No comments about The Big Big Little Book Book: An Overstreet Photo-Journal Guide.

1 comments about Visible Traces: Rare Books and Special Collections from The National Library of China.

1. This exhibition catalogue is a must have item for anyone who has a serious interest in China's rich textual tradition. I have already put Visible Traces on my Christmas wish list in hopes that my relatives, who have no idea why I have been studying Chinese literature and history all these years, will break down and give me something related to my life's work. And I haven't written a wish list in ages, that's how much I want a copy of this on my bookshelf. And if they don't give me a copy, I'll give one to myself as a gift once I finish my PhD.

   If you didn't have an opportunity to see these rare books, maps and artefacts when they were on display in New York or Los Angeles, or if you don't feel like buying a plane ticket to visit the National Library of China in Beijing, this catalogue is an economical way to savor what you missed. The editorial review does a wonderful job of summarizing the contents, so I won't repeat that. The color photography certainly does justice to the original works. I enjoyed seeing the photographs of a 1621 manuscript on Tang poetry because it's connected to my own research, but there is something in this volume for anyone who loves Chinese culture. The reader will find scrolls of Buddhist sutras, delicate drawings of gentlemen playing the game of go, specialist monographs on the varieties of crysanthemums, illustrated manuals on goldfish, albums of Beijing opera characters, oracle bones, pictorial rubbings and multi-color maps of the Chinese empire, and more.

   For the specialist the bibliography is detailed enough to start tracking down other extant copies of the items in the exhibition as well as general information to be found in secondary sources.

   That said, why didn't I rate this book a 5? Only a couple reasons. Some sections of maps and charts have been magnified, and are less distinct than their smaller scale originals, which some readers will find frustrating. Every reader will have a different reason why they love this book. I wanted to be able to see the whole 1621 poetry collection. A crysanthemum connoisseur will want to see every flower illustration. Map lovers will wish that all the maps had been printed. In other words, every one will wish the book were bigger and that it covered his or her interest in more detail (even at the expense of someone else's). At 337 pages, however, it's already a large volume. After savoring each page, you may find yourself falling for some new aspect of Chinese culture and you'll realize you may have to buy that plane ticket to China after all. Visible Traces will whet your appetite, but it won't quench your thirst, which is fine because no one volume could ever contain all the glories of China's print culture. DO NOT show this catalogue to your kids, unless you are happy for them to fall in love with Chinese history and art and study for PhDs instead of becoming a lawyer or getting an MBA.

5 comments about The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines.

1. A somewhat personal account at times of the editor's interest in pulp magazines.
   
   He mentiones when he first saw them in Woolies in the 50s - saying they were used as ballast in ships, then sold cheaply. That is whacky, but good for him, after scoring a Weird Tales.
   
   He goes through various different types, spicy, detective, fantasy, shudder, hot, etc.
   
   Also, being a pom he talks briefly about the magazines there, especially when the yank imports where banned, and some of the artists.
   
   That is where a heavy focus of this book is, the artwork.
   
   He does detail some of the publishers, who put them out, the strategies they used, etc., but also talks a lot about the artwork and styles used as far as what they could and could not get away with as American became more and more puritanical moving into the 50s.
   
   He deliberately ignores the superheroes, or the major variety, mentioning a couple in passing like the Black Bat and the Crimson Mask. Nothing much on the Lone Ranger or various Westerns either, or major science fiction magazines.
   
   So partly interest, partly what has been covered already drove his editorial decisions, presumably.
   
   People who like those covers will like it, hardcore pulp historians maybe wouldn't be so thrilled, but would still be interested somewhat.
   
   
   3.5 out of 5



2. Note: There are a couple Mormons who are angry over my negative reviews of books written in defense of the Book of Mormon, and they have been slamming my reviews. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.
   
   As a non-artist, it's hard to write a review of an art book, but I know what I like. So here's a non-expert's opinion.
   
   This book is well worth the price. It is full of color covers of pulp magazines from the 1930s through the 1950s. I've owned it for many years, and I still love browsing through it. I've copied a couple of them and hung them on my wall.
   
   Also, if you don't already know about Bud Plant, then also check out his site. You'll go broke ordering from it. What a wonderful collection classic illustrations!
   
   Check out my download pictures.



3. The colorfully covered, cheaply printed pulp magazine of the 1920s and 30s great out of the 19th-century dime novel and served as the forerunner of the comic books and paperback novels of today. In its heyday, pulp magazines were a staple of popular culture that offered every genre of readership the thrills, adventures, and entertainments they craved -- often to the dismay of parents, teachers, and clergy! Virtually creating the now popular literary genres as science fiction and the hard-boiled private eye mystery, these magazines were the incubators of such American literary talents as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and a legion of others. An outstanding recommendation for personal, academic, and community library collections, The Classic Era Of American Pulp Magazines tells the complete story of these colorful pulps and those that wrote and published them, with a wealth of colorful cover art giving today's readers an accurate sense and taste of what the glory years of pulp magazines had to offer their enthusiastic readers.



4. Peter Haining has published a huge number of volumes on a variety of topics, which tend to be both well illustrated and very carelessly researched. This latest addition to the stack unfortunately follows that pattern.

   First the good stuff: the book offers a large number of well-reproduced covers from a wide variety of pulps. The images are photographs (two are out of focus slightly), and so do not have the problems seen in several similar recent books which had electronically-scanned covers displaying a color palette nothing whatsoever like the actual covers.

   Now for the bad part. The text is mainly just a description of particular magazines which happen to be in the author's personal collection. Where the text departs from what is really just a catalog of the collection, to provide background on publishers, specific titles and authors, the material is so riddled with errors as to be of very limited use and reliability. So much of the text is clueless, every reader will have his favorite (and different) gaffe. Mine is the reference (p. 203) to "famous American space artist Chester Bonestall." He's apparently not as famous as I thought!

   To summarize the contents: Chapter 1 provides a confused account of the origins and types of pulp magazines. Chapter 2 is devoted to the very-soft-porn pulps usually sold from under the tobacco shop counter. Chapter 3 deals with detective, crime and gangster pulps. Chapter 4 covers the "spicy" pulps and their imitators. Chapter 5 introduces the weird fantasy pulps, of which the best and best known were WEIRD and UNKNOWN. Chapter 6 surveys the "shudder" pulps which featured heavy doses of sadism and torture. Chapter 7 fairly casually dips into the huge sea of science-fiction pulps. Finally, chapter 8 shows us a little bit of the little-known world of British pulps and pulp publishing. (About half the space actually is devoted to paperbacks rather than pulps.) Notable complete omissions from the book are the most popular pulp genre, westerns (perhaps half of all pulp titles at peak), and the justice-figure pulps such as THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE and the SPIDER, which are the best remembered pulps today. Also largely ignored are the general fiction titles, such as BLUE BOOK, ARGOSY and ADVENTURE. With such omissions, the present book cannot be considered very valuable even as a pictoral survey of the pulp era.

   Buy it for the cover reproductions and you won't be too disappointed. But if you try to read the text, you're in for dismay and frustration.




5. Obviously the politically incorrect covers are the first attraction. You can't ignore the cultural significance of the covers and thus, if you are a teacher of semiotics or visual interpretation, I can't think of a richer source. Congrats to the publishers for printing such a glorious book. For those more interested in what's between the covers, Haining gives insightful critical analysis of the different genres. A great gift for anyone; a wonderful coffee table book for yourself. It's worth every penny.

5 comments about Sixpence House.

1. I began with "The Trouble with Tom" and then had to get everything that Paul Collins has written.
   
   Follow this writer; he has wonderful things coming; I am certain of it. "Sixpence House" is charming, honest, intelligent writing; it's on my re-read-often list.



2. 
   This is an autobiographical account of an extended visit to a town with lots of bookstores in Wales. The mountains of books and the abundant book trivia make this book interesting. And it is enlightening to see an American's view of the town. However, I felt that I was taking up too much space in the Collins' home and I was embarrassed to be eavesdropping on their everyday activities.



3. To me, none of these "stranger-in-a-strange-land" books ever comes close to Peter Maybe but I love them all to a degree and never tire of them. This book tended to be a bit disjointed and rambling but I forgave it because it was, literally, laugh-out-loud funny. It's like a friend who starts out to tell you a certain story, gets distracted at many points, but everything is he says is either so witty or original you don't care. One of the very best parts, for instance, was how Collins breaks down exactly how you CAN tell a modern book by its cover. He's be a great columnist in the vein of "The Polysyllabic Spree" by Nick Hornby.



4. Paul and his wife and young son decide to leave their San Francisco home and move to a small town in the countryside of Wales called Hay. This town specializes in selling books- mostly really, really old books. The books are sold if they are valuable- if not, they are gradually priced lower and lower, given away free with the purchase of any other book, or finally burned in huge bonfires that rain bits of other peoples' thoughts on the town's inhabitants. This book is not just about the town, it is also about the humor of the family's adjustment to life in Britain, the hopes of a new writer, and the struggles of a young couple to buy their own home.
   
   Quote: "To look for a specific book in Hay is a hopeless task; you can only find the books that are looking for you."
   
   I thought this was a fabulous book. It is half a book about Paul's life and half a book about books, so the author references this or that interesting work he has stumbled across in the town of books (not that I need to be adding anything else to my to-read list at this point, but that's okay). The author is very entertaining, particularly because he is working on getting a book published and on the shelves (Barnvard's Folly) while writing this book and while surrounded by this graveyard for books. I am also entertained by the fact that each chapter is given a persona which is reflected in the title (such as "Chapter Fifteen Beholds the LORD").



5. As opposed to A Year in Provence (to which it is sometimes compared), this book doesn't inspire you to pull up stakes and transfer to the South of France or anywhere else, except maybe to the nearest musty, possibly treasure-laden bookstore, and deepen your appreciation of books. A visit to the California Antiquarian Book Fair a few years back taught me that there are basically two kinds of people -- those who love books for what they are and those that love books for what they do. Collins seems to be that rare bird -- a dweller in both camps. Every booklover knows the joy in finding something they didn't know they'd wanted in the first place. But he includes historical bits, usually hilarious, he's gleaned from his lifelong pursuit of the obscure and quirky. His sidetrips are also wonderfully funny and informative. For instance, while giving an account of what it's like to be in the publishing his own first effort, he segues into a description of, say, dust covers, giving a brief history of their development and what they may tell a prospective buyer, proving you CAN judge a book by its cover. The avid reader will recognize, also, Collins' predilection for making a beeline for bookcases when visiting someone's home. This practice is a shortcut to getting to know a person. Along the same lines, I try to see books on shelves behind people who are being interviewed on camera.
   
   The writing is full of humor, the biographical episodes lively enough to convey a sense of place. But the real joy is in finding there is still much to learn about books as objects rather than books as providers of knowledge and enjoyment.

3 comments about Japanese Movie Posters: Yakuza, Monster, Pink, and Horror.

1. If you buy one book on Japanese cinema this year, this is it. They have done a terrific job of laying out the history of Japanese film in poster format, in correct color no less, with
   a lot of useful information for the Japanese film buff, and collector since many of the posters are available to order right from this publication. My only comment is when will their next
   book be issued? Enjoy!



2. I discovered this new book put out by Tokyo-based DH Publishing by accident. And am glad I did. Chock full of full-page full-color posters of the most wonderfully wackiest of Japan's classic movie posters. There's everything from Horror and Monster to Samurai and Ninja, Pink (what they call soft porn) to Anime, and even some new posters thrown in. My best is easily the Sci-Fi genre, which includes the ultimate Ultraman. Also, you gotta check out some of the Monster posters, like Godzilla and some huge Ice Man creature. I bought two of these, as I knew it would make that perfect present when you've run out of ideas what to buy someone. DH Publishing arigato! I'm going to check out their other books. I hope they're as good!



3. Japanese Movie Posters: Yakuza, Monster, Pink And Horror is an eye-opening, full-color presentation of movie posters representational of the best and the worst of Japan's cinema. From lurid and graphic horror to yakuza movies to posters of Hayao Miyazaki's wondrous words of animation, Japanese Movie Posters offers an unforgettable slice of Japanese popular culture in the twentieth century. Brief yet erudite and scholarly commentaries by Chuck Stephens (contributing editor to "Film Comment", a columnist for "Kinema Junpo, and a freelance specialist in Asian cinema for publications worldwide), Tetsuya Masuda (vintage poster expert and head of the cinema section of wonder antiquarian books), and Kairakutei Black (a Japanese film critic and traditional "rakugo" comic storyteller) offer informed and informative insights into the psychology and media background of the individual posters round out this impressive collection. A unique compendium of cinematic poster art, Japanese Movie Posters is a welcome and highly recommended addition to any personal or academic Cinematic Studies reference collection.

3 comments about All About Collecting Girls' Series Books: Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, Cherry Ames, Penny Parker, Kay Tracey, Beverly Gray, Connie Blair, Vicki Barr, Dana Girls & Others.

1. When I first bought this book, I was already collecting most of the series mentioned (There is a of them on the front of the book). The first series mentioned was Ruth Fielding. Four formats were listed, of the five formats that exist. This was the first warning. All through the book, John Axe combined formats, or did not list them at all. Although it gives some nice eronious information (i.e. information about the stratmeyer synicate), most of the contents can be found after a two mininte search on Google. At one point, I emailed John Axe with a few Beverly Gray formats that he did not include in the guide. In his reply, he called them "anomalties", and compared them with some misprints that he owned. As of yet, I have not found a good guide, except ones for individual series. ...



2. For the majority of the book, the glossy pages are filled with pictures of nearly every cover of our favorite girls' series books. The Dana Girls section does NOT contain all the different artwork and seems to be slapped together and added to the book at the last moment. But other than that, I liked the book...



3. I bought this book because I wanted to see pictures of all the Dana Girls books. I can't believe that is the only series that isn't pictured fully! Only one book cover in each format of the Dana Girls is pictured. All the other series have every book pictured. That was very disappointing. It was fun to see new books added for this update of the author's previous book: Cherry Ames, Connie Blair, and Vicki Barr, but a letdown that the Dana Girls books were overlooked. I probably wouldn't have purchased this if I'd known.

No comments about Illuminated Manuscripts.

1 comments about A Guide to Collecting Everyman's Library.

1. This comprehensive volume is a must-have for collectors and admirers of the Everyman's Library. Seymour details all facets of the EL from its conception to cover design to each title's collectiblity.

No comments about The Encyclopedia of Golf Collectibles: A Collector's Identification and Value Guide (Encyclopedia of Golf Collectibles).

1 comments about Atlas Maior - Germania, Austria Et Helvetia (Joan Blaeu Atlas Maior 1665).

1. These are wonderful, beautiful maps. It gives me such a pleasure
   seeing all those details... Also interesting is
   to see the attention paid to regions which today are not any more
   so important. On the other hand, the Berlin area is not well covered,
   for instance. The plant of the city of Frankfurt is specially beautiful.
   OBS: these are *not* paperback editions (the amazon entry is wrong).
   I bought them from this site and they are hardcover, top quality
   Taschen edition.