New York Times Co., Publisher, 1923. Monumental oversized American pictorial volume measuring 16” x 11”, overflowing with hundreds of dramatic sepia illustrations and photographic images capturing the heroes, battles, athletes, actors, and defining moments of late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. Retaining its original embossed purple cloth binding with gilt Art Deco decoration.

Turning the pages feels like stepping directly into the pulse of Jazz Age America — where Civil War cannons thunder across Charleston Harbor, President Wilson delivers his historic war message before Congress, heavyweight champions battle beneath glaring ring lights, and the giants of early professional baseball stare out from the pages in oversized portrait form.

The sports section is particularly extraordinary, featuring Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson, Frank Frisch, Max Carey, Charlie Grimm, Joe Judge, and numerous other legendary ballplayers shown in full action poses and richly toned photographic portraits from baseball’s golden age. Boxing imagery includes the famed Jess Willard vs. Luis Ángel Firpo heavyweight boxing match captured with all the raw energy and spectacle of the roaring twenties.

Equally compelling are the historic military scenes — Civil War bombardments, burning warships, marching troops, and patriotic wartime imagery rendered with dramatic composition and cinematic scale. Intermixed throughout are leading actors and actresses of the American stage, aviation subjects, architecture, exploration, opera, and scenes of modern America emerging into the twentieth century. Condition: showing honest age wear throughout including brittle paper, edge chipping, scattered tears, loose pages, weakening to the binding, and age toning consistent with the fragile nature of large early twentieth century pictorial publications. Most pages remain present and highly displayable despite wear, giving the volume a wonderful untouched attic-found character.