Magic Motorways

New York: Random House, 1940. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very Good+/Very Good+. Original cloth. 4to; pp. 297, illustrated in b/w throughout, with photographs, diagrams, and plans fo the general social concepts that developed through Geddes' stewardship of the FUTURAMA exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Spine a touch darkened, pastedowns foxed; overall, a very nice copy, much nicer than usual in the original fragile dust jacket, lightly worn with some quite light edge chipping and a short tear here and there. A legendary early treatise on the problems of modern transportation, this copy is inscribed "with love" and signed by Norman Bel Geddes in March of 1940 (the year of publication) at the top of the front pastedown. Bel Geddes designed the famous General Motors Pavilion for the 1939 NY World's Fair, which included the Highway and Horizons exhibit, more commonly known as "Futurama." He helped establish a new professional niche -- that of the "industrial designer," arguing for a closer relationship between engineering and design.