The Old Lighthouses of the Hudson River.

Octavo, white cloth (hardcover), map illustrated endpapers, [xvi] pp + 73 pp + [ii] pp. Very Good, with light soiling. From Foreword: The lighthouses of the Hudson River, even though their demise was comparatively recent, seem in our minds to hark back to an era as remote and pleasant as an actual lighthouse existence of perhaps a century ago. Here in mankind's nearest equivalent to an ivory tower, one might enjoy peace and splendid isolation that was comforting but not hermitlike, for past the front door went the great and fascinating water traffic of bygone years. From Introduction: Much has been written about the Hudson River; its beauty, history, and old estates. Lately, we hear much of its pollution and the neglect of its shorelines. But this little book is a tribute solely to its Lighthouses and their function, before they are all of the past. Some have already been torn down and others are doomed, neglected, decaying and vandalized. Little Tarrytown, alone, seems in good hands. The sloops, nightboats, the river pleasure steamers that carried thousands each summer to the mountains are all gone. Even the fishermen's nets and the long strings of barges with their families on board are no more. Now the River is dredged regularly for large tankers and freighters from foreign ports. And huge cement barges load at plants that have stacks belching out clouds of noxious smoke. And tall towers take the place of the Lighthouses. New York, Hudson River, Lighthouse, Americana, U.S.-iana zslic. …