Norton Wagner

Unveiling the Universe: Where We Are and What We Are as Told by the Telescope and Spectroscope…, Scranton 1936

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Per cortesia di David Kolb, animatore e curatore in Facebook di una pagina dedicata ai Vintage Astronomy Books, pubblico il suo l’articolo dedicato al libro divulgativo di Norton Wagner a cui fa seguito una scelta delle pagine più significative che comprendono anche quelle  dedicate alle carte celesti relative alle costellazioni visibili nelle diverse stagioni.

"Here is an interesting astronomy picture book titled "Unveiling the Universe: Where We Are and What We Are as Told by the Telescope and Spectroscope" that was published in 1936 by Norton Wagner. The publishing company "The Research Publishers" did not waste any space in this book by filling the endpapers and flyleaves with text and pictures. The layout of this book feels much like a newspaper because the text is laid out in columns and the reader is occasionally directed to turn to another page for the continuation what they are reading. For example, the section on the spectroscope that starts on the front flyleaf continues on page 71. This book is also different in that the frontispiece starts on the front endpaper and continues on both sides of the front flyleaf. All three frontispiece parts are clearly labeled 'frontispiece' in the bottom left corners. The pagination is also a bit off in that the front endpaper is page 2. It looks like the publisher was more interested in making the book visually appealing, by maximizing the number of pictures and information within the book, than adhering to a normal book layout. Another thing about the book that is odd is the strong chemical odor throughout the pages. There are no signs that anything has ever been spilled on the book so I think the odor may be a byproduct of the printing process that was used. When I search for information on the publisher I am unable to find anything. A search for books printed by the publisher on ABE Books only turns up a couple other copies of this title so perhaps the publisher was very short lived since 1936 was at the depth of the Great Depression."

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di  FELICE STOPPA

SETTEMBRE 2022