W12: Roma

It has always been my intention to incorporate some style aspect of the books I get into my reviews so when this week’s Biblio-Mat offering dropped out, I could not have been more excited.  In part because it lets me try something different, but mostly cause I had a lot going on this week and really didn’t have time to plow through another 200 page text.

Not pictured: Taxi Scams and Tourist Overcharging.

Titled Roma – Foro Romana Palatino with the byline of ‘Fotografia ANDERSON’, the book was simply a collection of twenty postcards of the Roman Forum bound between two thin pieces of cardboard by a piece of string. It’s undated but I would guess it was from around the 1950s based on the quality of the images and the printing style.

There’s really not much to say in a review outside of the pictures looking nice so I decided to walk around a ten minute radius of my place and create my own album of postcards, complete with handcrafted binding and perforations for each page (I get carried away easily). Since the Roma book was all images of the Roman Forum ruins decimated by age, I decided to snap pics of the Toronto waterfront marred by new developments. This city seems like it is perpetually in construction mode. 

The complete book in a slideshow can be found here.

Full size pics of the originals can be found here. 

Had no gold ink so graphite will have to do.

 

Book rating: 7/10 (Encyclopedia-worthy photos)

Random quote: "Vendesi a li______ senza soprapprezzo" (Stamped on cover, parts of the third word rubbed off...)