Pan Am — History, Design & Identity · Premium Edition

by Matthias C. Hühne

Pan Am · History, Design & Identity is the captivating story of an airline company that refused to consider anything impossible and single-handedly revolutionized air travel despite ­innumerable technical, political and organizational obstacles. From modest beginnings in the late 1920s, Pan Am developed into the world’s best known airline company and served as an ambassador of American values and leadership. No other company has had a comparable influence on the ­airline industry, continually finding solutions for problems considered insolvable by others.

Pan Am’s rapid rise was accompanied by highly effective publicity campaigns which featured some of the best design and advertising in the industry. This book takes the reader on a journey into the elite world of early air travel and into the jet age when a plane ticket became ­affordable for the general public and mass tourism took off. The blue globe symbol, developed in the mid 1950s, gained fame around the world. An icon and legend, it has remained in our collective visual memory down to the present day.

The author explores the astonishing complexity of the company and its founder, Juan Trippe, including some of the lesser known activities. For example, Pan Am for more than a decade built and operated the largest airline in China. Moreover, it founded Intercontinental Hotels, which has become a leading hotel group. As a pioneer of global hotel operations, the company introduced a remarkable architectural and graphic design concept.

Numerous images in this book have never before been published. Great care was taken not only in developing a spell-binding visual storyline to complement the text, but also in reproducing and digitally restoring all images as accurately as possible. The book is a tribute to one of the most important companies of the 20th century and to its visionary founder.

In this Premium Edition, additional care was devoted to reproduce all images true to the originals: In many instances special varnishes and Pantone colors were used to go beyond the already extremely high quality critera of the book’s Standard Edition. The Premium Edition also contains some additional images not included in the book’s Standard Edition.

Contents:

• The Beginnings
• The Caribbean, Mexico and South America
• Alaska
• China
• Conquering the Pacific
• Across the Atlantic and World War II
• Reconnecting the World
• A Multifaceted Pioneer
• Intercontinental Hotels
• A New Look for the Jet Age
• The 747
• Decline
• Aircraft, Maps & Statistics
• Appendix

Buch, Hardcover, 31 x 41 cm, 424 Seiten, 682 farbige und 186 s/w-Abbildungen, englischer Text