1 comments about Cutting Edge: Japanese Swords in the British Museum.

1. In a very few words, this book is informative to both the newcomer and the more advanced collector. The historical and technical information is authoratative and concise, but the best part of the book are the incredible photos of the blades. These are the best photos I have ever seen, you can actually see the hamons and hadas which are also described in the text. It is extremely difficult to take photos like these, and in many books you can see the blade but not the individual characteristics which actually give the beauty to the blade.

1 comments about Warman's Tools Field Guide: Values and Identification (Warman's Field Guides).

1. I bought this book because I have several dozen woodworking planes that I have bought over the last twenty years. I bought them for my own use, not as a collector. Many of them are scarce and reasonably hard to find but I would not consider them rare. I bought this guide so I could get some idea of their worth before putting them up for sale. I found this guide of no use. For the most part, it lists very rare planes in extraordinary condition. It is organized by general types of planes (e.g. smoothing planes) rather than manufactures or something that I might find useful. The net result is that it might have information about some of my planes but I do not wish to read the book cover to cover on the off chance that I can find it. It is not the guide book for me.

No comments about Royal Doulton Jugs, 10th Edition - A Charlton Standard Catalogue.

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!

1 comments about Unauthorized Guide to Fire-king Glasswares.

1. I am quite disappointed with this book. If I have read it in a book store (instead of mail order) I would not have bought it. It is bacially a book with only pictures and the prices. It does not even include the price of those that are not pictured. The pictures are not great either, some ivory pieces look like they are green!! The listing is not complete and in my own opinion, any one who goes to an auction site can gather enough pictures and a more complete price list of all the Fire King items than this book. There are only 2-3 pages that have words/writting by the author. I didnot gain any new knowledge by reading this book at all. A waste of money. The one by Gene Florence is much better.

No comments about The History of Furniture: Twenty-Five Centuries of Style and Design in the Western Tradition.

5 comments about Old-Fashioned Christmas Cards: 24 Cards.

1. These are exactly what i was looking for to create custom Christmas cards this year! They are very detailed and super cute! A bit more glossier than i wanted, but they will be great!!



2. I knew these were postcards when I bought them a few years ago and that's exactly what I needed for my hand-made cards. The back page describes them as so, as does an excerpt. I used black photo corners on them and attached them to dark red card stock. Then I wrapped a gold metallic pipe cleaner around the fold and twisted both ends. I rubber stamped and embossed a Merry Christmas greeting inside it. They turned out beautifully and no two were alike. I received many compliments on my Victorian Christmas cards.



3. I wanted to order Christmas cards early because you never know how long it will take mail to go through when you are overseas. I like the idea of "old Fashioned Christmas Cards" and these were listed as Christmas Cards, not Post-cards which is in fact what they are. I like cards you put in envelopes, not cards where everyone reads what you write. Post-cards are much to impersonal for Christmas.Old-Fashioned Christmas Cards: 24 Cards



4. Although darling, these cards are not what I expected when I ordered Christmas cards. They're postcards that you have to tear apart yourself. For me, sending a postcard for Christmas seems tacky. Adding to the potential tackiness are the perforated edges. They don't tear apart easily and end up looking rather hideous. What a disappointment.
   
   Also, the cards are by their nature rather culturally insensitive, owing to the fact that they're from the early 1900s and only show white people, breezily ignoring all others. (Of course, this is something you would probably expect before ordering, whereas the fact that they're postcards was totally unexpected.)



5. This book is a series of vintage postcards, four postcards per page. It's great for looking through, but also a great for sending out Christmas cards at a lower cost (postcard stamps). The book easy easy to break apart - just take out the staples holding it together and tear away at the perforated edges! I have gotten more compliments this year than any other on how wonderful my Christmas cards were. The old-fashioned charm and warm sentiments in the cards were perfect.

5 comments about So Crazy Japanese Toys!.

1. A beautiful book filled with beautiful pictures of beautiful (and bizzare) Japanese toys. What more could one ask for? Well, how about a book that stays in one piece for more than 30 minutes. After less than half an hour of gentle reading the wraparound cover became unglued from the rest of the book. I'll glue the cover back on and cross my fingers nothing more comes loose, but this is a hassle, and not the first time such a thing has happened with a Chronicle Book: my copy of Eric Kohler's "In the Groove" found itself In the Trash soon after both cover and pages came loose from the el-cheapo glue binding. Message to Chronicle Books: it's the 21st Century, and high time books be bound to last more than a day. Either have your current printer improve his binding, or get a new printer. And yes, I'd be willing to pay a little more for better binding. My rating: content = 5 stars, presentation = 1 star.



2. I, too, am disappointed by the negative reviews of this book. Collectors (which, sadly, I am not) will recognize that this book is not intended to be a catalog, but a showcase of some of the strange and beautiful Japanese toys.
   I loved the photography, and the serious time and effort that must have went into each shot. There is at least one (and probably more) fanatic behind this book, that's for sure.
   I found this book in a thrift store (who would give such a treasure away?), and knew that I must own it. The characters are so bizarre, yet sometimes, strangely, familiar. Only later did I discover that this is the work of Jimbo Matison, whose "Space Is Dum" webtoon was already deeply imbedded in my psyche (check it out, if you can find it).
   This book also spawned a great game in my house. My wife opens the book to a random page, and we both make up a name for the character depicted (as I said, I am not a collector, and know few of their names). We are, sadly, never close, but we try.
   I look forward to more twisted stuff from Jimbo in the future.



3. Beautiful photos and nice book on vinyl japanese toys.
   I apprecciated



4. I can't believe the 2 kill-joys on this page. These are the guys I try to block from my ebay auctions when I can : picky, shrill & NO HUMOR (or soul for that matter).

   I've bought sold & collected tons of robots & space toys over the past 20 years or so, yet many of these characters I haven't seen at all except in the tiny little fliers accompanying some of the boxes. This is a MAGNIFICENT SELECTION! Posed, composed & shot with loving perfection! Every turn of the page is a delightful surprise.

   The only drawback is that it makes me want to start all over & fill my shelves with these guys. Argggh...oh no, not again. Gasp - all that dusting....




5. This book is a must have for Japanese vinyl doll collectors or for those who appreciate awesome pictures. The book could have featured more vinyls, but I'm not complaining.

2 comments about The My Little Pony G1 Collector's Inventory: an unofficial full color illustrated collector's price guide to the first generation of MLP including all ... and accessories released before 1997.

1. The guide is beautifully done, with clear pictures and fantastic organization. There is clearly a lot of research and work that has gone into this labor of love, and it shows. This book is just brimming with valuable information.
   
   It's a great resource to have on hand. For those of us with extensive collections, it really makes all the difference when trying to organize and inventory ponies and accessories.
   
   As someone who owns both of Summer's books, I highly suggest getting one of your own--it's a great investment!



2. The pictures in this book are terrific. They are full color and quite detailed. I especially like that Dream Beauties, petites and little litters are included. Accessories are listed but not always shown but it's a wealth of information. I am really enjoying reading it.

5 comments about Super #1 Robot: Japanese Robot Toys, 1972-1982.

1. This book contains stunningly beautiful pictures of japanese chogokin (=die cast metal) toys from the 1970's and 80's. Many of the toys are quite rare and hard to find pictures of (like toys made by Takatoku, Nomura, Marushin and Nakajima), even in Internet times. Highly recommended!



2. In addition to Tim Brisko's incredible photography, Matt Alt and Robert Duban provide a brief history of Japanese toys that explains how these toys fit into the grand scheme of things. Recommended!



3. I bought this book for my husband because he's obsessed with transforming robots. He squealed when he read it. The photography is wonderful and it is like a history book for the ultimate transforming robot fan.



4. It's about time an American book in english came out on this subject, authored by people who know what they're talking about and thankfully NOT including tin and wind-up robots from the 60s and earlier. This little paperback is what chogokin collectors would humorously refer to as "robot porn." It's a glossy, high-quality picture book that causes salivation and drooling with the turn of every page. Unfortunately it is by no means a complete encyclopedic manual for all toys diecast during the 70s and 80s, but that can't be expected, considering such an undertaking would produce a book (or morelike a series of books) far heftier than this little paperback. Since that expectation is unreasonable, it is entirely forgivable since this little tome covers quite a chunk of the chogokin, vinyl and plastic market, and a nice variety, as well.
   
   First off the book construction is sweet - small and easily handled, it's like a mini coffeetable book with a glossy softcover. I wasn't expecting such a nicely made little book. There is minimal chitchat and all the talent is poured into the photography of the most mint-looking chogokin robots I have ever seen. I think the thing that I was most tickled about was there was a picture of a mint Tetsujin 28 in the front of the book, and a beat up, played-with, broken and paintchipped version of the same robot in the back of the book. The wear on the used robot shows more as a sign of how much that toy was loved, not abused, and anyone who loves collecting chogokin, I think, would get the same tingly warm feeling looking at that beat Tetsujin 28 as the shiny minty one.
   
   There are a few vinyl robots included in the line-up, and I could think of quite a few chogokin that were left out that could've taken up the pages of the vinyls, as I'm not much of a vinyl collector myself; vinyls are a whole other collector market and I can see why they were included in the book, but then again, I would've preferred that they weren't. Vinyls were usually monsters, but the ones that depict robots were the ones focussed on. All in all they don't take up a lot of space. Also the book is an almost even mix between the comical/humorous chogokin like Robocon and Robodachi and the more serious robot gladiators and team robots like the Godaikins; again these are (more or less) two different collector markets and not everyone collects both. As well, there are some Giant Machinders included, which is not even a scratch on the surface for them since there are quite literally hundreds if not more to collect in that category, but this book is really not meant to be a catalogued record of every robot ever made. Even though one will be able to think of some robots that were left out, all the major ones were included. The only complaint I have is that a lot of them are shown not holding a weapon, when many of them are known for their specific or characteristic weapon(s). Some are shown with a weapon, like Garbin, but too many are just robots standing weaponless. Again, though, this book isn't meant to be an official catalogue, so don't expect accessories to be featured.
   
   If you want lists and cataloging of every robot ever made during the 70s and 80s, there are plenty of online sites that attempt to accomplish such a massive undertaking. But if you want to flip through a nice hefty little book just to get the tingly warm feeling of joy gazing upon the robots of your childhood, this book is totally worth it. It's a little window peephole into the past, but man is it worth peeping.



5. Hi, this is hubby James writing this review...
   
   I just got SUPER #1 ROBOT and it totally rocks. As much as I thought I knew about J-bots, this really showed how much I didn't know. Even if you are well-versed in "super robots" and anime mecha, expect to be surprised by some really far-out machines you've never seen, from shows you've never heard of (but wish you had)!
   
   The photos are wonderful, shot from a proper low perspective, giving these tiny giants their respect. They look like huge works of art here, which in some ways, they truly are. Great work! I am looking forward to Alt's next book very eagerly.