JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post 

This lovely cover belongs to W(illiam) A(iken) Starrett’s Skyscrapers and the Men who Build Them, published in 1928.  It is a design cut into the publisher’s blue cloth and highlighted a bit in gilt, and at least to my experience is fairly well singular.  Or at least very unusual.  The “skyscraper” as a building was at least seven decades old (as was the safety brake for the elevators–first referred to as “vertical rail car”– that made these six+ storey buildings  possible back in the early 1860’s) when the Starrett book appeared. Its an interesting achievement, and seems to be filled with a fair amount of history (he does talk about the history of elevators, for example) but mainly concentrates on the new buildings of the 1920’s.  Mostly, though, I liked the book cover. 

I like the foreground of the more-antique skyscraper in blue, giving way to the recent turn-of-the-century-esque skyscraper in gold, and then the massive under-construction monster in blue in the background–all set against a gold sky.  Its a job well done by the nameless designer.  The design has a Renaissance flavor to it, skyscrapers or not. 

A review of the book appeared in the Town Planning Review in 1931 and is available in full text  here.
And a detail of those lovely (2mm) windows at bottom: