2 comments about Collecting Disneyana: Identification & Value Guide (Identification & Values (Collector Books)).

1. Let me start right off by saying that "Collecting Disneyana" is by no means a definitive guide on the hobby. Such a book, in one existed, would have to be beyond massive. There has been so much Disney merchandise produced over the past 80 plus years that it would be an impossible feat to catalog it all. Disney was a company who was at the forefront of marketing its characters and as such, there is simply a voluminous amount of material out there. What the book does do very effectively is give a sampling of Disneyana from the past eight decades although its main thrust is with the Golden Age of Disney from the 1930's.
   
   Geared towards the novice or intermediate collector, even long time fans and collectors will find a lot to enjoy in the book, beginning with the hundreds of brilliant, full color photos of rare Disney collectibles. In today's era where things tend to be overly merchandised, you get a good idea of just how popular Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the rest of the characters were back in the 30's. Their images could be seen everywhere...toys, books, salt & pepper shakers, figurines, radios, even on packaging for Noma Christmas lights.
   
   The first 115 pages of the 240 page book are dedicated to these early years. Now this not a typical price guide listing. This isn't about long pages of tiny, hard to read text. There are typically three to five pictures per page and pricing information is provided for each item shown. These include the manufacturer and year (if known) and the value range. The items are enough to make the most seasoned collector drool...there's a Lionel Circus Train, a Mickey bandleader doll by Knickerbocker, a Disney windup balloon vendor toy, and some of the earliest Mickey Mouse watches.
   
   The next chapter deals with characters other than the usual suspects. These include items that bare the image of Oswald the Rabbit, Ferdinand the Bull, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and others.
   
   The final two chapters cover the television years of the 40's through the 60's and a look at modern Disney collectibles. Perhaps the most valuable part of the book, at least for new collectors, is the collector's guide, which contains valuable information about buying, selling, and collecting Disneyana. There's great stuff about how best to store your items, buying on the Internet, and more.
   
   WRITTEN BY TIM JANSON



2. David Longest's COLLECTING DISNEYANA: IDENTIFICATION & VALUE GUIDE will prove an exciting, popular pick for any library catering to Disney collectors. Color photos pack a survey of early to later Disney items, from films and books to figurines, packing in notes on collectible items and their prices.

No comments about Warman's Action Figures Field Guide: Values and Identification (Warman's Field Guides).

No comments about Toys for Girls: If Women Didn't Exist, All the Money of the World Would Have No Meaning.

2 comments about Dollhouses, Miniature Kitchens, and Shops from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center.

1. This book presents a charming look at some important historical dollhouses in the Rockefeller Folk Art Center. Good pictures and texts. Not useful if you are looking for realistic projects for your own dollhouse crafting hobby, but for the historian, this is a wonderful look at historical dolls, dollhouses, and furnishings that were used over generations as toys and learning devices for girls. For extravagant historical dollhouse rooms created by and for an adult collector (that you would perhaps want to emulate in your own hobby), see another book, Miniature Rooms, about the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago.



2. I consider this book to be one of the best dollhouse references out there. Every page has color photos. Many of the furniture pieces are photographed individually. Each photograph is clear and detailed. The author is careful to note when a piece is original, antique, or modern. Everything in this book is well-researched and documented. You could carve replica furniture pieces from the photographs in here, they are that good!

   Needless to say, the houses featured in here are gorgeous in their own right. My favorite part of this book are the great photos of the Grodnertal peg-wooden dolls. This book contains some of the best Grodnertal photos I've ever seen!

No comments about Matchbox Toys 1947-2008: Identification & Value Guide (Matchbox Toys).

No comments about Cartoon & Character Toys of the 50s, 60s & 70s: Plastic & Vinyl.

4 comments about Baby Boomer Dolls Plastic Playthings of the 50's & 60's, Second Edition.

1. Great book filled with products and information that is helpful in identifying "old" items. fun to look at and has beautiful pictures.



2. a great book for those researching dolls of the fifties and early sixties. i could almost smell the new doll scent as i was carried back to those christmases many years ago. quite a little trip for so little money!



3. I found a wealth of information in this book about dolls from the smaller companies and on Mattel's budding doll line. I even found a few I had as a child but have not seen in other books and had not been able to ID until now. A lot of doll accessories are included for specific dolls that are not usually seen unless you have an old ad or catalog /booklet for that doll. This is a good addition to any collector's library and nicely showcases the dolls and girl toys of the era many of us think was the best of American dolls .



4. This book is good but VERY lacking in pictures of some of the more desirable dolls like Tiny Betsy McCall - not one picture!
   Ditto with many other dolls. Teri Lee gets about 6 pages, most other dolls and manufacturers get 2 pages and sometimes NO pictures. Way out of proportion! I was disappointed at the unbalanced coverage, even though the book was very nice.

5 comments about Toys to Knit: Dozens of Patterns for Heirloom Dolls, Animals, Doll Clothes, and Accessories.

1. I was looking for a book with some doll clothes patterns for a Waldorf-style doll I was making for my daughter. I picked this up at the library. One irritating thing is it doesn't tell you the size of the doll in the book, so I wasn't sure if the patterns would work for the doll I was making. But I set forth and made the wrap sweater and it was very easy and fit my doll very nicely. Which was a 13" Waldorf doll. I also knit up the skirt and the undies. The undie pattern needs a little adjusting to fit better but the rest work out just fine. My kids love looking at all the fun stuff to knit and telling me what to make. After keeping it too long at the library and then wishing I still had it, I think I'll go ahead and buy it.



2. Most of the toys and accessories in this book are really cute, but there's just not much else going for this book. The instructions look deceptively simple, but as it turns out only a really experienced knitter can make much sense of them. Many of the toys have multiple errors in the instructions, such as the bear, which is missing several rows of stitches. In addition to being deceptively simplistic, the instructions are also way too vague, without any detailed explanations, either for the trickier steps or the more basic parts. The only "explanatory" material for troubleshooting are sections in the back about abbreviations and the conversions of needle sizes and weights and lengths of yarn. And someone who's just a novice knitter might not even realise that it's just asking for disaster and frustration when there isn't even any gauge or yardage given for any of the yarns specified.
   
   A lot of the colors don't even match in the various pictures and accompanying instructions, such as the teddybear sweater that is off-green in the picture yet described as light blue in the instructions. Many times the reader is instructed to assemble the various parts "according to illustration," yet there are no such accompanying illustrations. It also doesn't make sense to have to separately knit all of these little pieces and then seam them together when there is another way. I've made some stuffed animals and dolls in the past, and my sewing instructor didn't tell us to make and stuff each part separately before sewing them all together! If you wouldn't make a sewn toy that way, you wouldn't make a knit toy that way either. Beyond all of the cute pictures of things like various dolls, the teddybear, finger puppets, mouse, kangaroo and joey, and monkey, this book won't be worth much to even an experienced knitter. Someone with a lot more experience probably could figure out the many error-ridden instructions, but why go through so much headache when one could make toys from a better book like 'World of Knit Toys'?



3. Do not buy this book. Period. As others have said, the instructions for the teddy bear's head are so far off that only an expert knitter is going to be able to figure it out. I completed this after spending hours recalculating the stitch counts and figuring out which row (I think two are actually missing) needed to be added. The results are adorable, but the hassle isn't worth it.
   
   I contacted the publisher, and finally gave up. Those with whom I dealt were a bit on the dim side and couldn't understand what I was telling them regarding the problems with the pattern. The author is apparently British and shares the same name (Tracy Chapman) with a well-known singer, so reaching her is not possible.
   
   Again I stress, don't buy this book unless you are an expert knitter and are willing to rewrite the directions to make them accurate.



4. I picked up this book because the doll on the front cover looked just like my daughter and I thought it would be cute to make one for her. I am a fairly new knitter but thought the pattern appeared to be something I could tackle. I did find some errors in the instructions for the legs (very confusing for a new knitter). I also found it strange that there was not any type of gauge or swatch (I was taught to NEVER skip this step!), nor the finished size of the doll or any of the toys. Once I did finally get the doll made up, it did turn out to be very adorable in a retro sort of way (think the Island of Misfit Toys on Rudolph) and my daughter absolutely loves it.
   I am now trying to knit up the wrap sweater, and the instructions are disappointing. I was hoping to make a set of clothes for her doll, but if the rest of the instructions are as erroneous or incomplete as the ones for the sweater, I'm afraid I won't get them done.



5. I had a similar experience to a lot of the other reviewers. Bought this book because the projects looked cute, but the instructions are terrible. Vague and chock-full of mistakes (were there no testers for any of these patterns?). A lot of these pieces could have been knit in the round with a bit of shaping, instead you have to knit a gazillion tiny pieces and then seam together "according to illustrations". There are no illustrations. Only a few really bad photographs - I mean, they're cute and all, but totally useless. There's a pattern for a cute looking fish with a bunch of scales that are knit and then sewn on "according to illustration" but in the photo, the fish is peeking out from the folds of a blanket, you can barely see a couple of scales.
   
   In another pattern for an elephant, there are so many pieces to make individually that I've given up hope that I'll ever finish it. Even with many years' knitting and designing experience, it's more effort to fix these patterns than it is to just create one from scratch!
   
   It's deceiving in its perceived simplicity. A novice knitter might leaf through the book and see that they only need to know how to knit and purl and do a simple increase and decrase, but it is easier to learn a few more shaping stitches than to suffer through the dozens of seams required to assemble the final product, especially since the incorrect instructions often lead to pieces that dont fit together properly. Very frustrating and a huge waste of $16.

5 comments about Complete Book of Hot Wheels (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. I feel that the price guide was very badly placed, it is in the back of the book. The listings of the cars were in alphabetical order to some extent. I prefer the prices to be right under their corresponding cars.



2. I came across this book while shopping at my local bookstore, I started looking through it, and without a moments hesitation, I knew I needed this book. It is very good as a refrence book, also for giving me information on my collection. Very well done book.



3. Due to the organization of this book it is extremely hard to locate any particular diecast unless you have the diecast number or item name or designation. Photos are very small and indistinct making it hard to identify items. It appears that not all diecasts produced are listed in the yearly listings nor are all photos shown. Overall rating on this publication is 2 stars or less!



4. I liked it. It had a lot of information about my hot wheeles.Like value and colors and sstyles and when they were made.



5. This book is One of The BEST Hw colleters guides...Full color photograpy and Complete Listing of every car up to 1998...All the Rare ones And an Accurate Pricing Guide...I use this book to Document and Price my collection of Near 1000 Hot Wheels

3 comments about Baby-Boomer Dolls: Plastic Playthings of the 1950's and 1960's a Reference and Price Guide.

1. To try to fit all the Baby Boomer dolls in one book would be impossible. This book gives a good overview about dolls from this time. Good pictures, lots of company info. In its second printing so that should say something right there. My favorites were the TV related dolls like Jeannie and Pebbles and Bamm Bamm.



2. This was strong on Terri Lee dolls (9 pages) and on Mattel (13 pages). Though 16 pages were devoted to Madame Alexander, I felt that just two small pictures of "Cissy" were not enough; and there were no pictures of the Winnie or Binnie Walker dolls. Most of the MA coverage was of the child-dolls and Alexanderkins.
   There were only two pages devoted to "Ginny"--and there were no pictures of Ginny with painted eyes, molded lashes, or bent knees. All were of the painted-lash version.
   Karl offers less than 1 column (about 100 words!) on the prolific and highly collectible Virga dolls, offering no pictures at all.
   The quality of the pictures is excellent, and this is a nicely produced book. But I feel that it does not offer full enough coverage, especially of the hard plastic dolls of the 1950s, to be considered a comprehensive guide.



3. If you collect dolls of the 50s and 60s you should buy this book. It has hundreds of full color photos with descriptions and prices. It's a great reference guide. I enjoyed looking at so many of the dolls I grew up with.