Long before people began lugging around Kodak Brownie cameras, postcards were a way to document vacation trips. The postcards reprinted here provide a selective history of late -- 19th- through mid -- 20th-century Bar Harbor. The right-hand pages of this innovative book are reproductions of the old postcards, and the left-hand pages, illustrated in the style of the back sides of old cards, provide detailed captions explaining the images.Together, the pictures and text evoke the spirit of the Golden Age of Bar Harbor, with all the accoutrements of the rich and famous "robber barons" who summered there. Included are images of steamships and railroads; the summer homes, or "cottages, " and their gardens; the fabulous grand hotels; people in period dress in leisure pursuits; and the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1947, as well as views of the town and harbor and Acadia National Park.