3 comments about The Silmarillion Poster Collection: Six Paintings by Ted Nasmith.

1. First of all, I'd like to say that anyone who gives this book less than 5 stars doesn't fully understand or appreciate how monumentally amazing it trully is. Second, those who gave it only one obviously can only read on a second grade level (that means a eight year old can out read you.) I will admit that the beginning is difficult, but it's like riding a bike. At first it's a little rough, but once you get into it you'll never stop. This book is filled with many wonderful and emotional stories. The words and mental illustrations used are phenomenal, and most of the best parts made me want to cry and shout to the world how ingenious Professor Tolkien was! Not only were the climaxes so awesome, but they were filled with emotion and power. And since this book is a history and therefore filled with many stories of great battles, heroes, and mighty deeds, the climaxes are many and never get dull. Trust me, when you really get into this book you will feel sorry for every person who gave this book one star because they aren't intelligent enough to appreciate the awesome power of this piece of literature. This is one of those books that you buy in the finest hardcover available and hire ten guards to keep it safe day and night! Don't be daunted by the vast number of names: they are important but memorization isn't crucial, and if you so wish you can use the 50 page glossary in the back. This book is a rare gem and should be read by every human being on the earth! I give it 100 stars out of 5!



2. The crowning masterpiece of the greatest author of the 20th century, The Silmarillion can alternately break one's heart and stir it to excitement unlike any other literary work. The themes are familiar: courage, love, loyalty, obsession, greed, treachery, et al, but it feels to the reader as if one was encountering them for the first time in literature, by a master of the language, and the effect can be almost overwhelming: many are the passages that will effectively halt a reading until your tears are dried: Yavanna lamenting over the Trees, Fingolfin's hopeless duel with Morgoth, Finrod Felagund's "First Contact" with the Fathers of Men and subsequent death saving Beren, and Hurin's last stand at the Fen of Serech are just a few. I have owned this book since it was first published in the 1970s, and with each reading, my appreciation grows deeper, and my thanks to Tolkien more heartfelt. No one should be without this treasure.



3. I love it! I love it! I love, love, love it! Ted Nasmith's pictures are simply great and really capture the mood of the scenes described in Tolkien's "Silmarillion". These pictures are now decorating my walls and I hardly ever had anything nicer to watch at.

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.

5 comments about Cartoon Movie Posters.

1. All of Bruce Henderon's books are worth a dozen times what he sells them for; flawless, stunning reproductions of great movie posters. Buy them ALL!



2. As previous reviewers stated, this is a marvelous book, & it does have far too many Disney & Popeye posters in it. Considering the wealth of other 'vintage' cartoon posters that are around (even just searching on the net), Im suprised they didnt have a better selection for us to look at. Otherwise, Im very happy to have this book, and I'd LOVE to see a volume 2 some day!!!



3. I'll be truthful: I received Bruce Hershenson's CARTOON MOVIE POSTERS as part of a "grab-bag" special he was throwing a couple of years back. My tastes lie in the somewhat more arcane area of Horror & Science Fiction posters. What would a guy like me who covets copies of posters like BEAST WITH 1,000,000 EYES want with...harmless, namby-pamby kid's stuff? Plenty, as I soon discovered once I opened this excellent book. First-the reason I had been so unaware of cartoon posters, especially ones from the seven minute variety, is that so many of them are practically extinct. Cartoons, being the VERY bottom of the bill, were treated as 4th-class citizens, and if the studios bothered to make a poster at all, there weren't very many of them and the vast majority of those were tossed. What a shame! This book, which contains close to 400 exqusitely printed images, is an absolute riot of color and imagination that easily rivals any of my beloved fantasy pieces. Starting from cartoon pioneer Windsor McCay in 1911 and ending with the X-rated FRITZ THE CAT in 1972,(and touching on all points in between), Bruce includes examples ranging from the obvious (Disney, Warner Bros, & Fleischer) to the wonderfully obscure (there are several pages of pictures from Ub Iwerks'fairy tale cartoons from the 30s that are gorgeous, more than a little strange, and as rare as hen's teeth.) If you have even a passing interest in movie posters, it is mandatory that you order at least a couple of Hershenson's poster volumes. If you are a rabid, hopeless poster fiend like myself, they are invaluable for both reference and entertainment. Everything about them is first-rate: the printing, the choice of posters (ah, those 30s & 40s Disney 1-sheets...!)the short, inobtrusive, well-written snippets regarding the history of various posters: it's very tough to find fault here. This is the perfect gift for hard-core poster geeks and casual film/cartoon aficonados alike. Five stars all the way, and...abbah-dee, abbah-dee, abbah-dee....That's All, Folks!



4. Everyone has their own favorite film genre (animation, action and adventure, science fiction, etc.). Next to crime/film noir films, animation is mine. The beautiful thing about this book is the unexpected. Rather than delve into the standard Disney fare (which is included in great detail nevertheless), this book includes artwork from posters from "lesser seen or only mildly popular" titles. Besides Disney, everything from Fleischer to Avery is represented, works of art that can only be bought for thousands of dollars today at many of America's high echelon auction houses. If you are the least bit interested in the jaw-dropping beauty of what has become a lost art -- the exercise of drawing images associated with the advertising of a Hollywood film -- this is the book to have. This book is part of movie poster maven Bruce Hershenson's exhaustive multi-volume series of books highlighting the history and beauty of what much of mainstream America has only in the last ten years begun to recognize. And that is movie posters are a "popular art" form that can stand proudly next to all other styles of art from gothic to modern, from expressionist to impressionist. Great film art borrows from all of these styles and this volume, which focuses only on posters associated with animated films, illustrates innumerable examples whereby despite the restrictive nature of the genre (cartoons), not all posters went in the same direction in terms of style and presentation. From Pinocchio to Popeye, Hershenson and Allen have built an incredible archive (and legacy) of images in all of his books, capturing a period (when all posters were drawn by hand and then printed, as opposed to today's method of using photographic stock and manipulating them digitally and printing them by the thousands) that would otherwise be lost forever. A fine book for any collector (get the hardcover edition if you can, it's harder to find; if Amazon doesn't have it, it's available from Mr. Hershenson directly at mail@brucehershenson.com).



5. This review can easily apply to any of the books in the Bruce Hershenson edited series of film poster history. Hershenson rightly treats film graphics not just as pop culture artifacts but true works of art. His books are filled with a curator's eye for superior choice and reproduction, each poster in striking color and with a clarity of printing that rivals most any coffee table art book. Somewhere between advertising and illustration, film posters, like book jackets and record covers, inhabit that imaginative and atmospheric zone where one art reflects another. It's not just the history of film or the history of film design, it's a history of twentieth century Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights. How often we would go into the dark theatre armed only with the ideas and ideals of the posters outside, and then return to them afterward, perhaps with nodding affirmation or smirking disillusionment, but still a vision of what could be. This series of books should be subtitiled: THE FINE ART OF ANTICIPATION, for no matter if expectation was filled or emptied by the films behind them, their posters kept on shining.

2 comments about Mardi Gras Treasures: Invitations of the Golden Age.

1. Over two hundred invitations, dance cards and admit cards are assembled here in a coverage of the art work associated with the Mardi Gras which began in the 1870s and was marked by pageants and private balls. While Mardi Gras Treasures is a specialty collection of interest to those researching New Orleans collectibles and Mardi Gras collectibles in particular, many a reader will delight in these full-page illustrations.



2. Whether your interest is socio-cultural, historical or purely aesthetic, you will treasure Henri Schindler's latest passport to the "Golden Age" of the New Orleans Carnival celebration. Schindler, who is himself a treasure-trove of information on this subject, has put together a most interesting documentary providing an in-depth discussion of the historical roots of the pre-Lenten festival against a background of the artists, illustrators and patrons who gave the "Golden Age" its particular look and ambience. The quality of the color reproductions of the invitations that make up a major part of the book is most impressive. The color and clarity of these (mostly) art nouveau works comes across on each page, leaving the reader with the feeling that he or she has truly been a part of this romantic era.

1 comments about Angura: Posters of the Japanese Avant-Garde.

1. This is a good collection of hard to find imagery. The book is good size with large images. Nice reference.

2 comments about Movie Posters of the Silent Film Era To Color.

1. It was an incredibly well drawn piece of work,and fun to color,too!It must have been a Herculean effort for the artist NOT to color it in himself!It BEGS to be colored! My children can't keep their hands off it,so I have to put it up high(it's mine,you know)Thank you for a wonderful time!



2. MOVIE POSTERS OF THE SILENT FILM ERA TO COLOR is, as noted on the cover, a 'coloring book' in the Stemmer House 'International Design Library' series. The black and white renderings of original film posters, by Rex Schneider, are accurate and quite well executed. In some instances where posters no longer exist, they have been newly designed in the style of the period. They provide a marvellous introduction and reference for all interested in the silent film era, its stars, and the broad range of art styles 'ballyhooing' the movies from the dawn of cinema to the first 'talkies', in addition to the good fun provided all who enjoy coloring. Schneider's uncanny caricatures of such celebrated movie comedians as Laurel & Hardy, Mabel Normand, and Buster Keaton (all represented in the book), are remarkable! The book is further complemented with notes on the individual films, an overview of the evolution of movie advertisements, and a guide for coloring the posters. The buyer is also at liberty to reproduce any of the posters for private, non-commercial use.

2 comments about The Lord of the Rings Poster Collection 2.

1. In the world of Tolkien artwork, two artists sit at the top of the heap: Alan Lee and John Howe. These two artists have devoted a lot of ink to sketching scenes from J.R.R. Tolkien's masterworks, and in the "Lord of the Rings Poster Collection 2," we get to see some of Lee's best work.
   
   "The Halls of Moria" is one of the most stirring pieces of artwork -- an enormous dark hall full of pillars and vaulted ceilings, with a beam of light shining over the Fellowship. "Tol Brandir" shows a tangle of leafless branches, mossy rocks and stone steps. And then there's the "Golden Hall," a beautiful landscape crowned by a hill, on top of which is Theoden's home. Lee's painted clouds look as if they are glowing.
   
   "Orthanc" shifts the focus to grimmer subjects -- Saruman's stronghold is immense, menacing, vaguely insectile with its black shiny look. And, of course, it's surrounded by floodwater. "The Siege of Gondor" is tightly packed with grinning, creepy orcs with spears, and a few human warriors, one of whom is dead. And "Two Orcs" has a pair of suitably creepy-looking orcs, not doing much.
   
   Of the two poster collections of Lee's work, the second is obviously superior. We get a range of subjects, from all three books, and it shows the different kinds of artwork that Lee can do. The posters themselves are lovely -- high quality paper, clear reproduction. As for the pictures themselves....
   
   Alan Lee does "still work" the best -- even when his subjects are in motion, they look very quiet and almost dreamlike. There's a lot of detail poured into these, since even small twigs, cracks and stains make their way into his artwork. They also tend to have muted, faded colours, lots of soft greys, browns and greens. Some of them look like sepia photographs.
   
   Looking at these beautiful posters, it's easy to see why Lee was one of the designers for the "Lord of the Rings" movies' exquisite sets. A wonderful collection of fantasy artwork.



2. This collection features six works of Alan Lee who, along with John Howe, was one of the principle conceptual artists for Peter Jackson's films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".
   
   The six works featured in this collection are:
   
   1. The Mines of Moria
   2. Tol Brandir
   3. The Golden Hall
   4. Orthanc
   5. The Siege of Gondor
   6. Two Orcs in the Land of Shadow
   
   The six works are large, stand alone posters on heavy stock contained within an attractive folder featuring "Orthanc" on the front cover. The prints--the originals were done in watercolor--have a black border with the name of the work and the artist at the bottom in small print.
   
   These prints are an excellent addition to any Tolkien fan's collection.

No comments about French Posters Postcard Book.

No comments about Poster Collection 08: Black & White.

1 comments about Film Posters of the 90s: The Essential Movies of the Decade (Film Posters of the Decade).

1. For 10 years, I have sought another chance to glimpse a European poster I had seen for Casino on a trip to the continent when the picture was current. This book offers me that.
   
   For that alone, it gets 4 stars. It's not the book's fault that the 90s offered a bunch of rehashes of the posters for Eraser and The Peacemaker. And scores of big faces with guns. Plus, the ascendance of computer design. Zzzzz.
   
   Still, that Casino poster is a haunting and lovely image. One of cinema's finest.