Lost New York Nathan Silver 1967 First Edition Architecture Preservation

🏛️ **Nathan Silver “Lost New York” — First Edition, 1967, National Book Award Finalist**
*A landmark preservation classic that helped save New York City’s architectural heritage*

**THE BOOK**

Published in 1967 by Weathervane Books (a division of Barre Publishing Co., by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin), “Lost New York” is the defining work of Nathan Silver (1936–2025), a British-American architect and preservation advocate. Silver was teaching at Columbia University when the announced demolitions of Pennsylvania Station and the Metropolitan Opera House on 39th Street compelled him to act. He first mounted an exhibition on the city’s lost built heritage at Columbia in 1964; that exhibition expanded into this book.

The work was a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and sold an estimated 100,000 copies. Silver was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1968.

**THE CONTENT**

At 242 pages with an index, the book is profusely illustrated with black and white photographs documenting demolished and endangered New York landmarks. Sections cover Civic Architecture, the Urban Scene and Public Places, Private Gathering Places, Great Houses, the New York Row House, and Apartment Houses. Interior spreads include photographs of Pennsylvania Station, Castle Garden and the New York Aquarium, the Assay Office at 30 Wall Street, Columbia’s Midtown Campus, and the City Hall Post Office — buildings and spaces that defined the city before the wrecking ball arrived.

**COVER AND DESIGN**

Hardcover in deep blue paper-wrapped boards with a black cloth spine. The front cover features a black and white photograph of a grand interior space with soaring arches and glass ceilings, overlaid with the title “LOST NEW YORK” in bold yellow sans-serif capitals. The back cover carries a powerful New York Times quote from October 30, 1963: “Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and ultimately deserves… we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.” ISBN: 0-517-167034.

**WHY IT MATTERS**

– First edition, first printing — confirmed by full printer’s sequence (a through h) on the copyright page
– National Book Award finalist for Nonfiction, History and Biography
– Authored by an architect and Guggenheim Fellow — Silver brought professional architectural training to every page
– The book is widely credited with helping galvanize the modern preservation movement in New York City
– Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-11220
– Published by Weathervane Books, a respected imprint known for architecture and art titles

**FOR COLLECTORS**

First editions of “Lost New York” in good condition with intact dust jackets are increasingly sought after. This copy has the full printer’s marks intact, confirming it as a true first printing, and the jacket is unclipped and now protected in an archival sleeve. For anyone collecting preservation history, architectural photography, or New York City history, this is the foundational text.

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**Condition:**
This is a “very good” vintage hardcover in deep blue paper wrapped boards with black cloth spine, published in 1967 by Weathervane Books, 242 pages with index, profusely illustrated with art and black and white photographs throughout.

First edition.

No torn, folded, loose or creased pages. NOT ex-library. No writing. Binding is tight and solid, not shook. Text block edges are bright and uniform. Upper board corners are sharp, lowers are bumped. Boards, front and back are uniform, not blemished or spotted or sunned. Spine equally deep and bright, lettering bright, not rubbed.

Matching vintage wrapper is not clipped. Some edge wear with light chipping in places, small loss at lower front spine corner. Inside front flap has a vertical crease and what looks to be the ghost of a tag at the upper portion. No writing. Now protected in a removable archival sleeve.

See accompanying images for full condition details.

Will ship promptly, carefully packaged, free.

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