Victorian Hartford presents postcards from the 19th century to illustrate the history of a city that was not only the richest, but considered by many to be the most beautiful in the USA. The images come from the private collection of the author, and most are not available on the internet or from any other source that I've seen.

In the 19th century, Hartford was well-known for its impressive architecture and its numerous beautiful parks. It boasted of the first public art museum and the first municipal rose garden, as well as factories that made Colt firearms, typewriters, sewing machines, and automobile tires.

Images in this work are present at 2 per page, making for about 250 images. Their quality is good, and the coverage, broad in scope. Each image is accompanied with a sentence or two of explanatory text.

The book's chapters (and associated images) are as follows. Chapter 1, "Infrastructure and Transportation" shows ships (the Hartford & NY Transportation Co., which took customers down to NYC for $1.25), trolleys, automobiles, and railroads. Chapter 2 depicts "Government, Public, and Private Structures", including the state capital, courthouses, the post office, and various armories. Chapter 3 focuses on "Buildings and Business", including edifices of insurance companies, manufacturing companies. Religious buildings are shown in Chapter 4, "Faith and Religion". Chapter 5 is on "Institutions, Hospitals, and Education", and shows the Orphan Asylum, the Retreat for the Insane, the Old Folks Home, the Almshouse (for those in reduced circumstances), the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, the Home for Cultured People (a home and conservatory for musicians), Hartford Hospital, the Morse Business College, and Trinity College. The latter shows images that I've not seen elsewhere. In Chapter 6, "Memorials, Monuments, and a Museum" one sees the Civil War Monument, Soldier and Sailors Memorial Arch, and the Wadsworth Atheneum, while Chapter 7 shows "Grand Hotels".

Chapter 8 is devoted to the "Colt Empire" and "Nook Farm", including Samuel Colt's magnificent mansion, with its estate gardens, with fountains, lush landscapes, and greenhouses, as well as the houses of Harriet Beecher Stowe and of Mark Twain. Chapter 9, on "Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Time" reveals the magnificent Goodwin Park (at 237 acres), the rustic Keney Park (with its 693 acres of woods, pastures, streams, and wildlife), Riverside Park (63 acres on the Connecticut River), plus Elizabeth Park, Bushnell Park, Luna Park, and the Park River Falls. Finally, Chapter 10, "Hartford Living" shows street scenes, apartments, brownstone row houses, and a Vanderbilt mansion. The book is concluded with a bibliography and an index.

Contemporary readers will likely be saddened that so much splendor has been lost, having succumbed to overpopulation and the ubiquitous social ills and challenges of urban life. However, residents may be inspired to seek out what remains of this glorious past in buildings and parks that remain. ( )