1 comments about The Wapping Group of Artists: Sixty Years of Painting by the Thames.

1. A 95 page, approximately eight by eleven hardback. Crowded with decent color reproductions of paintings and sketches. The book celebrates the three score continuous years of a by-nomination London outdoor painting club. Composed mostly of professionals who meet weekly to paint the waterfront of the river Thames. Sections of the book include a several-page, illustrated history of the club, a section of two-page bios / comments with examples by the current some two dozen members, and a section of examples by members of the past.
   Many painters, amateur and professionals alike, would like to meet with the like-minded to paint en plein air. Few get the opportunity. The impediments include: families, jobs, distance, weather, lack of suitable sites, etc. For most, it's probably not having the acquaintance of other painters with some little skill and the same interest. They paint alone in cold basements in sorry isolation.
   So, reading this fine little book offers vicarious pleasure. Painting picturesque scenes with very talented friends and yet never, for example, having to step into that unique and peculiar slime found along industrial waterways.
   Not a how-to book. Not filled with, besides the typical bad work, how to hold a brush, how to stretch watercolor paper, exactly what colors, etc.

2 comments about Gustave Baumann: Nearer to Art.

1. While the collection of images included is not exhaustive of all work done by Baumann, it provides a thorough sampling of his life work and details the process by which he created his masterpieces. Excellent book. FYI, my understanding is that a new compendium will be done in 2008 that should be a good complement to this book.



2. A nicely crafted book that covers all bases in this artists career. Great reproductions of the prints, well-written text and a solid book to hold in your hand. History on Baumann covers beginning of career to the end with just a touch of the technical side of this art form. Certainly inspired me!

5 comments about A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft.

1. This was quiet literally an amazing and magificent book. At every turn of the page, vivid horrific scenes jumped out at me. The art work is truely glorious and inspiring. As a previous reviewer stated, Matthew, there simply are no words to describe this book, and his review fit this book to a t. It took me 3 1/2 hours to go from front to back, reading each text and introduction, the brief stories contained, and taking in each breathtaking glimpse into a remarkable surrelistic world. This will be a very fine addition to my Giger books, Bezinski, and Barlowe's Inferno. Now all I can do is sit down with this book in front of me, re-read some classic HPL tales, and go to bed at night and let the nightmares begin. Simply fantastic.



2. Much of what I'd like to say has already been said by those who have reviewed the book before me. Suffice to say that this book brings to life the images that might have been contained in Lovecraft's mind when he wrote those wonderful stories. Gibbering demons and gargoyles, nameless creatures too hideous to describe and of course, grotesque monsters from outer space - they're all here in their full glory. As Ellison said in the intro, if only HP could have lived to see this magnificent tribute.



3. I only accidentally stumbled upon this book not long prior to its publishing, but after half a second's consideration, placed my order at Amazon with quite the discount. Having read the works of HP Lovecraft since I was about 13, I simply could not resist this. Incidentally, my first book was "The Road to Madness", who's cover a teenage boy could not resist, a cover that I found in this book. Small world indeed. What can one say about this book? It includes literally hundreds of pages of supreme quality art, both black and white and in full colour inspired or related to the literary works of Lovecraft and to a certain degree his milieu. Some of the pieces are even spread over fold-out pages, and the binding and covers is of supreme quality. It just doesn't get any better than this. The book is about half a meter tall and I guess about 5 kg's, so don't expect to sit and hold this while you read it!
   
   There are small introduction texts for all the artists; some perhaps a bit excessively long, but oh well. Having Stuart Gordon write an introduction is a complete miss, Lovecraft must be turning in his grave considering what Gordon has done to wreck Lovecraft's work in all his "great films". That being so, I found so much great art in this book, I enjoyed myself immensely in its company for hours on end, and it is certainly a prize item to show your friends and loved ones. Granted, making it fit in a normal bookshelf might be hard, but if you can cough up the money, I can hardly recommend this book enough. Annoyingly, it has a lot of spelling- and editing-errors, enough of them to almost make me take away a star, but it is in the end a book with paintings, so it doesn't really matter. Buy it before it is too late, if you have even the faintest interest in Lovecraft's work, a book of this quality is something we don't see often in our shady circles. I think my favourite ones in the book might be Les Edward's excellent Innsmouth-related paintings; wow! 5 stars plus!



4. Like the others said before me, words will not convey the sheer volume and quality of this book. I can barely hold this book in my arms, much easier to look at and enjoy on a coffee table hah. Anyway, there is more wonderful Lovecraft-inspired art in this book than you could ever imagine. From the 1930's pulp comic art to current CGI enhanced portraits, this book has it all. It even has pictures of SOTA's Nightmares Of Lovecraft figurines that quickly went out-of-print last year! If the price of this book had been a grand, I would still have bought it. It is a one-of-a-kind item that Lovecraft fans will be talking about from here to oblivion. I can safely say that no Lovecraft fan's collection will be complete without this book. Simply amazing.



5. I received my hardbound slipcased edition of this last week. Jerad and Co. have done an absolutley amazing job in compiling, editing and reproducing at the highest quality level years and years of Lovecraft-related images. I cannot really add much more to Matthew Carpenter's review - he really covered everything and excellently so. The old paperback covers he alluded to were the same for me - my introduction to Lovecraft - and I was very excited to see them here. This is a one of a kind publishing event well worth the seemingly heavy money, but as was stated my Matthew, in a few years you won't miss the money and you will have a fantastic gem of art and craft that will be irreplaceable. Congratulations to all involved in the production of this piece, may it have a long long life.

5 comments about Montgomery Ward Catalogue of 1895 (Catalogue & Buyer's Guide).

1. Don't order from this store.
   Due to a natural disaster all orders are 6 months are more behind the scheduled delivery date!
   The customer service line 1-800-227-7598, just says that due to a "natural disaster" they can't speak to you. They then tell you to visit the website but no one EVER returns your emails.
   
   You will NEVER get your product and you will have to go through a year long process to get your money back from the compnay.
   
   I Ordered a table July 13, 2008, and I still havn't received the table and yes, my credit card has been charged!!
   
   We live in an internet age where you get most orders in 2 days. Don't bother with this company. Montgomery Ward has had it's day and it doesn't belong in this century.



2. I've given away several of these reproduction catalogs as gifts and they're always a big hit. Instantly, the recipients open the book and start studying its pages, remarking at the prices and oohing and ahhing over the more curious items of the day.
   
   This book gives a detailed and accurate picture of a typical "day in the life" 110+ years ago. Think about that for a moment. Can you really imagine someone looking at a 2005 newspaper in the year 2,110?!
   
   Buggy whips and patent medicines and cook stoves (fired by kerosene, wood or coal!) and portable bathtubs and cream separaters and more were featured in this catalog.
   
   This is a wonderful resource and a fun read. You can lose yourself for hours reading about life "back in the day."
   
   A little trivia: There's a story (as told on PBS's documentary, "Mr. Sears' Catalog") that the Sears Roebuck catalog was a tiny bit smaller than the mail order catalog offered by his competitor, Mr. Aaron Montgomery Ward.
   
   Sears (a marketing genius) knew that the farm wife would probably have both the Sears and Ward's catalog in her home. Sears made his catalog a little narrower and shorter than the Ward's catalog, so that when the little lady was tidying up the house, the Sears catalog, being smaller, would end up stacked on TOP of the Ward's catalog!
   
   Rose Thornton
   author, The Houses That Sears Built



3. How nice that someone has preserved both a piece of history and a part of the legendary and much-missed Montgomery Ward stores. If you study or write about history, you'll find this a fabulous reference of period styles, furnishings, and common items. Fun to read as a curiosity piece, too.



4. This "Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalogue and Buyer's Guide" from Spring/Summer 1895 is better than a time capsule. Most of my ancestors were still on the far side of the Atlantic that year, but for my maternal grandfather's ancestors here are 25,000 items (most of which are illustrated by woodcut) that they could have either had in their homes or dreamed about owning. From straight-edged razors and high buttoned shoes to tea gowns and the New Improved Singer Sewing Machine. Historically, Montgomery Ward prided itself on being the friend of farmers and the official supplier to the Grange. Ward was the first to offer a product guarantee that became the key to earning the respect of rural consumers and building the business. However, in 1887 Ward's main competetior Sears put out his first catalog and upped the ante by showing the customer what they would be buying before they bought it (okay, he also offered lower prices). By the time this 600-page catalogue came out in 1895 Ward was following suit. Flip through it and see what sort of amenities were making their way out to the farms at the end of the 19th-century. You could buy a buggy for $60 or spend $200 on a piano. Here you can get a bathtub, chairs, watches, hats, and even a Star Raisin Seeder. How about a solid-gold eighteen-karat wedding band for only $5? Looking through these pages will give you a sense what it was like in 1895, when the average worker had to put in 16 hours to earn enough money to buy a hair brush or 260 hours for a one-speed bicycle. Just looking through the pages of books you could order was enlightening. Actually, this is more like a time machine than a time capsule.



5. Like the Sears Roebuck catalogue, which sits beside it on my shelf, this unabridged reprint is an indispensable tool for anyone who wants to know the kinds of items that might have been found in a typical middle-class home a hundred-odd years ago. In some ways it's even superior: the illustrations have reproduced more clearly, with their details better visible, and the type, though you may still want a magnifier to read it, is also more easily made out. Prices are of course included, though you'll want to allow for the fact that MW was at that time not a conventional retail house, but confined to mail-order, which allowed it to undercut the "traditional" merchants just as Net sellers can today! There's a full index right at the front, where you can easily look up whatever you may be interested in at the moment; or you can simply open the volume at random and start browsing. And, unlike Sears, it even has a toy section! Like all Dover books, its paper and binding are superior in quality, and will doubtless last very well. Since the items listed don't duplicate exactly, I strongly suggest purchasing both catalogues. As a writer of historical fiction, I use both frequently. Highly recommended.

No comments about In Pursuit Of Perfection: The Art Of Agnes Martin, Maria Martinez, And Florence Pierce.

4 comments about Roadside Giants.

1. Sarah and Brian Butko have another winner with Roadside Giants! Their joy of life comes through loud and clear here as they share with us the wonderful and wacky sights along the open road. Just like their fantastic 'Greetings from the Lincoln Highway' and 'Roadside Attractions', this book will have you packing your suitcases for a road trip, either real or armchair! Either way, you will enjoy this book!



2. Readers can discover the eccentric tendencies of American roadways in Roadside Giants co-authored by Brian and Sarah Butko. Roadside Giants is the fun travel guide to exploring the roadside intricacies and oddities of American culture, applying "an-easy-to use" map of America's giants with enhanced with full color pictures, aspect dimensions, address and location and a brief history for each of the dozens of featured places. Roadside Giants is very highly recommended, particularly to the parents of family looking for a fun and interesting travel idea.



3. This book really captures all the great memories of going on vacation as a child. The Butko's do a wonderful job of finding all the great places, some off the beaten track and others not so off track, to help make memories for you and your children to take a driving vacation. The best memories seem to be the unplanned stops along the way. The authors make finding unusual spots a whole lot easier. The book is perfect to fit in the glove compartment to have handy no matter where your drive takes you. You are guaranteed to find a spot to stop somewhere along the way. By the authors taking all the guess work out of where to stop I think it will enable you to take in more roadside attractions and easier to plan the vacation. The pictures entice you to want to see all the attractions in person. This book definitely deserves a thumbs up! Great job!



4. This book depicts examples of the various types of fiberglass statues they call 'giants' from coast to coast. Started originally as an ax-wielding Paul Bunyan, they became auto-related and usually held mufflers in their hands as they were in front of the businesses. The one pictured called Cowboy Sam, the big man in white because he also wears an enormous white cowboy hat, is thirty-foot-tall is in front of a restaurant. He was found at a Chicago restaurant show in 1962 and relocated to Pennsylvania, where the author lives. Originally, the Shoney's restaurants in this area had Big Boy statues out in front of their places, until people started carting them off. This cowboy has a black bow tie which makes him pretty classy.
   
   This phenomenon started back in the 1920s used them in place of big signs to look like the products they were selling. In Knoxville, there were (and still are a couple left standing) of the tall ice-cream cones in front of the Kay's Ice Cream Shops. Now, the specialty is to have air-filled floppy imitations to get the attention of the public.
   
   In the Introduction, they write that it is hard for the public, historians, and civic planners to view such attractions as historic; there is a building out on Clinton Highway built like a bi-plane and was originally a service station. A group raised funds to repair the dilapidated building and possibly transform it into a museum of some type. We also have two very large, black fiberglass cannons in front of our old courthouse. The World's Largest Teapot in West Virginia started out as a huge wooden barrel for Hire's Root Beer, but with the handle, top and spout, it magically turns into a teapot.
   
   As the authors continue to take their trips to keep track of the elusive giants, they conclude that many have been preserved and there are actually some new ones out there. They've taken many trips to photograph the most unusual. There is an strange one near Denver. This book spotlights their favorites of the larger-than-life spectacular attention-getters from travelers and gives directions for finding them. Mr. Butko has written some books about unique diners, and his other book, GREETINGS FROM THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY.

No comments about Walk Ways.

1 comments about A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections, 2nd Edition.

1. This book was required reading for a Museum Studies class at GW, and everyone who works in a Museum should be familliar with it! It is a great reference guide as well.

No comments about Captured Emotions: Baroque Painting in Bologna 1575-1725 (Getty Distribution).

No comments about A Brief History of Curating.