BOOKS
on the
GENERAL SUBJECT
of
WORLD'S FAIRS
Books listed here are not on a specific World's Fair but give an
overview of many fairs, or they discuss the impact of these
exhibitions on history, society, architecture, technology,
etc. Most have sections devoted to certain ones. Some
address non-world's fairs, as well.
Because some have world's fair information, check listings
on the general subject of Exhibitions.
See the Fairs Book Table of Contents for books generally about Exhibitions or for a Specific Fair.
THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED
WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR ©
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ALL THE WORLD'S A FAIR: (1984)
"Visions of Empire at
American Expositions, 1876-1916"
By Robert W. Rydell, *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226732401
Price: $20.00
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ARCHITECTURE OF WORLD'S FAIRS 1851 - 1970 (1983 ?)
By Wolfgang Friebe. Many photographs show the buildings of
past fairs, many with site maps. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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BOOKS OF THE FAIRS (1990)
By Robert Rydell. This was part of a Smithsonian project and
lists books, manuscripts, and pamphlets in their collection.
It covers fairs and expositions from 1834 - 1915. Besides the
bibliographical information, Rydell traces the evolution of
fairs and discusses their history. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Research Publications
U.S.A.
ISBN:
Price:
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A CHECKLIST OF THE ROBERT A. FEER COLLECTION
OF WORLD'S FAIRS OF NORTH AMERICA (1976)
By ?. This is not a book but just a listing of items held by
The Boston Public Library which were donated by Robert Feer.
They contain memorabilia, books, photos, etc. from fairs 1853
through 1968. (It's included here strictly as a reference
source.)
Published By:
Boston Public Library
ISBN:
Price:
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CHICAGO'S GREAT WORLD'S FAIRS (1995)
"Studies in Design and Material Culture"
By John E. Findling. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Manchester University Press
ISBN: 0719036305
Price: $65.00
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EPHEMERAL VISTAS (1988)
"The Expositions Universelles,
Great Exhibitions and
World's Fairs, 1851-1939 "
By Paul Greenhalgh. *(Not Reviewed).
Published By:
Manchester University Press
Manchester, England
ISBN: 0719022991
Price: Unknown
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FAIR AMERICA (2000)
"World's Fairs in The United States"
By Robert Rydell, Kimberly Pelle, and John Findling.
(No Further Information)
Published By:
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN: 1560983841
Price: $12.76 (U.S. Funds)
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FAIR REPRESENTATIONS: WORLD'S FAIRS AND THE MODERN WORLD (1994)
By Various Authors. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Amsterdam Press
ISBN:
Price:
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FRANCE ON DISPLAY (1998)
By Shanny Peer. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791437108
Price: $21.95 (U.S. Funds)
$65.50 (U.S. Funds) Hardcover
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THE GREAT AMERICAN FAIR (1984)
By Reid Badger. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Nelson hall Publishers
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
ISBN:
Price:
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THE GREAT EXHIBITIONS (1977)
By John Allwood. Discusses over 70 fairs up to Expo 70, with
many photos. Lists all fairs with statistical information.
*(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF
WORLD'S FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS, 1851 - 1988 (1990)
By various authors. This book writes up just about every fair
of consequence in the last 150 years. Tables in the appendix
list other fairs of lesser consequence, fair officials, fair
statistics, and future fairs. *(Highly recommended. An
excellent resource/reference for most fairs up until 2000,
with the added bonus of short paragraphs on "Fairs That Never
Were". The amount of information not readily available is
astounding. Added gifts are a short essay on The Bureau of
International Expositions and excellent bibliographic listings.
If you only have one fairs reference in your library - make it
this one!)
Published By: ISBN: 0-313-26023-0
Greenwood Press
88 Post Road West Price: $79.50 (U.S. Funds)
Westport, Connecticut
U.S.A. 06881
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HISTORY OF CENTENNIALS, EXPOSITIONS, AND WORLD'S FAIRS (1939)
By George Jackson. Discusses mainly American fairs of the
1930s along with fair management. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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HISTORY OF FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS: (1939)
"Their Classifications, Functions, and Values"
By H. Waters. After a short history, Waters discusses
promotion and organization of all types of fairs.
*(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITIONS 1851 - 1900 (1967)
By Julia Davis. This has summaries of fairs for the given
time span and extensive bibliographies, with an emphasis
on Architecture. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
American Association of
Architectural Bibliographers
ISBN:
Price:
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MEET ME AT THE FAIR (1997)
"Country, State, and World's Fairs & Expositions"
By Judy Alter. A history of fairs in the United States traces
their evolution from small animal exhibitions in the early
nineteenth century to modern day events featuring midways,
junk food, and famous entertainers. Discussed are The 1893
Columbian Exposition, The 1939 New York World's Fair, and
other major exhibitions that served as cultural barometers
of their time. Archival photographs, many in colour, accompany
the fast-moving text. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Franklin Watts
ISBN:
Price: $21.00
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MEXICO AT THE WORLD'S FAIRS (1996)
"Crafting a Modern Nation"
By Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo. This details Mexico's
participation in world's fairs from 1889 to 1929. Tenorio-
Trillo contrasts Mexico's presence at the 1889 Paris fair
(where its display was the largest and most expensive Mexico
has ever mounted), with Mexico's presence after the 1910
Mexican Revolution at fairs in Rio de Janeiro in 1922 and
Seville in 1929. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price: $55.00 (U.S. Funds)
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THE OFFICIAL PRICE GUIDE TO WORLD'S FAIR MEMORABILIA (1989)
By Richard Friz. *(No Further Information.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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SELECTED LIST OF REFERENCES ON
FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS, 1928 - 1939 (1938)
By ?. This is bibliographic listings of publications fitting
the above title for the given 11-year span. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Division of Biography
Library of Congress
U.S.A.
ISBN:
Price:
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THE SHOWS OF LONDON (1978)
By Richard Attik. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Unknown
ISBN: 0-674-80731-6
Price: $50.00 (U.S. Funds)
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WORLD EXHIBITIONS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: (1977)
"Pageants of Social and Cultural Change"
By Werner Plum. This discusses early exhibitions from a
Marxist point of view. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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WORLD OF FAIRS (19 )
By Robert Rydell. (No information.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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WORLD ON DISPLAY (1997)
By Eric Breitbart and Edrington Curtus. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
University of New Mexico Press
ISBN: 0826317421
Price: $34.95 (U.S. Funds)
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WORLD'S FAIR (1985)
By E. L. Doctorow. *(No Further Information.)
Published By:
Random House
New York, New York
U.S.A.
ISBN: 0394525280
Price: ?
A 1996 book of the same title and author is published by
NAL/Dutton at $10.95 (U.S. Funds) with an ISBN of 0452275725.
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WORLD'S FAIR COLLECTIBLES (1998)
"Chicago 1933, and New York 1939"
By Howard M. Rossen. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 0764304607
Price: $29.95
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A WORLD'S FAIR FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE (1997)
By Carl Malamud and Tenzin Gyatso. This book discusses the
authors' efforts to place and promote a world-wide Internet
fair. Referred to as "The Invisible Fair", this book tells
the story behind the website which was called "The Internet
World Exposition". It includes two compact discs. `Concert
in the Park' is an audio CD containing original music and a
series of live field recordings from such noted artists as
Ryuichi Sakamoto and Uma Guha. The second disc, a CD-ROM,
contains highlights of the fair, including Gary Kasparov's
commentary on his chess match with the IBM computer `Deep Blue;
and sumo wrestler Konishiki's conversations with children
from all over the world. The CD-ROM also contains video
interviews with the fair creators, the full guest book with
over 5,000 visitor comments, and Carl Malamud's personal
e-mail archive with the original documents and mail messages
that led up to the first world's fair for the information age.
*(Not Reviewed.)
A WORLD'S FAIR FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE
(Continued)
Published By:
MIT Press
Massachusetts, U.S.A.
ISBN: 0262133385
Price: $65.00 (U.S. Funds)
________
WORLD'S FAIR MIDWAYS (1966)
"An Affectionate Account of American Amusement Areas from
The Crystal Palace to the Crystal Ball"
By Edo McCullough. This book, part of the "America In Two
Centuries" series, traces the history of world exhibitions
from the early trade fairs in Europe to the first "official"
international exposition in London, England (1851). From
there, only American fairs are profiled including those
labelled "World's" that are not official fairs but still were
very popular and deserve to be mentioned. *(Recommended.
This is a pretty good reference book as it devotes a separate
chapter to each fair. The views are brief and few pictures are
shown but there is good information here. The story of The
New York 1964/65 World's Fair is particularly fascinating.
There is also a longer chapter devoted to other fairs and
exhibitions, and to carnivals & amusement/theme parks.
The sub-title is somewhat misleading because it implies
amusement PARKS are being covered, and The Crystal Palace
was a pavilion at the 1851 London, ENGLAND fair.)
WORLD'S FAIR MIDWAYS (Continued)
Published By:
Ayer Company
1976 Reprint Published By:
Arno Press Incorporated
New York, New York
U.S.A.
ISBN: 0-405-07700-9
Price: (Unknown)
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WORLD'S FAIRS (1998)
By Erik Mattie. This 256-page books discusses 27 world's
fairs, from 1851 to 2000, through the use of original plans,
design studies, and period photographs, programs and
postcards. Many lesser-known exhibitions are included, along
with over 300 images, 74 in color. *(Not Reviewed)
Published By:
ISBN: 1568981325
Price: œ45.00 (UK Funds)
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WORLD'S FAIRS AND EXPOS: (1982)
"The Modern Era"
By John Hill and Beverly Payne. A resource that lists
publications regarding fairs from 1962 - 1982 with planning,
construction, traffic, architecture, and residual use, the
main emphasis. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
Canberra College of
Advanced Education
ISBN:
Price:
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WORLD'S FAIRS AND THE END OF PROGRESS (1999)
By Alfred Heller. *(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
World's Fair Incorporated
ISBN: 0966562003
Price: $24.95 (U.S. Funds)
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WORLD'S FAIRS FROM LONDON 1851 TO CHICAGO 1893 (1890)
By C. B. Norton. Shows various buildings in the fairs of the
given time span and a preview of the 1893 fair.
*(Not Reviewed.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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WORLD'S FAIRS SINCE 1960: (1983)
"A Bibliographic Overview"
By Alva and Susan Stewart. This book discusses 7 fairs in
the time span of 1962 - 1982. *(No Further Information.)
Published By:
ISBN:
Price:
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