2 comments about Warman's G.I. Joe Field Guide: Values and Identification (Warman's Field Guides).

1. This guide is very incomplete! It only has the basic figures and uniforms only up to the 1990's even though it just came out in print in 2006.



2. The Warman's G.I. Joe Field Guide is not a comprehensive, all-encompassing guide to G.I. Joe figures. Writer Karen O' Brien makes this clear in the introduction. Rather, this small (5" by 4") book serves as a convenient, pocket guide to G.I. Joe figures and accessories and includes hundreds of clear, vibrant photographs. It's the kind of book you can pack along easily when you travel to garage sales, flea markets, or collectibles shows. While it may not be exhaustive, there is still a lot packed into its 512 pages. O' Brien provides a brief history of the figure line and the opening section of photos display the various copyright marks and facial and uniform variations on the early figures.
   
   Some figures are show loose while others are show still in their original boxes. For pricing purposes, only a MIP price is given. Another plus is that O'Brien provides the Hasbro item number for the figure (although not accessory sets). Some of the rarest Joe figures are pictured including the Soldiers of the World sets, the rare Canadian Mountie Sears figure, and the Action Girl G.I. Nurse, valued at $4000, perhaps the rarest figure of all. The various adventure sets were always my favorite as a kid and the book includes photos of these great sets including the Secret of the Mummy's Tomb, White Tiger Hunt, and Fight for Survival dog sled set. You know I still have those plastic husky dogs over thirty years later!
   
   The first 380 pages of the book are dedicated to the original G.I. Joe line while the last 130 pages are given over to the 3 ½" line. Only figures are pictured for the 3 ½" line, no vehicles or accessories are included. As a basic, carry along guide it serves its purpose well to provide some guidelines for pricing and identification. You can get more comprehensive guides but this fills the bill for being compact and inexpensive.
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson

No comments about Simple & Stylish Patterns for Dolls' Hats & Shoes: For 18-Inch, 14-Inch and 8-Inch Dolls (Creative Crafters Series).

1 comments about Collectibly Yours Barbie Doll 1980-1990: 1980-1990 : Identification & Price Guide.

1. Chock full of full-color photos, descriptions and values, this latest book from Hobby House Press is a great reference for any Barbie collector. Covering the years 1980-1990, author Margo Rana has described each doll in detail, depicting each with clear color photos, often several to a page. Boxes and fashions are also pictured. This is a book no serious Barbie collector will want to be without.

2 comments about Ty Beanies Tracker Guide.

1. After storing hundreds of my daughter's Beanie Babies for years, I purchased this book to help me decide which ones to keep and which ones I could pass on to others to enjoy. Very helpful.



2. I was very happy that the publisher (Bangzoom) made a second edition of this book. I also own the first edition of this book which was released in 2003, and this second edition picks up where it left off and also includes an additional Ty product line. The first edition included Beanie Babies, Beanie Buddies, Beanie Kids, Beanie Boppers, Teenie Beanie Boppers, Jingle Beanies, Basket Beanies, Punkies, and Pluffies. The second edition updated these lines to include product introduced since the first edition's release, and they've added the Teenie Beanie Babies which were a promotion at McDonald's. Also included are Appendices listing all available Champion Beanies and Buddies, Kanata Beanies, and Issy Beanies. This second edition improves on the first edition by adding space on each page for recording the price you paid for a Beanie and its current value, pages to add new products as they are released, a section for notes, pages to calculate the value of your collection, a checklist, and a Beanie Baby birthday index. Karen Holmes did a wonderful job of researching hang tag generations, tush tag generations, and Beanie information. She also provided the pictures included in the book. I use this book constantly to track my collection and highly recommend it!

5 comments about Boys' Toys of the Fifties and Sixties: Memorable Catalog Pages from the Legendary Sears Christmas Wishbooks 1950-1969.

1. Boys Toys of the Fifties and Sixties is a terrific book for us boomers who grew up in that era. There's no color inside the book, but that may have made it too expensive to print. I found the b&w pages clear, no problem reading them.
   
   You'll find most of your favorite toys in here, as well as those pre-inflation prices. We tend to forget our parents didn't make much money in those days, so everything's relative.
   
   Obviously they did not include all the pages from each year's Sears catalog, but the representative pages give a nice sample. As you read through this book, you'll find yourself slipping back 40 or 50 years when times were much simpler and toys required more imagination.
   
   You'll see great toys from Louis Marx (my favorites), Mattel, Kenner, and the other big names of the time. The descriptions are fun too, probably written to appeal to the 8 year-old mind.
   
   If you come home from work with a headache or have some worry, this book is great escapist reading. I think you'll enjoy it.



2. The type of catalog i would i would like you to send is sound effects, ice skates, record players, and so much more. So that would be great.

   thank you
   from
   Emile Alston




3. for those of us who grew up in a certain era and were products of the commercial age this book will bring back many memories. having had a dad who worked in the field until i was 7 i was spoiled and got about anything i wanted. try explaining to a 7 year old that dad no longer gets all the freebies he wants! well worth the time for any boi boomer!



4. I liked the catalog, but was dissapointed to see that all of the pictures were black and white (I think I do remember pages in the 60's that had color). It looks as though someone just copied the pictures on a plain copier, and slapped this book together. The idea was very good, but don't expect the quality of true Sears Catalog pages.



5. I come from a family of 7 boys. We all grew up wishfully dreaming every Christmas of GI Joe and erector sets found on the pages of the Sears Wishbook. This book brought so many memories rushing back - of things I fondly remembered and things I had forgotten about - I can't count them. My wife bought it for me last Xmas, I'm going to buy a copy for all my brothers this Xmas.

2 comments about Blue Book Dolls and Values.

1. I have more than one of Jan Foulke's Blue Books. I find them useful not only for the price guide, but for the full-color photos that can be found on almost every page of the book. And don't think that only the prices are updated in each issue. Ms. Foulke also swaps out most, if not all, of the photos, so each new edition gives you more visual examples to refer to. I recommend this or any of her books.



2. If you buy ONE doll price guide book, this is the one to buy.
   EXCELLENT!

4 comments about Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls 1900-1950: Identification and Values (Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls).

1. Excellent book-Well organized by years, showing top quality photos of American compo. dolls. Highly recommend!



2. The photographs in this book are outstanding and very helpful when trying to identify a doll. Ms. Mertz has outdone herself in the information she provides in this book. I especially like the closeup photos of the dolls' heads because it is so helpful when trying to identify unmarked dolls without original clothing. This book is a joy to read, and I have kept it on my chair side table in close reach so that I can enjoy it every time I sit down for a break.



3. This is a 'must have' book for the collector of American composition dolls. It is well researched and showcases many smaller companies that produced dolls as beautiful, and desirable, as the larger ,better known manufacturers. The addition of actual advertisements from trade magazines, touting 'uniqueness' and sales potential for particular dolls, is both interesting and education to the serious collector as well as the novice. The histories of the lesser known companies ,no matter how short, are enlightening since many of them I knew nothing about. This volume is as beautifully photographed as the first; Ms. Mertz took no shortcuts on quality. Both volumes I & II are well worth their price.



4. Ursula Mertz has done it again! Her first volume of the COLLECTOR'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN COMPOSITION DOLLS set the standard for compo doll reference books. Now her Vol. 2 -- all new information and photos -- has been published and it more than lives up to the quality of its now out-of-print predecessor. For anyone who enjoys the composition dolls of the first half century of the 20th Century, this book is a "must buy!"

3 comments about Life Like Dolls: The Collector Doll Phenomenon and the Lives of the Women Who Love Them.

1. this was a horrible book first of all i just turned 14 and i have been collecting porcelin dolls since i was 5 years old and this idiot is trying to say that doll collectors have mental problems...this book really distured and upset me when i read it lkast year and it made every one who know that i collect dolls think that i have pervesed tendencies if i could give it 0 stars i most certainly would



2. Just for Dr. Robertson, this review is gonna ramble...
   This is the kind of book that makes serious anthropologists cringe. This is the kind of book that makes the "hard science" scientists make jokes about social "scientists." I appreciate Dr. Robertson's attempt to appeal to the largest possible readership in order to sell the book, but, unfortunately, wandering around in the middle just made the book tedious, repetitive, rambling, poorly presented, and way too generalized. Instead of scientific conclusions (or even, methods) Dr. R. makes huge sweeping generalizations about what his little computer-generated statistics tell him! I was embarrassed for him. I understand that students were major contributors, so maybe I should keep that in mind. Congratulations, you can all say you are "published" contributors on your resumes now, through the kindness of Dr. Robertson. But, leaving the students out of it, Dr. Robertson often wandered off the subject (Porcelain Collector Dolls) into other areas and kinds of doll collecting, sometimes seeming to imply that other kinds of doll collecting are just as weird and demented as PCD collecting. Maybe so, but other kinds of doll collecting should have waited for another book, instead of muddying the water in this volume, generalizing, summarizing, pontificating, and just making the book an exasperating trial to read. That said, I do think the subject is a fascinating one, and I think the manufacturers would be even more fun to study! When I first started working in antique and vintage doll repair, my first response to the PCD's I saw in doll magazines was the same one Dr. Robertson most often encountered outside of the PCD collecting "world:" Eeeee-ee-eew; nauseating; weird! Who could be collecting these dolls? Well, now I know who they are, and that could have been summarized in an essay. After checking out some of those dolls at doll shows, I began to think about their usefulness in the Los Angeles area carpool lanes. Hmmm...might be worth the investment, but would I be strangely compelled to keep buying them?? Have a trunk full? More in carseats in the back? I doubt it. I don't exactly fit the "profile," and don't collect PCD's, although I am the "right" age and I do have a few other kinds of dolls lying around the house. I've never felt the "empty nest" syndrome (who first made that up, anyway?) -- I was thrilled when I finally had more time and a spare room to use for my avocation repairing dolls. I also think it's telling to note that the most often quoted sources in the book are both very out of date; why Dr. R. used studies from 1896 (Hall and Ellis) and Freud, who isn't even in the bibliography, and who no one takes seriously anymore anyway, is really beyond me. I was mildly entertained by Dr. Robertson's discussion of "hyperreality," but it was just one among many concepts he was handing out as scientific fact. It's fine to hypothesize and speculate, but he forgot to tell us that the WHOLE BOOK is a hypothesis with a lot of speculation thrown in! This is what my mathematician husband calls "telling stories!" God help anyone who believes this information hook, line, and sinker! The frequency charts in the appendix were really disappointing and will go over the heads of most readers; why didn't he just use bar graphs? Chapter 8 was the best, most organized, and most interesting section in the book; I wish I'd read it first and saved myself a lot of time.



3. This book occupies a strange position between popular nonfiction and academic writing: It's a well-researched, careful study of porcelain collectors' dolls and the women who collect them, but it's written in a way that is very personal and immediate. It caused me to look at my own collecting behaviors in a new way. The conclusion could reach further, but otherwise I found the entire book surprisingly fascinating. If you're interested in anthropological research, women's studies, consumerism, toys, dolls, human evolution, geriatrics, family studies, or art, then consider this book. It will start you thinking, and you'll never flip past the doll ads in magazines again without taking a close look.

5 comments about Beckett Racing Collectibles Price Guide (Beckett Racing Collectibles and Die-Cast Price Guide).

1. Received the issue with only Dale Jr. on the cover in his new team's colors. Pleased with it, very detailed and inclusive. H ave only found one piece I have not listed. Easy to follow. Invest in a magnifying glass if you are older than 21. Diecast listing by driver in the last section is very helpful. Who needs monthly updates in this hobby. Very much worth the price, but I really wanted the one with Dale Earnhardt on the cover.



2. Very pleased with purchase. Arrived in a timely fashion and in excellent condition. Just what we were looking for.



3. First of all, I HATE the BIG UGLY picture of American Car Racer...do not know his name, on the cover of the book. Second, I hate NASCAR and Cheap political HOT WHEEL junk I do not even care for looking at. The book should focus on HIGH QUALITY COLLECTIBLE BRANDS ONLY. What a waste of paper~!!!



4. The 2005 price guide Beckett Racing Collectibles Price Guide features more cars, more checklists, and more die-cast replica models from 1910 to modern times, and is a pick whether you're a NASCAR, Indy or Formula One fan - or love sprints, drags or dirt cars. The staff of the professional Beckett Racing compile a pricing source which includes a checklist for all cards issues, values for both individual cards and sets, front and back photos of a sample card from most sets, and more.



5. Excellent Price Guide, Great detail on all Racing Collectibles.
   
   Can't wait for the next edition.

5 comments about The Doll House Decorator: The Complete Guide to Do-It-Yourself Furnishings for Dolls and Dollhouses.

1. I first got this book when I was 8 and still love it. Every time I look at it I find somthing new. It has very good instuctions and is good for all ages. All the projects are with very available, inexpensive things. I'm very happy I have this book and it is very fun to put into use.



2. I was 11 when I was given this book by my parents. That was all it took for me to become completely obsessed with creating these little worlds of tiny people. Granted, this isn't the most sophisticated of all books on the subject, but it is extremely accessible. Now, 14 years later, I still have most, if not all, of the furniture I made by using patterns from this book. The materials are inexpensive and very easy to find - on a child's allowance I was able to do a lot. This is still, hands down, my sentimental favorite.



3. I was disappointed over the quality of the minatures featured in this book. They seemed way too amateur-ish and uninventive. I feel the author could have tried a little harder in making more creative and sophisticated designs rather than boring, suburban-lazy type she displayed in this book. The designs reminded me of those ugly crocheted blankets you see in the typical housewife or granny's home. It's a great hobby with alot of potential; unfortunately, the only people who take it up have no sense whatsoever of aesthetics.

   The up side of this book is that it includes alot of color photos and detailed instructions, if you are inclined to make these dull pieces at home.




4. i found this book by chance in waldens. i have always had a fascination with miniatures and dollhouses, maybe because of my modest childhood. however, my interest in miniatures was sparked by the discovery of this book. boulton does an excellent job with explaining the miniture making process. as always, the DK company provides clear and colorful illustrations on making miniatures. i love this book and would recommend it to anyone who is an advanced miniaturist or novice.



5. My Mother gave her copy of the book to my granddaughter who is 8 yrs old. Now she can't wait to get home from school to work on her latest project for her dolls or doll house. Sometimes it is a Mother-Daughter project but not always.