The NYT had an article today on a new book, showing side-by-side photos, taken in 1874 and 2000, of some Old West sites.
I have a collection of Then and Now books from Dover Publications, as well: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, D.C. And whenever I visit a city, I check to see if the “local interest” sections of bookshops have “Then and Now” books (they frequently do!).
Quality control, though: Thunder Bay has recently put out a series of these, and they suck. They’re not written by locals, and the photos are only taken from approximately the same location. Lazy bastards.
I love 'em, too. My budget for coffee-table books is unfortunately rather low, but they’re always great to look at. I saw one at B&N not long ago that consisted of aerial photographs of the major East Coast and Midwest cities taken over the last 75 years that was just terrific. I especially love to see them for places I’ve lived, just to see how history has worked itself on the area.
I saw a “then and now” photograph taken in the desert outside Tucson, AZ. It was depressing. The cacti from the original picture were almost all gone (in a period of around 50 years). They had been stolen or otherwise wiped out…no buildings, but no cacti either. Bastards.
I think I bought that Tucson book for my sister last time I was in Arizona, Echo. Oh, PL, those Dover books are actually pretty inexpensive paperbacks. Dover has some great stuff. (No, I don’t work for them!)
P.S. I’ve been bookfindering for “Then and Now” books on London and/or Paris, and can’t find any . . . The only ones they have are social histories; not actual side-by-side then-and-now photos, like they have on so many U.S. cities. Anyone know if any have ever been done on European locales?