Under the Turquoise Sky in 1905

We have already seen a 1902 booklet by this name, as well as at least four later editions. The 1902 version contained text written by “Henry P. Phelps of New York,” who wrote travel booklets for several railroads. This one is attributed to John Sebastian, who was the Rock Island’s third vice-president in charge of passenger traffic.

Click image to download a 19.7-MB PDF of this 84-page booklet.

This booklet is longer (84 pages vs. 68 for the 1902 edition) and has far more text (around 350 words per page vs. 275 in 1902). But the bigger type of the 1902 edition was more readable. This booklet has more photos but the photos in the 1902 edition are printed better, probably because it was made with higher-quality paper. Only one or two photos from 1902 found their way into this booklet.


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