Editorial Reviews
Antiques Journal
World's fair have traditionally been the yardstick by which nations measure their industrial rank and inventiveness. They are open forums for participating countries to show off their most crowning achievements. While other books on individual fairs exist, World's Fairs by historian and collector Erik Mattie, is the first illustrated volume to present an illustrated volume to present an international history of the most notable world exhibitions.
Over time, the original intention of the fairs to encourage world peace through world trade has changed, as has the general nature of the fairs themselves. World peace and free trade have becomes separate ideals, and the preeminent attraction of fairs today is their entertainment value. For example, displays of national identity are more popular now (ie., picturesque historical villages) than displays of a country's industrial products. While smaller, more specialized fairs have taken precedence in industry and technology, world's fairs still possess the ability to excite the imagination, instill national pride, and stimulate the senses of their visitors.
Book Description
As showcases of design, architecture, technology, industry, and politics, world's fairs have served as overviews of society's accomplishments as well as barometers of our optimism about the future. They have captured the imagination of the hundreds of millions of people who attend them, and are ongoing objects of fascination, as witnessed by the collectibles, web sites, histories, and memoirs that surround them.
World's Fairs looks back on 150 years of looking forward. Surprisingly, this is the first illustrated history of all major exhibitions, from the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in London in 1851 to the upcoming fair in Hanover in 2000. In all, 27 fairs are detailed through their histories, structures, and graphics.
While many of the products and ideas promoted at past fairs never materialized, many became commonplace: television, for example, was first shown at the 1939 New York fair. Similarly, while many buildings and landscapes built for fairs have become worldwide icons-the Eiffel Tower, the Crystal Palace, the Barcelona Pavilion, the Seattle Space Needle, the Buckminster Fuller dome in Montreal-hundreds of splendid structures have been forgotten. World's Fairs uses original plans, design studies, period photo-graphs, and ephemera such as programs and postcards to recreate the visual richness, color, and excitement of world's fairs.
World's Fairs
World's Fairs,Erik Mattie,Princeton Arch,1568981325,19th century,20th century,Architecture,Customs & Traditions,History,History - General,History - General History,Modern Architecture,Trade shows,World - General,Architecture / General,Exhibition
Book Details:
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