From Grace Kelly to the humble spoon, coffee-table books cry out to be gifted
“The unassuming poetry of bridges reveals itself to those who would see it,” Judith Dupré observes in the foreword to this splendid volume, which amply demonstrates her point. The arrangement is chronological, starting with the Pont du Gard in Nimes, France, which dates to 18 B.C.E., and concluding with two — the Chenab Bridge in India and the Danjiang Bridge in Taiwan — expected to be completed in 2020. The Ben Franklin doesn’t make the cut, but the Delaware Aqueduct between Lackawaxen, Pa., and Minisink Ford, N.Y., does. Built between 1848 and 1850 by John A. Roebling, who also built the Brooklyn Bridge, it is “the oldest wire cable suspension bridge still standing that retains most of its original structure.”