No comments about 60 Great Horror Movie Posters (Illustrated History of Movies Through Posters, Volume 19).

1 comments about 60 Great Cowboy Movie: Illustrated History of Movies.

1. This is more like it.. I was a little disappointed that the 'More Cowboy Movie Posters' in the same series did not feature full page copies of posters. This book has full page posters. There are some fine reproductions in the book and it is a testament to some of the great cinema westerns.

No comments about Poster Collection 08: Black & White.

5 comments about Alphonse Mucha: An American Collection (Vignettes).

1. This is a VERY small book, smaller than a cd case. The illustrations are great and it gives a very general overview of Mucha's life. I purchased this book as a reference for a report on Mucha for a college level class and it was definitely not very useful for that purpose.The author does not cite any resources for the information in the book and other than looking good on the bookshelf it was not worth the price.



2. I run enrichment programs for school age children and this book along with the other books in the Vignette series from the Collector's Press have been terrific in introducing kids to great artists. This book does a great job of chronicling Mucha's life and career. I highly recommend it as an introduction to Art Nouveau and Alphonse Mucha.



3. I found this book to be a great addition to my library of art nouveau reference books. It is small and concise. The author obviously loves his subject matter. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in an overview of Mucha's work in a quick read.



4. Don't even bother. There is a magnificent book published by Art Services Inc. in association with Yale University which, after years of searching, is the definitive book on Alphonse Mucha. "Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau", 1998, by Victor Arwas,Jana Brabcova- Orlikova and Anna Dvorak. Costs more $$, but you're really getting something! Exquisite! Text and great color pieces. A treasure.



5. Don't even bother. There is a magnificent book published by Art Services Inc. in association with Yale University which, after years of searching, is the definitive book on Alphonse Mucha. "Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau", 1998, by Victor Arwas,Jana Brabcova- Orlikova and Anna Dvorak. Costs more $$, but you're really getting something! Exquisite! Text and great color pieces. A treasure.

1 comments about Rock Posters of Jim Phillips.

1. ROCK POSTERS OF JIM PHILLIPS provides a 30-year retrospective of rock posters by Phillips, surveying the artist's life and times and following his career from early posters through present times. His computer painted posters as well as his classic rock art signature style is displayed in gorgeous full-page color reproductions paired with biographical and historical perspectives.

3 comments about Picture Show: Classic Movie Posters from the TCM Archives.

1. Another reasonably priced addition to the slowly expanding library of movie poster books. Because it is based on the TCM archives it is very generalised and basically covers movies of the thirties, forties and fifties. The chapters are dictated by what is available in the archive so there is no collection of comedy classics, 'Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House', for instance and other light-hearted titles are included in the chapter called Battle of the sexes.
   
   The posters are presented in various sizes and mostly you'll be able to read all the text, especially the percentage credits that usually appear at the bottom of each poster. Some of this is quite interesting because plenty of people named are complete nobodies now. Rather annoyingly the whole page posters have been enlarged a bit too much so that bottom credits are missing.
   
   I think it is fair to say that there is not a well designed poster in the book, so no stunning Saul Bass work or Bob Peak graphics but you'll get to see the best portraits that Hollywood marketing departments could offer.
   
   Overall a good title to have if you like poster art and if you have an interest in the thirties have a look at Reel Art: Great Posters From The Golden Age Of The Silver Screen, a huge, beautifully produced coffee-table book showing three hundred posters. A lot of MGM productions are in the TCM Archive and probably the most complete showing of this studio is in Mgm Posters: The Golden Years, with 260 posters in a very nicely designed book. My favorite genre is Film Noir, unfortunately hardly represented in 'Picture Show' but you'll find the definitive poster collection in Art of Noir: The Posters And Graphics From The Classic Era Of Film Noir.



2. The "Picture Show" is a vibrant and eclectic collection of movie posters culled from Turner Classic Movie's library of over 3500 vintage films. The book is an over-sized, soft cover reprinting hundreds of movie posters. Lesser known films may appear two or three to a page while greater classics are reprinted in full page glory. The book begins with a short history of movie posters and the explanation of "One-sheets" "Half-Sheets", "Three Sheets" etc...before breaking down the posters into several different chapters.
   
   We lead off with "Bad Girls" and movies like "The Mask of Fu-Manchu", "The Outlaw", and "Born to be Bad". These are some of the more sexy and seductive posters found and highlight screen vamps such as Bette Davis, Myrna Loy, Joan Fontaine, and Jane Russell. From there the next chapter features the Battle of the Sexes, featuring classic films like the Thin Man movies, and the various Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn films.
   
   The chapter on Fancy Footwork highlights those great musicals of the 30's and 40's such as "Footlight Parade" with James Cagney, "Girl Crazy" with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and "An American in Paris" with Gene Kelly. Forward March reprints posters from great war films. "Back to Bataan" and "Flying Leathernecks" with John Wayne, musicals like "Anchors Aweigh" and "Follow the Fleet" and one of my favorites "The Dirty Dozen"
   
   Since Warner Bros is one of the prominent studios featured we naturally get to see many of their great adventure film posters included: "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "Captain Blood", and "The Sea Hawk" as well as "The Three Musketeer" and "The Prisoner of Zenda" There are also chapters devoted to westerns and to tough guys like Cagney, Mitchum, Bogart and McQueen.
   
   The last chapter is devoted to sci-fi and horror films including the Val Lewton flicks "I Walked with a Zombie" and "Cat People" along with sci-fi's "The Thing" and "Them!" Movie posters are very underrated as an art form and interest in collecting posters is at an all-time high. Even the reproduction market is extremely busy reproducing these posters for those of us who can't afford the originals. This is a well diversified sampling of both high-profile classics as and "B" movies. The only short-coming of the book is that it only features the posters of three studios: MGM, Warner Bros., and RKO. Classic horror fans will no doubt be a little let down that Universal's films are not included. I'm not sure why but it's a serious oversight. The horror/sci-fi section is quite skimpy overall. It would have been nice to see "Mark of the Vampire" or "Doctor X". That little caveat aside this is a wonderful book for any fan of classic films.



3. What a fabulous delight. Posters from American movie archives at my finger tips. Each poster brought back a memory of another day and time. The author's vibrant storytelling recalls the golden era of motion pictures. Everyone in the family has enjoyed the beautiful visual adventure and the excellent commentary. It is a book filled with a thousand memories. Enjoy, I promise it will make you smile.

1 comments about Typo China (Poster Collection).

1. Each Chinese character looks like the pictograph that describes its meaning such as moon, sun, tree or human. When these characters combine with images in posters, they become interesting and effective messages that convey to audiences.

2 comments about Vintage Hollywood Posters II.

1. For anyone who loves movies, this is a wonderful eyeful of beautifully reproduced posters.



2. I have been so impressed with Hershenson's series of books on classic movie posters that I have purchased them all. I hope he keeps it up. These are beautifully produced allowing me to really understand how a movie was promoted when first released. The best posters have always been works of art but as they have become collectibles it has become expensive for most of us to own older posters. These books certainly make it possible to appreciate the beauty of the design and graphics. My guests are really impressed too. I leave a few of the books out and they always are the center of conversation as people both find their favorite films and discover somethings they never knew existed. I hope these books keep coming for a long time. Thanks for selling them.

1 comments about The Posters of Jules Cheret: 46 Full-Color Plates and an Illustrated Catalogue Raisonne, Second, Revised and Enlarged Edition.

1. This is the authoritative source for all the artwork and posters of Jules Cheret, who perfected color lithography in the late 1800's. There are a number of color slides of original Jules Cheret posters plus excellent descriptive information to help one identify a suspected Jules Cheret poster. The catalog is by theme or advertiser without an index or table of contents to help one located the exact page where, let's say, Moulin-Rouge or Olympia might start. This does then force scanning to find the start of the catagory one might want - an inconvenience. In spite of this, once you discover the catagory area, the material is informative and precise enough to help with identification.

3 comments about Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde (Jumbo).

1. If you're a graphic designer, you only need browse this excellent book for a moment or two to realize that Russian artists in the 1920's and 30's knew more about how to make a great poster than any American has ever known before or since.
   
   Every poster designer and film buff loves American designer Saul Bass and I'm no exception, but Bass borrowed a lot from these early Russian designers like Rodchenko, and its no wonder--they were an incredible wellspring of creativity. Open any single page in this collection and you'll find a hundred great ideas regarding use of color, perspective, and mixing photography with illustration. Every designer should have this book at hand for reference. Unfortunately many of these early films have been lost or destroyed over time, but one wonders if the best part hasn't been saved--these glorious posters. I can't say enough good things about this book.



2. I'm not a collector of Russian/Soviet film posters, so all the liner notes could be complete bullocks, but the book is brilliantly large and appears to really want to give the straight story (for instance it gives the title that the artists gave the posters not the movie title associated w/ it). I've only seen a few of the movies it covers so I bought it solely for the art. If you're a fan of the clean Bauhaus style this book is for you.



3. Susan Pack's overview of the Russian avant-garde film poster, is a visual delight, and a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in graphic design. This book is a handsome collection of pre-Communist posters from such notable graphic artists as the Stenberg brothers, and Alexander Rodchenko, as well as many other lesser known, yet talented artisans. Anyone familiar with Russian graphics of this period are in for a treat, and those seeing them for the first time will soon become addicted to their graphic impact, and innovative type treatments. A friend I've shown it to has warned me to keep an eye on it, lest it mysteriously disappear!

   The book is written to address audiences in English, German, and French.