No comments about 100 Years of Harley-Davidson Advertising.

No comments about Asa Candler: The Man Who Brought Us Coca-cola (Lives and Times (Des Plaines, Ill.).).

2 comments about Classic Muscle Car Advertising: The Art of Selling Horsepower.

1. I have Mitch Frumkin's first two books, and I must admit this one is better, picture wise. His first two contained just b&w photos and not much text. This book is wall to wall color, which really brings the ads to life; some ads are even reproduced in their original size. Very cool - A+ on that account. However, this book contains much more text, which should have been a nice compliment to the ads, but unfortunately, there are a number of errors. Yes, I realize that one person cannot possibly know every little detail, and we are constantly finding out new facts about muscle cars, but if you have the ads in front of you, and hopefully the magazines they came out of, you should know the correct years of the cars and the dates the ads ran. In other words, model year 1971 cars were not advertised in late 1969.
   
   Also, I feel a number of historic ads were left out in this publication that should have been included. For example, there were several ads that were pulled by the manufacturers almost immediately after they ran, because they were considered too contraversial. None of these are here. Maybe Mitch wanted to offer the public some fresh material. The problem here is, his first two books are out of print. Quality used copies are going for good money and are becoming hard to find.
   
   Aside from those two nick-picky points, overall, it is a cool book. Would make a great gift. Buy a really nice used copy, you won't be disappointed.



2. I was impressed by Muscle Car Mania and Son of Muscle Car Mania but Mitch came up trumps this time as we benefit from colour print - the best way to see the psycadelic Plymouth ads of the 60's. If you like muscle cars buy this book.

No comments about B. J. Summers' Pocket Guide to Coca-Cola: Identifications Current Values (B J Ummer's Pocket Guide to Coca-Cola).

4 comments about Classic Railroad Advertising: Riding the Rails Again.

1. What a beautiful book! Hardcover and full of the most deliciuous information. Mr. Burness has compiled, from his own collection of original railroad advertising a real time travel to explain us in the words of the railroads themselves (and some related industries-even Lionel), the evolution, successes and problems of American rail industry. The ads are sorted in alphabetical order by company name. From the 20's and 30's going through that heroic period of WW II and the postwar years and coming to Amtrak, you will witness the introduction of dome cars, the new trains like the California Zephyr, new technical achivements and so on. Reading this book you will feel the fallen flags so alive that is difficult to realize that most of them disappeared 30 or 40 years ago.

   And it is not only the trains. Reading these ads you will be back in time in the United States of yesterday. The problems, the people and their fashions, etc. You will really enjoy this book.




2. An interesting book of over two hundred passenger train ads that appeared in mass-market magazines. Each one fills a page with an informative caption. None of them would have won any design awards, mostly they follow the predictable format of illustration, headline, text and small pictures and as these are train ads, the little route map.

   However, within this predictable (and sucessful) format you will see some great artwork, page 17 shows a 1945 American Locomotives ad with a stunning painting of a railroad yard with five streamliners, pages 52-53 has two Leslie Ragan paintings for the Budd Company. The Shell ad on page 186 looks like it was straight out of something painted by Bruce McCall (it wasn't) and there are thirteen pages of great New York Central ads that all feature cut-away illustrations.

   As well as great art don't forget the copy. I'm pleased to see included the New Haven RR's 'The Kid In Upper 4' one of the most famous ads of the war years, read it and appreciate copywriting at its creative best. I never knew what the term 'highball' meant until I read the copy in the Pennsylvania RR ad on page 169-169.

   I would have given this book five stars but like so many pictorial books the publishers have not taken the presentation seriously enough. Here the none of the ads have a definable edge, they just float in the white space on each page, easily solved by running a very thin black line round the ads original size or better still use a grey vignette drop shadow behind them. The typography of the title, contents, index pages etc is very bland and unimaginative. There are five ads that run across spreads but they don't, each has a thick white margin either side of the middle of the book, doing this is as bad as not correcting typos.

   If you like railroad advertisments have a look at 'All-American Ads 40's' by Jim Heimann, a massive 764 page book that has (in color) thirty five of them in the chapter on travel.




3. This is a brand new, 2001 hardback 224 page library volume that will please every railroad and advertising fan. It features 224 pages with 212 outstanding color photos of train ads of every description. The photos look as good or better than the originals. This covers the period of 1920s through the 1950s. There is an emphasis on how the passengers in the postwar period enjoyed the delight of train travel. Plenlty of interesting text is provided. A delightful work.



4. This is a fascinating book for those interested in the transition era of railroading and the advertising that was created in this era. The book is a collection of nearly 200 classic print advertisment that appeared in magazines during the 1940's, 50's and 60's. The ads range from railroad specific ads, with extensive coverage of the Union Pacific, Pennsylvania, New York Central and Great Northern railroads. Most other major railroads are represented with some pages in the book. In addition to railraod specific ads, this book has lots of ads from the manaufacturers of railroad equipmemt, including EMD and Pullman, along with others.
   If you are interested in railroad art, or are interested in the transition era of the railroads, this is a book for you. This book is a quality publication and the reproduction effort is quite good. This book is a welcome part of my library and covers a neglected area of railroad history.

2 comments about Campbell's Soup Collectibles: A Price & Identification Guide.

1. We searched & have finally found the informative guide for our Campbell's Soup "stuff" collection. An excellent book which contains ONLY Campbell's items. So many collectible books listed just a few Campbell items. But, this is THE book we wanted. The format is "user-friendly", by catagory in alphabetical order. Lots of pictures for comparison. We use the book constantly. We are always looking for unusual Campbell items, and the guide is super helpful. We thank the authors for taking the time to put it all together.



2. The comprehensive Campbell's Soup collectors guide will help you identify the many products produced over the years, and estimate their value. It is loaded with razor sharp pictures of over 600 items and includes prices of more than 1,700. Easy to use, as it is arranged in alphabetical order by category of collectible. Provides the collector with a guide of what to pay for items you intend to buy. Each category includes an interesting and useful history and summary of the category. Every Campbell's collector will find this up-to-date book of value.

No comments about National Geographic: October 1960 (Vol. 118).

1 comments about Collectibles 101: McDonald's Happy Meal Toys (A Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. I was mislead to believe this book contained Happy Meal toys from 1999 when, in fact, it only had the first couple promotions from 1999. If you are looking for a guide to pre-1999 Happy Meal toys, this book has great pictures, descriptions and price guidelines. Also has a good section on foreign Happy Meal toys.

5 comments about McDonald's Collectibles: Happy Meal Toys and Memorabilia 1970 to 1997.

1. I purchased this book in hopes of finding many of the toys that I collected when I was a child. Many of the toys I have are from the early 1980's. A cursory glance did not show many toys before 1988. Astrosniks weren't even included, and they were quite popular! I'll be searching for a book that focuses on toys from the 1980's. If you're looking for a book that has toys from the early days, this is not the book for you.



2. This is one of the best McDonald's collectibles books I've seen! This book includes detailed color pictures, very accurate descriptions, release dates, and an estimated value for a wide variety of McDonald's figures including premuims released in the United States and Internationally. A very thorough and informative guide to McDonald's fast food toys!



3. I love this book. I looked at this book in a bookstore. This books has all the toys from 1970 to 1997. I aslo love eating at McDonalds.



4. Good book, although they could devote a whole volume to Grimace



5. This book is for all, not just those who collect McDonald's memorabilia. My son loves to look at all the pictures and it is excellent to see all the different sets of toys, cause you can never usually get all the happy meal toys of a series. I highly recommend it!!!

1 comments about Promotional Cars & Trucks, 1934-1983: Dealership Vehicles in Miniature.

1. ...which become obsolete probably within the year. Nevertheless, this is a good guide for what is and is not available, a price or value relative to another model, or what was ever made in the first place. It's obsolete by now as a price guide (one look at eBay will tell you that), but a comprehensive guide to the hobby.