fame, who financed and ran the IRT. And also a look at the superb artisans who translated LaFarges plans into our excellent subway icons: the Astor beaver, Fultons steamboat, the Columbia University Seal, & the eagles at Brooklyn Bridge (forever hidden!?), 14th Street (recently recovered!), and 33rd Street. And much Much MORE!!!
From 1997 to 2013, I revised Volume I of Silver Connections, excising superfluous text, delving into further research, adding in that much more information to the chapters, revisiting many of the station to work up their layouts, and drawing about 60 new illustrations. And writing two appendices, and upgrading the Bibliography. All of the 1984 illustrations are retained, and there are new drawings of Bleecker Street, the 14th Street eagles, 18th Streets name panel, and exterior and interior views of Dyckman Street. Station descriptions have been upgraded, though they remain grounded in the stationss 1984 status. This volume is not only a record of what we have, but now virtually an historic document, since several stations have been changed over the past 30 years. Appendix A gives us a look at the Rapid Transit Commissions years of planning and progress (not without their trials and setbacks), and Appendix B examines the terms of the 1899 Contract and its surprises.
Silver Connections
Silver Connections
Silver Connections
Vol III $125.
Volume III covers the IRT stations (1905-1908) in The Bronx; No. 1 train up Broadway to Van Cortlandt Park, and the No. 2 & 5 train route along 149th St., Westchester Ave., Southern Blvd., & Boston Rd. to West Farms/East Tremont Ave. & Bronx Park. Some Bronx history noted; construction progress related. And also : The IRT stations (1908) in Brooklyn; No.s 4 & 5 trains along Fulton St. & then Flatbush Ave. to Atlantic Avenue. Construction related.
Silver Connections
Vol IV $150.
Volume IV recounts the history of the Hudson & Manhattan RR, 1900-1962, and the Port Authority take-over, creating the PATH system, 1962-1998. History of Wm. G. McAdoo, company organization & systems construction, the P.A. take-over, and progress since then, including 1993 terrorist bombing of World Trade Center.