3 comments about Jeweled Garden: A Colorful History of Gems, Jewelry, and Nature.

1. Drool! Drool! Drool! You haven't seen these before. I have a lot of books on jewelry and I haven't seen 99% of the pieces in this book before.
   
   Every page has full color photographs of the most stunning jewelry I've every seen. Many of the photographs are larger than life size, so you can really see the details. The descriptions of the pieces even give you a better feel of what they look like in real life.
   
   I would definitely consider buying other books by these authors, as this book is stunning.



2. A superb book! A visual ravishment!
   
   The book is well researched and wide ranging in its study of flora based jewellery!
   
   Focusing not only on the great jewellery houses but also on historical pieces, it makes for interesting reading for anyone who appreciate fine workmanship but also the history of jewels!



3. A "Must-have" for jewelry collectors, designers ..... Excellent pictures!!!! Great details!!! With lots of great masterpieces! 100% +++++ satisfaction in owning it!!!

1 comments about Ancient Carpenters' Tools: Illustrated and Explained, Together with the Implements of the Lumberman, Joiner and Cabinet-Maker in Use in the Eighteenth Century.

1. During his lifetime, Henry Mercer was a lawyer, archaeologist, museum curator, promoter of lost crafts, and collector of a museum's worth (literally) of assorted stuff. One of his many interests was early American woodworking tools.

   Ancient Carpenter's Tools is a comprehensive look at 18th and 19th Century American woodworking tools. The book is divided into chapters by function (Measurement, Shaping, etc.) and then by type of tool. As American tools were heavily influenced by their European ancestors, Mercer also includes a history of each tool with references to Medieval and Classical tools. Each tool is illustrated with photographs and drawings.

   While this book was originally published in the 1920's (and occasionally shows its age) it remains useful for any student of tool history.

5 comments about Preserving Your Family Photographs: How to Organize, Present, and Restore Your Precious Family Images.

1. Since I love photos old and young, I really enjoyed this book. It is important that we save what we have regardless of importance at this moment. I believe this book is a good way to learn how to handle our photos carefully so our descendants will have the joy to go through our photos.



2. Does an excellent job of organizing and establishing time lines for photos. Very glad to find a copy.



3. Taylor may give readers a good place to start in their efforts to preserve family photographs, but offers information that is both contradictory and vague.

   She gives a basic explanation of the "enemies" your photographs are facing, even breaking down information on particular types of photographs, tintypes, Polaroids, etc. But does not bother defining some basic terms in the glossary such as lignin. Nor are many of her suggestions for which supplies are appropriate specific enough. Eg., what kind of brush should I use to clean photos? I know that Nylon brushes are probably not soft enough for treasured photos. Even worse she says polyethylene is a bad material to store your photos in, but a few pages later suggests using polyethylene freezer bags for freezer storage of items.

   Taylor includes lengthy lists of resources for, and more information on preservation. But some of the web addresses she lists no longer exist.

   While she has some good suggestions for long-term storage of photo collections, I would not recommend this book to anyone trying to learn about photographic preservation.




4. For me, studying old photos is one of the more fascinating aspects of family research, even when I'm not related to any of the people whose faces appear. The military uniforms, hats, parlor furniture, automobiles, urban scenes, and especially the faces and their expressions, are like a kind of time travel, allowing you to peer back into someone's past. Taylor's previous book, _Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs,_ investigated that process. But how to protect the photos you already have tucked away in albums have so future family members will get the same pleasure (and information) from them? And how to rehabilitate those you discover to whom the years and the elements have not been kind? This time, the author outlines the steps you can take to see that your photographs have the best chance of survival and describes the methods conservators and restoration experts follow when the task becomes too much for you. She also guides you through the process of creating a meaningful scrapbook of archival quality, discusses the use of computer enhancement and electronic archives, and points out the legal aspects of posting photographs on a web site. Most of the chapters end with checklists and answers to frequently-asked questions, and there are many sidebars and brief marginal comments regarding further reading and useful Internet resources on the subject. Keeping in mind that the technical aspects of photographic restoration and preservation continue to evolve rapidly, this is an excellent beginner's guide and reference handbook.



5. Mama won't take your Kodachrome away, it is time and the elements which are attacking your treasured family photographs. Your Polaroid snapshots are fading as you read this. Those "magnetic" photo albums with the adhesive pages are gassing your family pictures to crumbs. Your digital images may not be viewable by your great grandchildren. But don't give up hope - take action. Maureen Taylor's "Preserving Your Family Photographs" tells you how to take charge and protect your family's photographic history. "Preserving Your Family Photographs" shows you how taking some simple steps now will slow down the aging process of your photographs. And its doesn't require a chemistry set. The book further discusses how and when to choose a professional conservator, concerns about digital photography, how to organize your collection, and even how to safely place your treasures in a scrapbook. This book takes up where "Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs" leaves off. After you've identified your family photographs, "Preserving Your Family Photographs" tells you how to keep them for generations to come.

5 comments about The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps 35th ed (Postal Service Guide to Us Stamps).

1. I must say this is the best guide to United States Stamps and it's from the Postal service....get it and you will not be able to put it down.



2. The book is beutifully illustrated and contains up-to-date information on stamp collecting, directly from the source, The U.S. Post Office. It has enhanced my view on collecting.



3. I collected stamps in the 1970s and 1980s as my grandmother was a big collector and I was fascinated by her stamp books, which were terrific. I had a pretty good collection myself just from her discards. But when she passed away over 20 years ago, I lost interest in the hobby. But recently, I pulled out my old stamp book and got the urge to get it back into shape and to get it current. And the 33rd edition of the US Postal Service's book is a great book to use as a guide to get back in the hobby. First, it shows pictures of almost every stamp ever issued by the USPS over the years in glorious color, so it is a great book just to look at. But I use it to see just how daunting it will be to catch up to collecting almost 25 years of stamps because the USPS has issued considerably more stamps on an annual basis than they did before. I also use it as a guideline as to how much I should pay for stamps on online auctions to make sure I don't overpay by too much. The size of the book makes it easy to use as well.
   
   I've really enjoyed rediscovering this hobby and really think this book has made it even more fun!



4. If you are looking for a high and low price for an individual US stamp, this is the book for you. It does not price by the condition of the stamp, but the book will give you some idea of the price range a stamp would fall within.



5. i just thought i'd write in saying what an amazing book this is. i purchacd it a few months back, and even though its from 2003, it combines indivual prices of all stamps, and first day covers. everything is in color and very easy to read and move around in. i find its a bit better then Scott's. as fdc's are included right there on the page.

5 comments about Charmed Bracelets.

1. I loved this adorable little book, and you will too. It is written with charm (pun?) and wit and made me smile lots of times. The pictures are beautiful and will inspire you to want even more charms than you already have. Definitely buy it if you are at all interested in charm bracelets.



2. This is a nice picture book and fun to look through but when it comes to putting together charm bracelets the suggestion is to take it to a jeweler. Charm bracelet collectors, buy this book. Charm bracelet makers, look elsewhere.



3. Yes, this book about charms is, well, charming! If you like jewelry, themed or not, you'll like this book. I was smiling as i looked through it, and I make themed charm bracelets myself, so it was fun to see what other people have done over the years. So many charms, so little time!



4. If you have ever had a charm bracelet, currently collect charms, or have ever wanted to start a collection - this book is for you! The ideas, history, and photos of the bracelets are all wonderful. It inspired me to clean up my old charm bracelets and, along with my current one, put them on display. They are works of art that tell a story. This book is also a great gift. It has inspired those I've given it to as it inspired me.



5. I was browsing one day at the Gardner in Berkeley, CA and saw this book. I bought it for a friend and it was so fun that we decided to start charm bracelets of our own. The fever caught on and now there is a group of us that are trading and swapping stories. My bracelet is becoming my history and its great to watch it evolve.
   
   The book is beautifully designed and written.

5 comments about Master Pieces: The Curator's Game.

1. Stimulating book - took me back to days as an art student. Enjoyed very much.Purchased as a result of borrowing the book from the local library.
   Excellent.



2. Thomas Hoving was the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a decade (1967-77). He presents the humble public with this shining book/game with obvious love and appreciation of its contents.
   
   He starts off by recounting how every week during the long coffee breaks at the MET, a select person would bring in photographs taken of certain details from various famous (and not-so famous) works of art. It was then the pleasure of the art buffs in the room to discern just where it was they'd seen those images. There were easy details, there were mind-bending details. They came to call this the "Curator's Game."
   
   Equally as entertaining are Hoving's assorted thoughts and interesting side-notes on the works. He never shies away from providing his own opinions. For instance the clue from a Renaissance piece on pg.28 reads that the artist's women "had a softness that his rival Michelangelo never achieved."
   
   The first half of the book has all of the details along with their respective clues. You'll find angels and men, dogs and instruments as it winds down to incredibly difficult background images. The second half houses all of the paintings from which the details were taken along with a brief description and examination of them. And don't fret, if you fear you won't be able to find them all, Mr. Hoving has been kind enough to provide us with an answer key.
   
   As has been written by others, this would make a wonderful gift. It also proved a great way to pass the time on a rainy day. Recommended for my part.



3. Former curator of the MET introduces us to the "classic" curator game of showing small samples (pieces) from famous works of art and trying to determine the artist and name of the piece. The curator who won (the master of the days pieces) would get a free cup of coffe for the week. We only get the satisfaction of knowing our art. Along with the satisfaction though is the honing of your art identity skills and an overall increase in your awareness of art. From Giotto to Hockney the 'test' covers 57 masterpieces from 700 years of western art. The pictures are used more then once so you really need to know your art to get them all right. The end of the book has a quick bio and review of the masterpiece.
   
   My only complaint would be the book is a little small, Hoving talks about using the book to study the details of the pieces yet some of the pictures are only 2x3 inches, makes seeing the detail tough.
   
   Strongly recommended for anyone interested in western art. As this book assumes a basic knowledge of art, I would not recommend for an art novice looking for an intro to art.



4. This is a wonderful book for art buffs and and novices alike. As Hoving says in the introduction, it's based off of a game that curators often played together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each identification "challenge" comes with a brief biography of the artist and unusual fact/perspective on the piece or its depiction, and the book's unique format helps me remember (and want to share) everything I learn. It's great for dinner parties, long car-rides, or just curling up with on your own to sharpen your eye for art. It makes the perfect gift-- I'd recommend it to anyone!



5. Pick up this book for fifteen seconds and you won't put it down. It immediately got me involved with its "curator's game" of showing small details of great art-and then challenging me to match the details to a famous artist and the complete painting. Where had I seen those haunting eyes before? What story is being told by the reflections in the small mirror? When you turn to the complete paintings in the back of the book, and see how the piece fits into the masterpiece, you learn a lesson that will stay with you for a long time. The lesson: Look carefully at all parts of a painting instead of just standing back and admiring the work as a whole. It's true that "God is in the details," so this book encourages you to relish and delight in those details.

5 comments about How to Identify Prints, Second Edition.

1. Bamber Gascoigne's "How to Identify Prints" is a comprehensive, yet detailed analysis of the various types of works on paper. As other reviews indicate below, it covers the entire field of works on paper. For appraisers, dealers and collectors, it is a "must have" for your reference library. As an appraiser, I agree with another review on the book that indicates that the book is a little light on woodblock prints. However, woodblock printing is complex enough to support its own books, especially when discussing Japanese Woodblock prints.
   
   Even with the brevity of the woodblock section, this book is still the best overall print reference book I have seen. It uses a logical approach to educating the reader, and allows him or her to progressively expand his or her knowledge as they work through the book; it builds a foundation, and then adds to that foundation. I only wish I had discovered the book years ago when I was just beginning to learn about prints! For beginners to connoisseurs, this is a fabulous reference book.



2. This book is found in the printrooms of most galleries and print collectors as it is a precise and concisely written text which explains the complex processes of printmaking. It clarifies the sometimes baffling differences between printing families and the creative techniques involved in making a print such as the subtle visual difference between an etching and an engraving. The book is illustrated throughout to assist the reader to identify printing techniques, characteristics and attribution marks used in Old Master prints through to those made in contemporary times. This reference text would appeal to anyone fascinated by prints and provides a new vocabulary for those who want to know more about the interesting visual variations possible in the world of the print.



3. I almost said "for the beginning print lover," but even the pros might want occasional reminders about obscure processes.
   
   This book displays an incredible number of processes and variations. Even within etching, there is standard intaglio process, relief etching, intaglio so deep it's amost relief, spit-biting or open-biting - well, a very long list. This gives an exacting look at the marks specific to each process, and gives good diagnostic descriptions. A special strength in this book is the differential diagnoses, the questions to ask that help distinguish two very similar kinds of marks. Every point made in the text is illustrated real samples, and that makes for a heck of a lot of illustrations.
   
   I have almost no quibbles with this text. There are just a few minor points that Gascoigne could have brought out more clearly. First is that Japanese woodcuts are under-represented. It's a rich tradition with a number of distinguishing features: gradations of ink hand-placed on a block, occasional use of mica for luster, and occasional use of un-inked "blind" impressions to impress texture into the paper. Second is a mark that I think is unique to drypoint: the line is often asymmetric, crisp on one side and blurred on the other, capturing the asymmetry of the drypoint burr. The split drypoint line is more famous but, in my experience, less common. I've seen it only in the most aggressively worked drypoints, such as some by Picasso. Third is a feature of some dust-ground aquatints: that the white marks can sometimes form a connected mesh around the black dots, where a spirit ground always has a black ocean dotted with white islands. I know these are minor points, and I hope you see how few there are.
   
   I'm a process nut. It's not the only way I enjoy prints, and not the way everyone enjoys them. For me, though, it really adds something to know how the maker's hand created each mark that I see. This isn't strictly a process book, and only accidentally a book of process history. It's a book about how a print looks, and seeing even more in the finest part of its looks. In the end, that's really the best reason to love a print.
   
   //wiredweird
   
   PS: A little while ago, I was given a very nice color print. It was done in mezzotint style, using burnishers to work from dark to light. Instead of a rocker-made ground, though, it had an aquatint ground. Color came from inking au poupee, dabbed on the plate. The giver was quite surprised that I read its story so precisely. Read this book, and you'll know just what I saw.



4. Back in print and updated in a new paperback edition is Bambar Gascoigne's classic How To Identify Prints, first published in 1986 and enjoying ongoing acclaim as an essential resource for any involved in identifying prints, whether they be woodcuts, lithos, or etchings. Some ninety techniques - manual and mechanical alike - are described to round out an accompanying history of prints. A lasting, classic work essential to any art library and many a general library reference collection.



5. Now in an updated and expanded second edition, How To Identify Prints: A Complete Guide To Manual And Mechanical Processes From Woodcut To Inkjet is a superb reference and self-teaching tool for discerning between manual prints, process prints, and screenprints/non-prints, whether the print in question is monochrome or color, and whether it is relief, intaglio, or planographic. 272 illustrations, 40 of which are in color, highlight the meticulous attention to detail in this excellent manual, which also covers essential aspects of printing history and the craft of printmaking. This new addition is revised with insights concerning how increasingly sophisticated yet inexpensive cheap printing processes such as quality inkjet and laser prints affect the process of identifying and evaluating printed images. A "must-read" for anyone collecting authentic prints or pursuing a career involving the identification of prints.

5 comments about A History of Costume.

1. This is one of my favorite costume references. The pictures and illustrations whet the appetite for more information. This is particularly the case for me regarding the ancient oriental costumes. I wish there were more plates and more written historical and construction details. Still looking. The price is right and here is a solid beginning resource.



2. I enjoyed this book and found it a great reference for dressing my dolls in period costume



3. This is a decent overview of costume history from the Ancients to the mid 19th century with authentic resources (statues, portraits, extant costumes, pictures) as well as some original illustrations (be cautious with those and cross-reference, especially with women's garments and periods where the shapes are linear and the sides and bust are flattened--Kohler tends to round things out and represent the bust in a more rounded, typically 1860's style). It also contains a few patterns that are minimally useful (lack or proportion or instruction, etc.) except to understand the anatomy of the garments and how the pieces might fit together. No color pictures, but enough illustrations and primary resources to contribute to an overall sense of a period in costume history.



4. This book gets a lot of use in my collection. My aim is creating authentically reproduced garments. This book contains rudimentary layouts for garments, with measurements. It also has a satisfactory brief overview of written material. Not only for the various periods, but also for different regions during a particular period. This book would be a good quick reference for a re-enactor trying to start character developement.



5. As it covers all eras, from ancient to present, mainly the western world, I believe that it does a great job.
   Patterns are great, and useful.
   The description of each era is great.

5 comments about Warman's Bottles Field Guide: Values and Identification (Warman's Field Guides Bottles: Values & Identification).

1. The book came within a certain time period as stated and was in great shape . I would recommend by from this individual again in the future .



2. I know bottles...I dig them and I sell them at all the bottle shows in NY,NJ,PA,CT area. I am a professional and am very knowlegable on bottle collecting and appraisals of all kinds. DON'T be fooled by the fancy pictures and the fact it is endorced by Antique Trader. They trusted that he knew what he was talking about when they printed 15,000 copies. They were wrong!
   THERE ARE SO MANY MISTAKEs IN THIS BOOK ON IDENTIFICATION AND PRICING THAT ANYONE IN THE BOTTLE COLLECTING SELLING BUSINESS WILL NOT BUY THE BOOK. I spoke with the author at a recent bottle show where he was selling his book and he refused to acknowlege his own blatent and foolist mistakes through the ENTIRE BOOK which is down right embarassing if you ask me. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!



3. Good general info about bottle basics & collecting. Lots of pics of bottles you will never see at fleas or garage sales & probably very rarely at antique shows or stores. Could do with more pricing examples and fewer full page pics.



4. This book was missing pages 65 to 96. Just noticed this when using it. Book itself was okay but the pages missing were of beer bottles of which I have a few and wanted to check know that I am retired and have the time to devote to this hobby.



5. Not very useful with superficial info. Not much value for the price.

5 comments about Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass: Identification & Values (Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass).

1. Excellent reference guide. I am totally happy with the book and wish more books where as complete.



2. great book! i'm just starting glass collecting and doing most of my buying on ebay. this has been such a great guide for me. more often than not if i look up an item i find it in this book. a really nice collection of pieces.



3. The fourth edition of Bill Edwards and Mike Carwile's Standard Encyclopedia Of Opalescent Glass updates identification and values and is a recommended reference pick for any library serious about glass collecting. Color photos of the glass pieces abound and pack in plenty of detail.



4. Bill Edwards and Mike Carwile has put together a superb
   book on Victorian opalescent glass that covers a large
   amount of victorian opalescent glass made by glass
   manufactures such as Dugan, Northwood, Jefferson, Buckeye, Albany, etc., that was made during the Victorian Era (1890's
   to 1910's). This book shows the different lines manufacture
   by the above glass makers and is very informative and an great reference for those who are novices to the experts. This book is a must, for those who collect victorian opalescent glass.
   No opalescent glass collector should be without this book.
   If you collect victorian opalescent glass, you should definitely purchase this book.



5. Outstanding beautiful volume with 240 pages featuring full true-to-life color photos of these glass collectibles. Adjacent to each photo is an informative paragraph about the item. Concise and easy to use. The price guide is at the end of the book, keeping the body of the book clutter-free. Everyone interested in this collectible will enjoy owning and using this book.