Weekly Book Special: Manhattan Unfurled: Delicacy and Grandeur, architecture drawings of New York’s skyline, by Matteo Pericoli

Weekly Book Special: January 5th – 11th

Manhattan Unfurled: Delicacy and Grandeur
Written by Paul Goldberger; Illustrated by Matteo Pericoli
(Hardcover with slipcase, 50 pages, 2001, $30.00)

Recently “Manhattan Unfurled” was featured on CBS Sunday Morning. Published in 2001, this book is a visual love letter to the New York City that once was. Italian architect Matteo Pericoli spent two years drawing 20 bridges, 1,600 buildings and 2,830 waves — in pen without erasing or revising.

“You feel in this drawing the rhythm and energy of New York,” Paul Goldberger, The New Yorker‘s architecture critic told CBS. “There is power and strength, but also an incredible delicacy and intimacy.”

The part on “Manhattan Unfurled” starts at 1:50:

This magnificent Wedgwood blue slipcase — in its original shrinkwrapping — includes two breathtaking 22-foot-long drawings of Manhattan’s East and West Sides in 24 fold-out panels. A visual key identifies landmarks, bridges and streets. Also included is a separate 50-page essay by Goldberger.

You have probably seen Pericoli’s work before: the cover of hip-hop group Beastie Boys’ album “To the 5 Boroughs” and also as inspiration for the iconic New York Yankees baseball cap featuring the Manhattan skyline and Yankee Stadium.

“Every building has character; to draw it is like drawing a face, the things that give it soul,” Percioli told The New Yorker. If you draw something, it is fixed in your mind forever, it is a miracle.”

Pat Alexander, an insurance industry consultant who moved from New York to Dallas has worked in New York and now lives outside of Ft. Worth, Texas, writes on her blog: “I visit this book frequently so I can remember exactly what the skyline looks like.”

Purchase this book for $30: