The internet has an amazing ability to find half-remembered things, like a science-fiction short story set in the Boston subway, for example, or a silly TV commercial for a short-lived breakfast cereal. This picture, however, was so vague in my memory that I didn’t even try to Google for it. I doubted that “something something steel mill something something modern Pennsy steam” would yield any worthwhile results. One recent day, I peered into the volunteer-run bookstore of a suburban library, and there it was, prominently placed on a book cart, facing the door, so that I couldn’t possibly miss it. I recognized it instantly, even though I had last seen it nearly 40 years ago on Mrs. Yahn’s art-class bookshelf. The cover price was $1. A handwritten sticker in the corner marked it for $5. It cost me a mere 50 cents.

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