Taken by photographer Todd Webb in 1946, the collection of 15 black and white images show the then-bustling docks of Manhattan, the skyline as it was before glass-clad skyscrapers rose up in decades to come - and the people who called the city home.

Webb was around 40 years old when the images were taken, and had just returned from a posting as a Naval Photographer in the Second World War.

As well as the iconic sights and architecture of the metropolis, Webb's images also took in locals around his Harlem neighborhood, and working folk around the city. 

The images have been brought out of the archives and published again in a limited-edition collection by 21st Editions.

According to photography experts, Webb, who won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955, was notable in getting to know the subjects of his portraits before shooting - sometimes spending days talking before wielding the camera.

In an introduction to the images, Harvard professor John Stauffer wrote how Webb was also unusual in taking an interest in photographing black people and interracial friendships - the kind he would have seen on the streets of Harlem around him.

Although the year was blighted by the death of his mentor Alfred Stieglitz, Webb - who died in 2000 - remembered it as one of best and most productive.

(dailymail.co.uk)