No comments about Deconstruction and the Visual Arts: Art, Media, Architecture (Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism).

No comments about Dorothy Iannone: Seek The Extremes!.

3 comments about Blue Ridge China Traditions (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. TO IDENTIFY YOUR PLATES BY NAME, YOU MUST HAVE THIS BOOK. EACH BOOK HAS NEW LISTINGS FOR NAMED PATTERNS THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND.
   MINE IS SIGNED BY BOTH FRANCES AND JOHN RUFFIN AND NUMBERED.
   I MET THE RUFFINS IN ATLANTA AT A SHOW AND ENJOYED VISITING WITH JOHN. I AM SELLING MY BOOKS ON BLUE RIDGE AS I AM DISPERSING MY COLLECTION.



2. I have to disagree with the above review. I found the review to be totally incorrect and unfair. Blue Ridge China Today" is both a beautiful and informative book. What a great introduction to Blue Ridge! My wife and I have been collecting for many years and have been looking for such a complete guide to assist us in our Blue Ridge purchases. The authors are to be commended for their relevant and insightful descriptions of confusing patterns. We found the pictures, descriptions and prices to be very clear; easy on the eye and easy to understand! This book has been very helpful to us in helping us to build our own beautiful and valuable Blue Ridge Collection! In addition, it has encouraged our children to start their own collections! Bravo John and Frances! Well done! When are you going to send us more?



3. I waited with anticipation for the delivery of this most recent Blue Ridge book. I was terribly disappointed.....extremely unprofessional in its overall organization, layout and quality of photos. Some pictured items have values beneath, some do not. Some are not even identified. If you were looking to identify something specific, you would nearly have to look through the whole book...I have to say that it seems more like a personal photo album with collectors holding up their prized pieces, than it seems like a guide. There is a price guide in the back that seems adequate...but if you don't know what the items look like, you're out of luck...as there are no pictures with that. I have the Blue Ridge Encyclopedia from 1989 and find that book infinitely more professional and useful despite the fact that its price list is out of date and collectors have changed some of their interests. This book truly is more like a photo album...it shows curio cabinets full of Blue Ridge pieces, often with just one or two pieces in the whole cabinet identified....if you can even see them well enough to make an identification. Often a caption asks one to "note" the presence of a certain item, but does nothing to help a newbie understand the importance of that piece! I can't imagine what the publishers were thinking. If you are a versed Blue Ridge collector, you might enjoy these snapshots and tours through collectors' display shelves...but if you are a beginner, I recommend you start with a Blue Ridge book by different authors. After reading through this book one time, I thought "Well, I don't know any more about Blue Ridge than when I started."

No comments about Mosaics In The Holy Land.

No comments about Desperados: A Homographic Portfolio.

No comments about Sutton Taylor: A Lustrous Art.

No comments about Book of Oral Sex.

1 comments about Rich Larson's Haunted House of Lingerie Volume 2.

1. To simply be blunt this so-called novel is just porn on paper for any thirteen year old boy who happens to his hands on it. This should be a good topic for disscusion at the author's next the therapy session.

No comments about Teoria del color / Theory of the Color.

5 comments about American Art Tile.

1. Superb photos and beautifully written and researched text make this a must for any serious collector of American Art Tiles! Karlson pushes the information envelope with regard to many American tile artisans. For example, he includes a photograph of perhaps the only known example of a glazed Matt Morgan art tile. If you are a serious Art Tile collector this book should be in your library!



2. This bountiful volume conatains gorgeous photos and detailed information on tile manufacturers from the turn of the century to WWII. Some famous ones, and a lot of obscure ones that I was thrilled to learn about. Besides being pleasing to the eye, it really did broaden my understanding of the different tile manufacturers and the influences that shaped the work and heritage. I rarely spend this much on a book, but I found it to be well worth the money.



3. Well, okay, maybe you would place in on the coffee table if your book shelves aren't high enough, but this is a practical book. "American Art Tile" covers the period from 1876-1941. Why does it stop in 1941? Because sadly, many tile making firms shut down for WWII and never reopened.

   The book shows photographs of hundreds of tiles made by more than 100 American firms (probably every one Mr. Karlson could identify). Included are the Dedham Pottery in Dedham Massachusetts with it's famous blue and white scenes of rabbits running around the edge of the tile; the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with it's fantastic Eastern European images; The Weller Pottery in Zanesville Ohio with it's "Sicardo" works; Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio which produced the matte glazed architectural tile used in the New York Subway system such as Fulton's Steamboat at the Fulton Street Station; and the wonderful Pewabic Pottery in Detroit Michigan from the Chippawa word for copper colored clay.

   These tiles are not all individually labled, so if you're trying to identify a particular item, the book will provide only limited information. On the other hand, it will probably help you determine the origin of the manufacturing company, if not the name of the specific design. According to Karlson, many of the companies are out of business, so this may be as good as it gets since catalogues are impossible to obtain.

   Mr. Karlson includes many photographs of individual tiles, but few are show 'in situ' so the pages can become overwhelming in their detail. However, the book is probably destined to be something antique tile dealers keep in their reference desk. If you're a serious tile collector or fancier, you will probably find the book worth the cost.




4. This is a must for anyone interested in the history of tiles and tile makers.

   The book gives a history of every tile making outfit in America from 1876-1941, and shows as many color samples of the tiles they produced as the author seems to have gotten his hands on, many from his own collection. It was sobering to notice, when reading about all the tile companies, how many went under during the depression or just afterwards. This country lost a wonderful heritage, as many never came back after the depression lifted. Too bad, really. There are currently some companies making copies or remakes of some designs (what with the renewed interest in all things Arts and Crafts). Maybe this book and the Neo Arts and Crafts movement will spark some new American tile making shops? I hope so.

   The book is beautifully laid out and would be a nice coffee table addition for those who are not tile collectors, but who just enjoy looking at tiles.




5. For the pragmatic who truly needs to see "slide-show" type arrangements of tiles and short descriptions of tile makers and their beginnings...this is for you! Practical and absolutely beautiful.