1933 Chicago World's Fair (A Century of Progress International Exposition): 2 items

Chicago, Illinois, 1933. First Edition First Printing . Soft cover. VG-. The 1933/34 "A Century of Progress International Exposition,'' also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was designed to help people who might be "still mired in the malaise of the Great Depression" to have hope & look forward to a future would be better & brighter, driven by innovation in science and technology. As they visited exhibitions across the 427 acres of the fair, visitors saw the latest wonders in rail & automobile, architecture, & robotics, & were presented with the idea that technological progress offered the path to "a utopia, or perfect world, founded on democracy and manufacturing." These two items from the fair include 1) an accordion pack of 18 dual-sided linen postcards with Art-Deco graphics depicting fair exhibits & buildings, housed in a colorful paper sleeve designed to mail as a postcard. Condition is VG+: all cards are Fine & flawless. The postcard sleeve shows some rubbing to lower edges & a few scratched/rubbed spots on the address side to the upper-left corners, slight bumping & creasing to lower corner on that same side. 2) Booklet: Panthéon de la Guerre (Cyclorama of the World War and Its Heroes) New York: The Stockbridge Press, Inc., 1932. Commemorative booklet celebrating this huge circular painting that was displayed for the duration of the fair as part of its "Century of Progress" exhibition. Acclaimed as "the largest painting in the world" at 402 ft long x 45 ft high (18,000 square feet), it was begun in Paris in Sept.1914 & would eventually incorporate the artistic contributions of 28 famous French artists, who created its 6,000 life-size portraits of World War I heroes & leaders (representing all 24 of the Allied nations which had participated in the war), along with correct landscapes of the battlefields of France & Belgium as they appeared during the war. The painting was acquired by US businessmen in 1927 and exported to New York, where it was displayed at Madison Square Garden before going on tour around the country before becoming part of the Fair. Quarto (9.75" x 11.25) in decorative wrappers, 16 pp., stapled binding. An image of the great bronze Winged Victory in all her Art-Deco glory, taken from the center of the Pantheon, graces the front cover; rear cover is plain beige. Essays about the painting & the story it tells are complemented with black-and-white photographs throughout. Attached in the center is a 12-panel full-color foldout of the Pantheon, with descriptive text. Condition of the booklet overall is VG-, with scattered, short tears & chips, light soil, small spot of insect damage to back, & back & front covers completely separated from each other at spine. Interior pages & the foldout mural are virtually flawless! Our photos depict the exact books you will receive, never "stock" images of items we don't actually have! Same day shipping on all orders received Weekdays by 2 pm (Pacific) time; later orders, Weekends, & holidays ship very next business day.