Imbued with this sense of discovery and adventure, the pictures gathered here are a voyage through peoples, places and time at once. They take us through North America''s vast and varied landscape, encounter its many communities, and above all transpo rt us back to the New World of over a century ago. Over more than 600 pages including fold-out spreads, this sweeping panorama takes us from Native American settlements to New York''''''''s Chinatown, from some of the last cowboys to Coney Island''''''''s he yday. As luminous now as they were some 120 years ago, these rare and remarkable images that brought America to Americans now bring American''''''''s past to our present.