train in Vienna Northwest Station, 1875

 

Detail from a painting by Karl Karger (Austrian, 1848-1913).

B & O first passenger car

 A horse drawn wagon on rails.

new book on classic cars

1974 Leyland P76 SuperSedan

New Zealand Classic Car is our favorite NZ magazine, and this new book is an all-color presentation of the articles about the most appealing cars it has featured over the past 22 years.  None of course are idigenous - our own book Alternative Drivestyles covers them.  Nevertheless, there are some rare and, needless to say, valuable cars included.  As in the magazine, the editors have sought to cater for different countries of origin; thus there is a mix of American, Australian, British and European examples, all lovingly restored and cared for by their owners.  The age range is from a 1955 MG TF to a 1991 Ferrari F40 (maybe a little too recent to be considered a classic?).  It is all intended to be eye-candy, including interiors and engines, the sort of photos that the classic car enthusiast will drool over.

Unlike the crown-quarto format that publishers like HarperCollins prefer, the format here is full size A4 (30 x 21 cm or 11.7 x 8.3 inches) landscape on glossy paper and hardcovered.

The only gripe, and unfortunately it is a significant one, is that some cars have been spread across the gutter, eliminating about 1 cm of the photo down it.  Note to book designers everywhere - do not spread a vehicle across a gutter if it can be avoided!  That isn't so bad with a stapled magazine, but with a hardback book it's just grimace stuff (see our post on the book The New Zealand Steam Locomotive).

The 'volume one' indicates that there is more planned and we look forward to it.

1951 Henry J promo item

mid-1950s MG advert

1970 Chrysler 300 advert

Japanese military train illustration, 1930s

We think this refers to what is known as the Manchurian Incident, an event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria: on 18 September 1931, a small quantity of dynamite was detonated close to a railway owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang). Although the explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the lines and a train passed over the area minutes later, the Japanese Army, accusing Chinese dissidents of the act, invaded and occupied Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. The ruse was soon exposed to the international community, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations.

steam locomotives at the US-Mexico border crossing at Nogales

 

No date. It looks like a Mogul (2-6-0) and Southern Pacific de Mexico on the tender. See earlier post on Nogales.

our current maritime book list

Danish travel office stamp

Date uncertain, but probably pre-WW2.  Main office at Kristen Bernikows Gade, København and branch office in the hall of the main station.