5 comments about Picture History of the Normandie: With 190 Illustrations.

1. Has not arrived and is the second book not sent. The other Brimstone was ordered from a second provider whic is very unfair as you do not guarantee these people who never answer their mail



2. There is nothing like the classic Ocean Liners of the past...floating palaces, and wonders of the world at the time. The Normandie or Ship of Light as she was fondly called was certainly one of the most beautiful liners of all time. This is a photographic history of the ship from building to her untimely end. Well worth the price for ship enthusiasts.



3. The Normandie appeared to be a fantastic ship. A sleek greyhoud when comapred to the British Horizontal Queen Mary, the liner appeared to go all out to make crossing the Atlantic an experience in luxury that one would seldom forget. John Mantone Graham, author of Crossing & Cruising and other books on the great liners fantasiczed in one of his books how the Normandie would fare in the post World War II era, if she had survived the February 1942 fire and completed her transformation to a troop carrier and back to an ocean liner with such improvements as air conditioning, etc.
   
   It's most interesting that the recently launched Queen Mary2 was constructed in the same ship yard as the Normandie was. Perhaps it was just an interesting coincidence.



4. This book treats the First Class area of the Normadie in great detail and lush photographs, but I was slightly disapointed by the lack of information about the 2nd and 3rd classes. From what I have heard, these two classes were far superior to any other liner of the 1930's, and it was a bit let-down not to see any photos of these areas of the fabulous Normandie.

   On the other hand, I had never seen some of the 1st Class photos before--- In general, a great visual(but slightly limited)find.




5. I'm a big fan of the famous, luxurious old transatlantic liners. The Normandie is perhaps my favorite, as the most beautiful and gracious of the pre-WWII ladies of the sea. The fact that the Normandie was tragically and negligently destroyed well before she'd passed her prime has made knowing her much more difficult than her still-opulent rival, the Queen Mary. This mystery shrouds she was REALLY like...and remains a big part of her attraction. This book really helped me get closer to the Normandie, with lovely pictures of her construction and her glorious career, as well as saddening photos of her destruction. Though depressing, one sight I'd longed to see was her first class dining salon post-fire, which this book includes. I just had to know what fire and salvage would do to it...and know I know!

   Though you'll never get to step on board this wonderous ship, you can learn an awful lot about her in this book!

No comments about Civil War Firearms: Their Historical Background and Tactical Use.

5 comments about Pipe Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide (Companion).

1. I red the 2000 edition. The book is somehow shallow. It's easy to read and provides some basic info, but that is too little too late for the average pipe aficionado in the internet era and also, doesn't explain the title.
   
   I would appreciate a more in depth view on the pipe makers, more photos of their most celebrated works. Their brand's mission doesn't stand for a philosophy, I would have expected to see more on their design than on their work procedures. Some great pipemakers are not included. A good example is Steven Downie, who's works deserve such a recognition. Anyway, maybe it was too early in the 2000 edition for that, maybe it happens in the later editions.
   
   The good point is that I've learnt more about the linkage between different pipemakers and pipe brands around the world, and also I've spoted 2 or 3 names I didn't knew about.
   
   Anyway this is a good book, even if it's not very close of being a connoisseur's guide.



2. I have a number of pipe books and this is by far the best I have read. It has info on how each company prepares the briar as well as how they make their pipes. If I were to have to keep but one pipe book, this is the one I would choose!



3. I have a number of pipe books and this is by far the best I have read. It has info on how each company prepares the briar as well as how they make their pipes. If I were to have to keep but one pipe book, this is the one I would choose!



4. This is an informative and beautifully printed and illustrated book. Looking at the beautiful glossy photographs and reading the distinctive text is a delight, particularly when it is accompanied by smoking one of the fine pipes made by the carver you're reading about. However, I did wish that the book were comprehensive enough to fully live up to its subtitle of "A Connoisseur's Guide." I realize that to have included more the talented individuals and companies in Italy (e.g., Ascorti, Caminetto, Viprati, Tombari, Cavicchi,), Denmark (e.g., Former, Karl-Erik ), England (e, g., Charatan, Upshall), Austria (e.g., Matzhold), France (Comoy), Germany (Barbi, Becker, Mummert, Safferling) and elsewhere that are also handcrafting "high end" pipes would have made the book more expensive, but what a treasure it would have been. And given this book's subtitle, why spend precious pages describing Dr. Grabow, a company whose yearly production of machined pipes far exceeds the total output of all the artisans that are included in the book? If a subsequent edition is planned, I hope the author also thinks about consistently making his price ranges even more meaningful to the serious buyer by matching them up with the grading systems used by each carver. Even if this is not done in the text, an appendix just giving the grading systems would be most helpful.



5. I found this book to be a rather nice departure from the "standard" pipe tome. There was not the prerequisite history of tobacco and Sir Walter Raleigh's life story.

   Instead, there is an enjoyable, concise background section along with a chapter on "how to smoke a pipe" that was equally pointed and factual. The book seemed nicely non-biased and simply presented known facts about a given carver or company along with clear glossy photos (albiet of the most expensive examples) of that nameplate complete with price ranges.

   It is a quick read, but also a nice reference work that I have already found helpful as a quick "go to guide." It is a keeper in my small, but ever expanding library of pipe related printed media.

1 comments about Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art).

1. When we lived in England, we were constantly visiting old homes, stately mansions, and castles, and were always impressed by how deep the history went, especially in the oldest, darkest oak-paneled rooms. If those panels could talk, what a rich history going back perhaps six centuries they might tell, of what had happened in those rooms, what agreements signed, what assignations made, and so on. Some of those elaborate decorations were Jacobean, others were what might be called Jacobethan. I am only now learning that plenty were Jacobogus. John Harris is an architectural historian who let me in on this sordid secret (and the new word), in _Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages_ (Yale University Press), a documentation of a part of the antique and interior decorating worlds that does not otherwise get much attention. It's a story of centuries, money, and more than a little chicanery, and Harris has covered one room and one desecration after another. It is obvious that he has done copious research, and some of the text is mere listing of owners, rooms, and prices, as if he wanted to make sure that all the data got in. The patterns of the trade, and of deception within it, are fascinating, and the large-format, glossy book has hundreds of photographs well aligned with the text.
   
   Much of Harris's book concentrates on the movements of rooms and room parts over the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but the trade had gone on long before that. Paneling was easily removed, easily reinstalled, and easily shuffled to fit into rooms of various sizes. Interior wooden paneling over walls had the same job as tapestries, to help insulate the room and keep drafts out. There were fashions in carving paneling, with some of the oldest being carved to look as if it had folds of linen on it. Thereafter, more fanciful decoration took over in the Renaissance. The French versions, called _boiseries_, were flat, broad panels with raised floral or geometric decoration around the edges, often gilt. Fashions change, and when paneling was taken off, it might be used again for a servant's room or an attic, or it might be put in storage. It could then be pulled out decades or centuries later for the express purpose of giving a room an antiquarian look. Paneling and other wooden parts were often installed in American museums, and some such rooms are careful and get Harris's praise, but other museums seemed to go gaga over rooms without a sense of curatorial judgement. Some museums joined in a spending spree for entire rooms, thereupon finding them too entire to install in entirety, or install at all. Many of them stayed crated up, and some simply became lost (there are many rooms here that no one knows where they are).
   
   The presence who enters these pages more than any single individual is William Randolph Hearst. "So prolific was he as a magpie accumulator of salvages that it is difficult to evaluate his discrimination when the vast scale of his acquisition is considered. `Collecting' implies acquisition with a collection in mind, but so mind-blowing was the scale of his purchases, so diverse and unequal the quality, so grotesque the utter lack of self-discipline, that his motivation, beyond the lust of acquisition, is baffling." A compulsive buyer, he was lucky to have the services of his architect Julia Morgan, who incorporated much of it happily in San Simeon. Hearst gathered much more than he could ever use, or even ever unpack, and in 1941 it was catalogued for sale. Harris reproduces the nine pages having to do with "buildings and parts", and if you needed twelfth century Romanesque portals or a fifteenth century Venetian door knocker, you should have been at that sale. Harris's chapter on "The Great Accumulator" winds up this comprehensive tour of a specialized and peculiar topic. His lists of accumulations become entertaining as they are coupled with tales of lucre, deception, pride, and the folly of the rich.

5 comments about The Complete Salt and Pepper Shaker Book.

1. Schneidly Whiplash has done it again! He and his wife have such a wonderful talent for showcasing the values of collectibles!!!!



2. Probably the best reference book to date on collecting shakers. Chock full of pictures and information cover to cover.



3. This book is what I would term user friendly. It is set up in such a way that you can easily access the information you need. In the back of the book is a listing of many importing companies and information on them. This is my favorite of all of the shaker books.



4. If you are going to own just one book on salt & peppers, this is the one in which to invest. It is quite comprehensive and very well organized.



5. Mike Schneider keeps raising the bar a little higher--so high that Sergei Bubka couldn't vault over it. When I got the book I showed it to friends and that was the acid test. Over and over I heard, 'My grandma had that pair,' or ' We have those in the basement...they're worth that much?!?' These people were enthralled with the book. Mike Schneider's book runs from routine shakers to really obscure ones to ones that are absolutely unbelievable. The prices are true and the colors are crisp. Mr. Schneider's previous work caused me to be sure I got this volume--and as always I am very pleased with his efforts. Schiffer Publishing has a rising star.

5 comments about The 50 States Quarter Folder.

1. This product didn't come out as expected. I saw the same product of this at Barnes and Noble that has a better design. The book that was delivered to me just can't hold the quarters in place. They would always pop out and fall. This won't hold my quarters in place. I have to put the whole thing in a ziplock bag just to make sure I don't lose anything. I got what Barnes and Noble has, and it solved the problem. Don't get this. It's a waste of money.



2. I ordered more than one 50 States Quarter Folders and thought they would hold the quarters collected. When they were finally delivered to me, I found the dented holder could hold nothing and threw them away.



3. Ditto what others have said. My son has this folder and the quarters will not stay in the plastic slots. As a result most of his collection has disappeared. There are other folders available that are much better. The best seem to be ones where you just press the coin tightly into a cardboard cutout.



4. I like the folder very much as I am collecting the statehood quarters for my grandchildren. The booklet inside gives them lots of information on our United States. The only drawback I have seen is sometimes the quarters pop out. Other than that, it is easier to use than the traditional folders for coins.



5. The folder itself is nice with a booklet that gives information about all states but inserting the quarters just doesn't work. They don't just "press in" - they pop right out and you have to glue them in if you want them to stay in. We even tried hammering them in. I bought it for my grandson but there was no way he was getting the quarters to stay in.

3 comments about Handguns 2007 (Handguns).

1. Handgus 2007
   Edited by Ken Ramage
   
   
   Gun Digest 2007
   Edited by Ken Ramage
   
   What can I say?
   They don't make them like they used to.
   This is not your father's gun digest.
   
   It has been a long time since I bought a Gun Digest but I am about to retire and I want to revive my interest in shooting spoorts. My primary interest is target shooting with handguns.
   
   I expected to catch up on all the new stuff and read dozens of interesting articles and seel all the new models and perhaps some fondly remembered old ones.
   
   Well, they don't make them like they used to.
   I was severely disappointed. Only 17 articles total. Many of them historical. The ones that are not historical tend to have long, boring, historical introductions.
   
   The Photography is absolutely beautiful. If you are interested in beautiful pictures of beautiful guns, buy the Gun Digest. If you are looking for information about guns, shooting, or hunting, stick to your regular magaziine subscriptions.
   
   If you are interested in handguns, Handguns 2007 is worth the money but just barely. It does not have the slick paper photography but it does have 21 articles. Still a lot of boring historical stuff about how one company morphed into another 75 years ago but a decent amount of real information.
   
   The catalog portion is a disappointment, it is neither organized or comlete. There are photos of guns with no descriptions and descriptions of guns with no photos. There are manufacturers who are not represented at all.
   
   
   Summary:
   If you are interested in handguns, buy Handguns 2007 only.
   
   If you are interested in beautiful pictures of guns, buy the Gun Digest 2007.
   
   If you haven't seen one on quite a while be prepared for a disapointment.
   
   
   
   
   



2. This is an incomplete list of available guns in 2001. It also has guns listed that are no longer available. The pictures do not match up to the descriptions. There is a lot of useless information ie. air guns, lists of books about guns etc. I was disapointed with this book. I expected to see more information and reviews on available models. Did not even list Khar's 9MM, Guns and Ammo's Magazine Handgun of the Year winner in the book anywhere.



3. It plays second fiddle to the Ken Ramage's other more comprehensive book on all guns- Gun Digest 2001. It basically features a broad selection of popular handguns... specs, data, pictures, etc. I'd recommend getting the full Gun Digest 2001 instead unless your love for firearms is reserved exclusively for handguns.

3 comments about The Collector's Guide to Hull Pottery: The Dinnerware Lines : Identification & Values.

1. Excellent book, everything we could have wanted. Great use of color photos and very detailed in price and description. Wish all books about this topic could resemble this one.



2. I have been collecting the dinnerware since 1990. My mother had it back in the 60's and 70's. This book is excellent and very helpful. My daughter wrote the publisher and the publisher gave my number to the author and also sent pictures of my collection to Barbara and Barbara called my daughter. What a surprise that was to her. They spoke of the pieces we have and the pieces she would like to have. Since then we have almost doubled my collection. She inspired us and we went to Crooksville, Ohio and toured the Museum in 1997 and shopped in the town north of Crooksville where we bought several pieces of the dinnerware that I did not have. I now have over 700 pieces of the Mirrored Brown House and Garden Dinnerware. I am real proud of my collection and this book is a great way to see the pieces that are out there somewhere. Good Luck in finding the pieces you need too! They are getting harder and harder to find. If you would like to talk to me about my collection you may e-mail me. I will welcome your questions. Thank you Barbara for the terriffic book. Diana Best - Columbus, Ga.



3. My book is a must for collectors of Hull Pottery dinnerware; as well as the antique dealers who need to keep up-to-date on antique values. I attempted to provide a comprehensive overview of the dinnerware lines known as 'House n' Garden'. All the various colors and molds are shown in color photos along with the dates of manufacture. Some inside information: My photograph of choice for the cover of the book was rejected by the publisher as too much like the 'House n' Garden's' magazine covers...but if you look on inside next to 'About the Author' the lovely picture of my favorite piece, the duck casserole, is displayed in a dinnerware setting on a red-checkered tablecloth! The photo was taken in my kitchen! This dinnerware was as common as American Apple Pie until the mid 1980's. Now it has become very difficult to find and more expensive than even I would have imagined a few years ago! I'm not entirely happy with the layout at the end of the book and would have done it differently had I the op

No comments about Josef Originals: Charming Figurines (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1 comments about Marketing With Newsletters: How to Boost Sales, Add Members & Raise Funds With a Print, Fax, E-Mail, Web Site or Postcard Newsletter.

1. I was looking for a book on developing content, and this one happened to be laying around the house... it does cover quite a bit about focusing the newsletter around what type of target market you're going for but it does spend a bit of time talking about subscription newsletters and setting that up rather than content development.