5 comments about TV Guide The Official Collectors Guide: Celebrating An Icon.

1. Enhanced with more than 3,700 full color covers from America's most popular, iconic, and widespread weekly magazine, "TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide" compiled by Stephen F. Hofer (Curator of the Philo T. Farnsworth Television History Center, Auburn, Indiana, and who himself is the owner of one of the largest collections of TV Guide magazines and memorabilia in the United States) covers all the national and regional digest size covers from April 10, 1953 to October 9, 2005. Included are TV Guide foldout covers, holographic covers, and multiple covers. For the antique dealer and hobbyist collector, each issue has the current secondary market prices listed. Featuring memorable quotes from TV Guide and from television shows, "TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide" is more than a price guide compendium, (and a superb history of the magazine itself), it is also a very highly recommended tour of American television programming through more than fifty years of popular culture.



2. This book has several major flaws. For a start, there is no index. The only way to locate covers with your favorite stars or shows is to browse the pages year-by-year.
   
   The price guide only gives values for "mint condition" issues, with no guidelines for how to adjust value for copies in less than mint condition. (Most collectors' guides give a range of prices based on condition.)
   
   It would have been nice if they had included some lists, such as: the most valuable issues; issues with multiple covers; people who have appeared on the most covers; etc. All of these things are mentioned in the text, but there is no way to look them up except by browsing every listing.
   
   Despite these flaws, this is still an invaluable book for collectors, because of it's comprehensive checklist.



3. I was so happy to receive the TV Guide Official Collector's Guide, it is a great publication!! It has a lot more information than I expected - comments by stars over the years and much more!! It is very colorful and I will enjoy reading it for years to come. My 45 year old son has a collection of TV Guides and I know he will be interested in seeing the publication to see if the ones he has are valuable! Thank you



4. The episode of Seinfeld where Frank Costanza was noted to be a collector of TV Guide pretty much cemented that publication's place in the lore of pop culture. Now, from Bangzoom publishers comes "TV Guide" the official Collector's Guide. A lot of collector's books claim to be the only book you'd ever need to own but this one truly fits the bill. With over 3700 pictures, and every national and regional TV Guide cover pictured from 4/10/1953 through 10/19/2005 this is truly the ultimate resource for not only collectors, but fans of the magazine as well.
   
   With a foreward by senior TV Guide editor Michael Davis, the book provides info geared towards the collector on where to buy, grading, and preserving your TV Guide collection. The cover subjects are what drives the price of back issues with the very first issue featuring the baby Desi Arnaz Jr. being the most valuable. While I've never collected TV Guide I was a long-time Comic Book collector and basically TV Guides should be kept and stored the same way...in protective bags and ideally in acid free storage boxes.
   
   The guide provides a 19 page history of the magazine as well as a look at TV shows and trends by decade from the 40's through the 2000's; everything from Milton Berle and Howdy Doody to Lost and American Idol. I was born in the 1960's and love many of the shows from that era even though I didn't watch many in their initial runs. It wasn't until syndicated re-runs in the 1970's that I came to adore shows such Bewitched, Gomer Pyle, and Green Acres. As noted in the book, The Brady Bunch was never a top-rated show, but you'd hardly know that since it has gone on to become one of the most syndicated shows in history and a true TV legend.
   
   Next up is 213 pages which show each of those covers from 1953 through 2005 in full color and it's like a trip on a wonderful time machine to page through the decades to see many of the actors and shows that you remember so fondly, and many you may have forgotten such as The Governor and J.J. One TV Guide trend that seems to have ended some time in the early 80's was featuring Santa Claus on the cover of a December issue. The book concludes with a 68 page index and value guide for each issue and doubles as a handy checklist for collectors.
   
   Whether you are storing issues away chronologically like Frank Costanza, or just have a life long love of TV, you are certain to find something to enjoy in this fabulous book.
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson



5. A mind-bending, if not surreal, parade of TV trivia presented week by week, year by year, era by era. Every single TV Guide cover is shown in true color, from April '53 to the first mag-size issue from autumn of last year. They're arranged as text would be on each page, left-to-right, top-to-bottom and IN ORDER on each page, dated and readily viewable. They even include full displays of all fold-out covers, as well as every version of each multiple cover, such as the one which had to be updated at Michael Landon's death, different regional sport-season previews, and the 25-cover tribute to all the Star Trek cast.
   
   The book is in 3 main sections:
   1) A 26-page section of blurb overseeing the history of TV Guide and background trivia of many of the covers
   2) The section displaying the covers themselves, and
   3) A listing of all covers (with dates and captions) and their collectible worth in mint condition.
   
   It is bound in durable yet manageable paperback binding.
   
   Anyone can invent their own TV trivia diversions just by scanning through this book (i.e. what are the earliest covers featuring people who are still alive? or Who has appeared the most times? or How did TV Guide handle documentarial times and issues [JFK's assassination, 9-11, the advent of cable & PBS etc.], or When did one televion era end, and another begin? and the like). The price list section also serves as an easier-to-count ready-reference of all the cover headings.
   
   Mad Magazine presented a similar, also top-rate, timeline of all their covers a few years ago upon the advent of their 400th issue. The first such resource to incorporate all the TV Guide digest covers certainly doesn't disappoint.

3 comments about Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection.

1. My wife is a "quilter". While I was on the East Coast attending a family reunion, one of my cousins, with whom I was staying, asked if I wanted to join her in a tour of Winterthur, close to where she lives. I accepted the invitation and totally enjoyed it especially the quilt collection there. I am not a quilter myself - there are some males interested in and "artists" in this art form, but I have become acquainted with it through my wife's interest in it. When I saw this book, examined it and checked out other's reviews of it, I decided it would make a nice birthday gift for my wife. I liked the fact that it dealt with the history of this art form here in the US, the quilt makers of particular quilts, and the progression of technique in "constructing" them. To me it would appeal to my wife's knowledge of this art form through the collection of the H. F. DuPont family.



2. "Quilts from a material world" is a long-awaited opportunity to view some of the finest quilts in Winterthur's collections, but also to have them expertly placed in social, economic, mercantile, and political context by Linda Eaton's well-researched and readable narrative. This book is a must for quilt and fabric historians, American history buffs, and members of the general reading public who are interested in knowing more about American material culture (in both senses of the word "material"). It is an excellent contribution to the study of fabrics and quilts.



3. i have barely had time to savour this book. there is so much to interest quilters and non-quilters that it is hard to know where to start to review.
   
   the photographs of the quilts are wonderful, with lots of details. the textile history is thorough and accurate, including a fascinating section on the different techniques of putting pattern on cloth. the history of the quilters is, yes, fascinating, including letters written by one quilter to her fiance and later husband in the early part of the 19th century.
   
   anyone interested in early america, early manufacturing, and the lives of our forebears will enjoy this book as much as any quilter.

5 comments about Route 66 (Enthusiast Color).

1. I recently received this beautiful color collection on "The Mother Road" Route 66. Having traveled West from Chicago to Kingman AZ in the mid 60's on Route 66 it brought back many memories. It also has left me with strong ambitions to repeat that journey but this time all the way to L.A. Wonderful photography and dialouge by the author. Even if you have never traveled on Route 66 you may very well want to after viewing this book.



2. Probably the best book to date on the subject, Route 66 is a joy from beginning to end. Referred to affectionately as The Mother Road, Route 66 was the first highway built for high speed travel in the United States. Due to the reliability of the cars and trucks using this road, it was lined with repair shops, diners, and tourist traps. The photography is excellent and the text is insightful and well written. Travelling from Chicago to Los Angeles via this book is a joy!



3. Route 66, by Tim Steil, is a trip in present, but a journey back in time. There was a day and age when Route 66 was the heartbeat of the Western half of the United States. Unlike its predecessor the Lincoln Highway, Route 66 was modern road made offering fast travel from Chicago to Los Angeles for both automobiles and trucks. Because of the limitations of vehicles of the 1930's through the early 1960's, the road was lined with repair shops, cafes, motels and scenic wonders that range from simple statues or absurd monuments.

   More than any other highway, Route 66 has a history and an allure that never ceases to draw the adventurous to it. These days traveling on Route 66 is sort of like visiting a huge living museum of automobile Americana. Steil, aided by photographer Jim Luning, take the journey and give their vision to this long familiar story. The nice part about this book is that MBI, the publisher, chose to offer it as part of the inexpensive Enthusiast Color Series rather than an expensive coffee table book. You can easily take this book with you for easy reading along the way and without taking up too much space at lunch counter. This was a good choice on their part and is sure to make give this book a long sales life.

   The author is accurate in his descriptions and the photographer's keen eye caught quite a few features of Route 66 that have not appeared in other publications. Truckers are big part of this story, in fact the famous Dixie Truckers Home in central Illinois gets good coverage right in the beginning of the book. If the lore and legends of Route 66 are already part of your life, or you would just like a low-cost introduction to this famous highway then Route 66, by Tim Steil is a must have item.
   - Gary Bricken




4. This is the best Route 66 book I've ever read. The pictures range from breathtaking to amusing and the writing is fresh and clean. A must have for anyone interested in Route 66.



5. Any book published as part of an "enthusiast color series" is likely intended to be a coffee-table book. And indeed, Route 66 has lots of pretty pictures, captured beautifully by Jim Luning. But unlike most such fare, this book deserves more than coffee-table placement (or, the pinnacle, bathroom-rack status.)

   I know the author, Tim Steil, a friend of mine. So, as one who loves grammar, right from the start I had every incentive to pick at his writing. But, alas, I was disappointed. Finding only the most minor of grammatical errors, I had to concede the fact that Steil has written a really good book. Tim's breezy writing makes the book a quick and easy read, and conveys efficiently so much of their adventure that the reader cannot help but feel as if he were there for much of the ride.

   Another plus: it's not preachy, or full of phony nostalgia or contempt for "the evils of progress." I love it this book, and I'm not really even a fan of Route 66.

   Luning's pictures are gorgeous. I got to meet him when the two authors did some of their preliminary research on the Chicken Basket, one of the offical Route 66 sites covered early in the book. An unassuming and disarming guy, Luning does not betray that he has a long list of credits. But in the book, Luning cannot hide his talent: a fantastic eye for light and color and balance.

   So enjoy the pictures. But realize they will not really come to life until you actually read the text.

   Route 66 is what an "enthusiast color series" should be.

2 comments about Ghost Towns of Northern California (Pictorial Discovery Guide).

1. I am a native Californian, although I have lived in Boston for many years. One of the most intriguing parts of California for me has been visiting abandoned and restored pioneer towns in the Golden State. About 70 miles from my first home in San Bernardino, is located an old mining town, Calico, in the middle of the Mojave desert. That town has set my expectations for visiting pioneer towns.

   For my 49th birthday, my father and wife arranged for me to have a 49er vacation that included attending a San Francisco 49er football game and then heading off into the gold country to revisit the sites where the great gold rush first began.

   From knowing a lot about California history, I knew of many towns and sites that I wanted to see. But along the way, I was intrigued by signs and notes about many sites that I had never heard about before. I wished that I had had along a source as fine as Ghost Towns of Northern California.

   Although his book will seem like a coffee table book to some, I found it to be an essential exploration guide. More than 50 towns and sites are described and pictured. Mr. Varney does a fine job of giving you the local history (which often includes how much gold was mined locally and how it was mined) while the photographs give you a sense of what there is to see. You also get maps that can easily be used to find each of these locations. Most are concentrated in the gold areas (such as near the Oregon border, near route 49, and in the high Sierras), but others have different backgrounds and locations such as Alcatraz and China Camp in the San Francisco Bay area.

   The author defines a "ghost town" as being a town that has had a large slide in its permanent population, even if it is still populated. So few of these "ghost towns" are uninhabited like Calico was when I was a youngster.

   I double checked the accuracy of the information by comparing my experiences on my 49er vacation to what the book says, and the information and views tallied perfectly. Nice job!

   The photographs are more realistic than artistic. That is not to say that they are not beautiful in many cases, but they give you a realistic view of what you will see rather than a "sunset at Sedona" feeling.

   You probably won't want to visit all of these ghost towns, but the book will help you decide when and where you will want to visit. I strongly urge you to decide to visit the sites that interest you and to use this valuable guide to help you plan and follow through on your plans.

   I thought the book is an exceptional value. I would have gladly paid more than twice the asking price for this great resource!

   After you finish enjoying the photographs and text, spend some time rereading Mark Twain's stories about the gold camps. It will help you get in the mood for planning a wonderful trip!




2. Bought the book in anticipation of being out in that area soon, and after reading the great historical info and seeing the beautiful photos, I can't wait to get out there and see some of the places for myself!

   I only wish the maps had been a little more detailed, and that the author could have provided coordinates of the sites from a GPS, to make it easier to get to the locations.

5 comments about The Seasons of America Past.

1. All of the Sloane books are worth reading and owning. As a boy in the 1960s I was very impressed with the pen and ink drawings, more impressed than with the color paintings. (I still am.) I even built models of some of the buildings for grammar school dioramas. In the 1980s, I bought all the titles that were still in print (or remaindered). Buy the Dover reprints and any other editions you can find before they disappear again. Abebooks.com is a good source for OOP books.



2. Another one of Eric Sloane's great historical narratives on the development of America with this book focusing on the seasonal nature of farming.
   
   Thankfully most of Sloane's books are available as reprints as anyone interested in learning about the American way of life, from 1650 to 1900, will find these books real treasures. The text is straight forward, very informative and shows a reverence for all aspects of American farming, craftsmanship, invention and "common sense". The book is illustrated with great sketches and shows the modern urbanite how the rural Americans survived, thrived and prospered.
   
   Any Sloane book is an essential part of a library for those individuals who are feed-up with the urban ratrace and are seeking a simpler, self-supporting, rewarding experience.



3. This is the second Sloane book I've had the unique pleasure to read and I liked it every bit as well as the first. Mr. Sloane is as learned in his subject matter---daily life in the rural American past---as any professor. I love the illustrations and the attention to tiny detail. Truly these books are treasures that preserve information about our past that is so in danger of being lost in the hectic pace of twenty-first-century life. To read this book is to place one's mindset in another era and circumstance. Yes, existence in the past was more physically difficult compared to today but in their own way our forebears lived richly in a world that was every bit as complex and rewarding as our own. This is a book for children, for adults, for anyone open-minded enough to look backward without condescension. I think any thinking person will be greatly impressed.



4. "Possibly as a result of long dependence upon strong electric lighting, we seem to have much poorer night vision today than the average man had a century or two ago."
   It's this sort of historical information that brings the past to life. As a social historian (not accredited, mind you, but I'll go against most any so-called history major), I spend much time and money searching out tid-bits of this type to help give me the understanding of the ways and lives of times past. Seasons of America Past by Eric Sloane is an excellent source of American life in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Taking the reader through a full year of everyday life - month by month - Mr. Sloane shows through his many sketches and fluid writing so many aspects of the lives of our ancestors (including what was most likely considered mundane by those who lived it!) that most supposed historians do not even touch upon. Put into a seasonal order, one will see how each of our four seasons affected the lives of our long past relatives.
   Here are a few more bits of information strewn throughout this book:
   "May was once the season for sending May baskets, now a forgotten custom. The first spring flowers were gathered by young girls and left in baskets on the doorsteps for their parents..."
   "The American farmer...drank cider daily at his table instead of water or milk..."
   "Plow Monday was the first day after the end of Christmas festivities, when the back-to-work spirit started with getting all farm equipment in shape."
   "Stump pulling was one of the few cash businesses, and at twenty five cents a stump - the standard price in 1850 - a man could pull twenty to fifty stumps a day and make a most exceptional living."
   "Independence Day...was first ushered in by bell-ringing and shooting. When Chinese firecrackers entered the scene of Independence Day (in the early 1800's), bell-ringing vanished."
   "Today the word PICKLE brings to mind a prepared cucumber, but pickle in the old days was a verb that referred to the...process and not to the actual product."
   149 pages filled with everyday life of times gone by. Winter clothing, ice houses, broom making, sugaring time, seasonal cooking, wells, farm sleds and sleighs, spinning wheels, gathering of splint wood for baskets, herb dyes and the colors they made, and so much more packed into an easy to read format.
   With this and other books by Eric Sloane, as well as the wonderful 'Everyday Life' books (such as 'Expansion of Everyday Life') one can almost feel as if they can live in a different time.



5. No truer words were ever spoken when it comes to summarizing the content of this magnificent book. Eric Sloane describes the seasons of the early American way of life in a most revealing and splendid fashion. Beginning with the month of March: spring - the New Year according to the seasons; Sloane takes the reader through a year full of the sowing and reaping of the harvest in its season.

2 comments about Indian Artifacts of the Midwest: Identification & Value Guide (Indian Artifacts of the Midwest).

1. The descriptions and price estimates were helpful. The complete lack of color photos, except for the cover, was an extreme disapointment. The photos ranged from average to poor quality and were of limited value in indentifying artifacts. I feel the book description should have clearly noted the lack of color photos.



2. One week ago I went to do some house hunting and found something I wasn't looking for. While going through the house I came upon a large collection of Indian Artifacts. I knew almost nothing about them but susspected they were highly valuable. The next day an estate auction was held and I purchased the collection. Upon searching the internet for some information it became obvious what the best source was for identification of my midwest collection, Lar Hothem's book "Indian Artifacts of the Midwest." I purchased the book and was able to quickly identify many of the pieces that I knew nothing about. The book was written so a "layman" like myself could easily understand and identify many of the the basic artifacts. The quality photographs added to the pleasure of my learning. I was very pleased to realize the age, almost 10,000 years, and value of my collection. Thanks to such a thorough and readable source I now find myself hooked on the collecting and identifying of very interesting artfacts left in my area so long ago.

5 comments about Garage Sale America.

1. Littlefield hit the nail on the head for me. He gets the same joy, excitement and invigoration out of saling that I do. It's about the people, the atmosphere, the search for treasure, the negotiating, the win (or loss). These adventures are all wrapped up in wonderful little 5 to 20 minute nibbles of life. Almost 100% of my experiences are positive and I can recall many of them years later when I look at a vase, a painting or some other treasure I have acquired..
   
   Bottom line, for Christmas I made a list of those who share my passion, those who wonder about my passion and those few who think I am off my rocker. I went on line and bought a bunch. Christmas shopping over.
   
   Buying retail in this case was done with joy.
   
   All who have received the book from me have given it a great review too.



2. If you feel you've exhausted every garage sale in your area and you realize you've visited the same sales four years in a row, then you might want to expand your usual boundaries and consider branching out to other states. If so, you can't do much better than this book, which includes a calendar of some of the more noteworthy sales across the country, as well as other major garage sales. You might consider bringing a U-haul along with you if you have a tendency to go overboard and buy everything in sight.
   If you like this one, you might also consider:
   
   Garage Sale & Flea Market Annual (Garage Sale and Flea Market Annual)



3. In Hawaii, HANA HOU is an expression you will hear often....it means, once more, do it again, encore, repeat, one more time...... and so it is with items found in garage sales, yard sales, church bazaars, tag sales, estate sales.....any kind of hana hou sale..... Just because someone is finished with that rocker, it doesn't mean that its life has to end right then.... There can still be one more round left to that old rocking chair!
   
   What your neighbor down the street considers trash can definitely be your treasure....and that is the message that Bruce Littlefield conveys in his newly published book, "Garage Sale America".
   
   From tips scattered throughout the book on how to plan your strategies for your hunt to how to use the treasures after you get them home, and ending with a useful (and amusing) Garage Sale Glossary, this little book can serve as a handy and entertaining manual on how to unashamedly romp through the detritus of other people's lives and score while you're at it!
   
   The perfect gift for those who love to hunt for treasures, whether they are the type who grab the newspaper every single weekend and mark all the sales down, planning their trips by neighborhood....or the occasional shopper who stops on a whim every time they see a "Yard Sale" sign along the road....or the ones such as myself who mark the annual church bazaars down on my calendar....for all of us to whom the thrill is as much in the hunt as in finding that special deal!
   
   There is no stigma attached to finding a bargain in someone else's discards....in fact, the feeling of satisfaction, the ... elation, if you will, when you find just the right item or that last piece of china that will complete the set you started years ago, is hard to describe.
   
   After spending one evening reading this fun and enjoyable book, I started looking around my own home to see what around me could be considered 'found treasures'....and have to admit that a bit less than half was either bought at yard, garage, church bazaar sales or, the best yet, items found through our local Freecycle network or even at the "transfer station" - the PC name for our local dump, ......completely free!
   
   If you love to go yard saling,....if you love to find a bargain,.... if you're looking for the thrill of the deal... you will definitely enjoy reading Bruce's book.
   
   A couple of personal notes: I loved the idea of the seller who invites his best customers (read: bigger spenders), to breakfast before his sales every year for, as Bruce puts it "cranking up the adrenalin while you wait for the unveiling".....and don't miss meeting Wini. I won't tell you where to find her. You will have to hunt through the book yourself!



4. I have a chronic case of disposophobia, or at least that's how Bruce Littlefield would diagnose it. I can't bear to part with old photographs, worn-out running shoes, and a frog collection I've had since college. My favorite store is Finders Keepers, or was, that is, until the local antique shop closed and I bought out half the inventory.
   
   So when my copy of Littlefield's Garage Sale America arrived in the mail, you can imagine where I put it--on top of a great big stack of books I have yet to read, some old, some new.
   
   It wasn't long before its cover cried out to me with its retro colors, Bakelite radio, and funky leopard hat.
   
   I scoured the photo-filled paperback for advice on everything from enamel-top tables to fishing lures and reeled in a lot more information than I bargained for, like tips on decorating, where to find some really hot wheels, and how to run a successful sale. I'm even learning to deal with my affliction, described in the book's glossary as "Disposophobia: the fear of getting rid of stuff, no matter how worthless or how valuable."
   
   Some books may come and go, but Garage Sale America is definitely a keeper.



5. I enjoyed Bruce's book much more than I expected to.The stories and backgrounds made me feel like I was along for the ride. The photos are awesome and I could hardly sit still thinking about all the treasures I might be missing while I sat reading in my rocking chair about the treasures Bruce and his friend discovered.
   
   If you are a garage sale fanatic, a fan of The Antique Road Show, or just a 'people person' you will enjoy this book. I plan to buy copies for friends and family as Christmas presents. What a treat it would be to read this book while curled up in front of a nice warm fire this winter. Letting your mind wander to the treasures that are just waiting to be discovered when Garage Sale season starts again in the spring.

1 comments about The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Chests, Cupboards, Desks & Other Pieces.

1. A wonderful book that is replete with detail, this edition is indispensable for those who frequent auctions and antique shops. The examples given in the book run the gamut from utilitarian/functional to elaborate/ornate. The book is weighted towards the low-medium market, and examples of antiques that are reachable only to those with a prodigious income are few and far between; no Boulle, Belter, or Marot to be seen here. As such, this volume is infinitely usable, and somewhat of a welcome change from the reams of books focused on antiques only seen at Sotheby's or museums. This volume makes a wonderful companion to Miller's Price Guide.

No comments about Warmans Gas Station Collectibles: Identification And Price Guide.

5 comments about Vintage Halloween Collectibles: An Identification & Price Guide (Vintage Halloween Collectibles: Identification & Price Guide).

1. So far this is the best book I've found on Vintage Halloween in the sense of information, layout and the broad spectrum of items covered. It is evident that Mark Ledenbach is truly passionate about his collection. The photos are high quality and well laid out. The information is thought provoking and facsinating to any Halloween enthusiast. I do wish there were more item information regarding usage or other interesting tidbits, however this book does give the reader what it promises.
   A must have for the Halloween aficionado.



2. Another Halloween has come and gone but for some people like myself, the Halloween holiday lives on 365 days a year due to my love of the holiday and my passion for Halloween décor. When I was a kid, I used to be rather afraid of the old decorations in my grandmother's house. These were quite a bit scarier than those jointed cardboard skeletons and plastic light-up pumpkins that I was used to...Little did I know then just how valuable those pieces were. When she passed away about ten years ago my wife and I scoured her house for those trinkets but alas, they were nowhere to be found, most likely tossed in the trash years ago.
   
   Vintage Halloween Collectibles from Krause Publications is yet another outstanding edition to their library of collectibles books. When I first received the book I literally sat down for a couple of hours and just browsed through the book from cover-to-cover, looking for the items my Grandmother used to have as well as finding the few items that I've been able to collect. Collecting vintage Halloween decorations is no easy task Halloween wasn't nearly as big and commercialized decades ago as it is today. Vintage Christmas items show up endlessly at flea markets and garage sales but vintage Halloween items are much harder to come by because there just wasn't as much made, not too mention that much of it was made out of paper and simply didn't last as long.
   
   This 256 page trade paperback book covers some 1600 items and features over 1100 full-color photos. The book lists the item with country of origin, manufacturer, date of manufacture, dimensions, current value, and, perhaps most importantly, a scarcity index on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the rarest and 5 being the most common. Naturally, the items my grandmother had fell into the common arena but still were fairly valuable, all things considered. The items are broken down into eight different category chapters including games, candy containers and figures, noisemakers, and decorations.
   
   I found it interesting that there were so many games that involved fortune telling that were made in the 30's and 40's. This is certainly a sign of that era's infatuation with mysticism. One motif that seemed so common back in the first half of the 20the century that you don't see much today is devil and demon décor. The stereotypical red horned devil was a very common theme that has nearly disappeared from modern décor...I guess that's' a sign of OUR times. The other overwhelming common theme was the black cat. The book contains hundreds of black cat items from figurines to paper lanterns. The lanterns are things I remember distinctly from my youth and I am still amazed at the intricate detail of these rather delicate Halloween decorations. The book has dozens of examples of paper lanterns adorned by witches, black cats, pumpkins, and skeletons. These items are beautiful and Krause has done a great job with clear, beautiful photography of these rarities.
   
   One of the most interesting chapters is simply called "A Nice Variety" because the items didn't fit into any of the other categories. These feature items such as paper aprons, candy boxes, candles and candleholders, books and magazines. The covers to the books published by Dennison's in the 20's and 30's are gorgeous. These books were geared towards the woman of the house with ideas for recipes, decorations, and Halloween games. I also loved the die-cut chapter because those are the decorations I remember my mother having as a young kid and still fondly remember. But again, those red devil die-cuts, circa the 1930's are just wonderful. These items may not be easy to find anymore, but if you do, there is simply no better resource than this book from Krause Publications.
   
   REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON



3. When I started discovering vintage Halloween items, I came upon Mark Ledenbach's book. It became my leading guide while investigating on eBay. On his web site I could contact him an ask for advice. He was very friendly and helpful. The photos and lay out of his book are fantastic and it is better organized then other books I own. I could not have enjoyed the beautiful graphics and usual, rare items if it were not for this book. You must purchase this whether you are a serious collector or not. Have fun!



4. Price guides frequently suffer from poor photography. This book breaks the mold showing clear color photographs of amazing piece's in Mark's Collection. Halloween ephemera continues to be a popular collectible and this book should be part every collectors library.



5. What a wonderful book! I sell on ebay and found the book to be highly informative and the prices pretty accurate for most of the items I have come across. A must have resource for anyone who buys, sells, or collects vintage Halloween!