Published by the Library of Congress and W.W. Norton & Company, “Public Markets” by Helen Tangires is a richly illustrated compendium of the wide variety of architectural structures devoted to the urban marketplace. Designers, urban planners and those intrigued by the intersection of history, commerce and architecture will find “Public Markets” to be a singular resource on the subject.
Drawn from the Library’s unparalleled collections, more than 800 historical and contemporary photographs, architectural drawings, maps, and posters from around the world depict the many types of public markets: open-air, street, enclosed market houses, central markets and wholesale terminal markets. Examples are organized in sections that define the form and function of these principal market types.
“Public Markets" is the sixth volume in the Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture Design and Engineering series and the first to be international in scope. The series is a project of the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering in the Library of Congress, directed by C. Ford Peatross. “Public Markets” joins “Barns” by John Vlach, “Canals” by Robert Kapsch, “Theaters” by Craig Morrison, “Lighthouses” by Sara E. Wermiel and “Bridges” by Richard L. Cleary.
“Public Markets,” a 336-page hardcover book with 850 images, is available for $75 in bookstores nationwide and through the Library’s Sales Shop. An accompanying CD-ROM contains high-quality downloadable TIFF files of all the illustrations and direct links to the library’s online, searchable catalogs and image files.