LAST, Jay. THE COLOR EXPLOSION. Nineteenth-Century American Lithography.

Los Angeles: Hillcrest Press, 2005.

4to, (4), 316pp, 400 fine color illus. Cloth, dust jacket. New. $65.

¶  First Edition of a wonderful new reference book on American litho graphic printing,

mainly of the second half of the nineteenth century. Last discusses the European roots of lithography

and its commercial and technical development in America, focusing on the lithographic companies

and on chromo lithographic processes and production. The finely printed color plates reproduce

contemporary prints, maps, city views, advertising cards, posters, and box labels,

mainly from the author's collection.