5 comments about Marx Toys Sampler: A History & Price Guide.

1. This brand new (year 2000)192 page book gives you an inside look at one of America's favorite toy makers. It takes you behind the scenes at Marx to help you see and understand the company and its people. There is a beautiful 32 page full color section, in addition to more than 150 black and white photos. Many of the photos have not before been published. More than 1,200 individual items are listed, including many values. Major topics range from Play Sets, Doll Houses, Lithographed Items, to Johnny West, and Sandy Dolls. A Marx time line from 1896 to 1999 is provided along with a handy index. Toy collectors will be delighted with this new reference.



2. This book would be a great companion book. Most Marx toys collectors would benefit from information on part numbers, years of production and viewing the wonderful selection of photographs featured in the book. The book covers about 30 years worth of knowledge on toys produced at the Glen Dale plant site. There is even a partial price listing on items that Ms. Smith and Mr. Whipkey were familiar with. All in all. A good book.



3. I found this to be an ideal route to fond memories of my childhood. Many of the toys in this book were basis of several Christmas dreams. As a baby boomer, I have been collecting the dollhouses and furniture with the hope that my granddaughter will appreciate them, too! This is a good reference guide to have!



4. I enjoyed this book because of it's detailed accounts of Marx toys that I grew up with. The price guide is also handy when I'm out looking for Marx items for my sisters' collections. History of a manufacturer is always interesting and the photographs help define the pieces I'm searching for. I appreciate a good book that shows great effort extended in presenting the information. I would recommend this book to the serious toy buyer and to new seekers of antique Marx toys. Kudos to the author!



5. What a wonderful trip down Memory Lane! I had a couple of uncles that worked for Marx when I was a little kid and had many of the toys featured in Michelle's book. I can only wonder what happened to my Mark toys. I guess they found their way to cousins or younger friends, but I sure would like to have them back now! Good job Michelle - I truly enjoyed paging through your book - it appears to have been a labor of love as opposed to a for profit project. Thanks for the memories!

2 comments about Arts and Crafts (Dk Collector's Guides).

1. I first became aware of the Arts & Crafts movement of William Morris and his circle back in the late 1960s, when Art Nouveau (an outgrowth of Arts & Crafts) was enjoying a renaissance. I ended up with several pieces of Arts & Crafts-style furniture (replicas, naturally, on my graduate school budget), some poster (reprints) and a couple of affordable ceramics (original). And I made a point thereafter of searching out museum collections and galleries specializing in this stuff. I still have a preference for the clean lines of furniture and the luminescent glazes on pots, especially those by Pilkington and Rookwood. Miller has brought together in this beautifully produced volume more than a thousand examples of design and craft, with detailed descriptions and notes and a list of "Key Features" for various artists and studios. Approximate values also are included, though I'm happy just to look at the pictures. If you're trying to learn about the Arts & Crafts movement, this would be a good visual textbook.



2. I think the Judith Miller books are very clearly set out and give a good, quick 'flavour' of a lot of the major designers and names for the arts and craft period.
   
   She doesn't go into any depth (with only 1 or 2 pages per person, she doesn't really have the space to) and some of the text is repetitive but it is clearly presented with good photos and would allow you to look up further on the people you find interesting.

No comments about Collection Management Handbook: The Art of Getting Paid.

2 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Architects Other Passion.

1. It's almost unimaginable that anyone could find something new to say about this protean figure of the 20th Century. And, in fact, another author, Kevin Nute, has also written in recent years about the architect's lifelong fascination with things Japanese. Yet where Nute concentrates on the Orientalist ideas and design concepts that Wright so readily and brilliantly adapted in his own work, Julia Meech turns her attention to a different--and darker--side of the architect's personality: his passion for Japanese prints and art collecting. As she tells it, this obsession (his print purchases often exceeded the money that he took in on architectural commissions) not only drove Wright into bankruptcy, but ensnared him in a debilitating scandal over the resale of "revamped" artworks to several of his wealthy patrons.

   Wright, the driven, self-absorbed genius, is everywhere apparent in this fascinating, well-researched saga. But so is the conflicted man behind the famous persona. (This isn't to say that he emerges as a particularly sympathetic figure: Meech relates, for instance, how Wright helped organize a memorial exhibition following the untimely death of his Japanese mentor, the young and talented printmaker Hashiguchi Goyo. She adds, however, that no evidence exists to show that Wright ever owned one of Goyo's prints--a bit ironic given the high regard in which Goyo's work is held today.)

   Equal to Meech's riveting account, I would have to say that this is one of the most beautifully-designed catalogs (it accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Japan Society Gallery in New York City) that I have ever encountered. It is both lavish and tasteful, if that's possible, with gorgeous color plates and scads of rare photographs of the architect and his cronies, his places of refuge (including hotel suites and other temporary dwellings chock-a-block full of art treasures), and persons and places relevant to the story. For Frank Lloyd Wright fans already burdened by a surfeit of wonderful books, make room on your shelf for a fine new acquisition.




2. To anyone familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural designs, the fact that love of Japanese art, design and print work should come as no surprise. The book 'Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Artist's Other Passion' by Julia Melch gives clear details of the influence of the Japanese on his thinking and creativity, both in narrative and in glorious photography and print.
   
   Frank Lloyd Wright
   Wright was born in Wisconsin shortly after the American Civil War. He studied in the late nineteenth century with noted architect Louis Sullivan, with whom he had continuing and occasionally strained relationship. Wright is probably best known in America for the design of the Guggenheim Museum of Art In New York City; more generally, though, he is known for a particular style of low-built prairie-style houses and institutional buildings, that utilised open-space planning, and often had an element of interaction with elements such as water (in fact, a perennial complaint of Wright buildings is that they leak!). Wright was an innovator in incorporating engineering principles into the design of his buildings to provide sturdiness and creative forms of support and room design. In Japan, Wright was well-known for his design of the Imperial Hotel in Japan, as well as other buildings, including private residences of many prominent Japanese citizens. His work in Japan did not extend much beyond the early 1920s, however, and even the Imperial Hotel was demolished in 1968. Wright himself passed away in 1959 at the age of 91.
   
   Wright and the Art of Japan
   This book was produced for the Japan Society Gallery of New York by Julia Melch. It traces early affinities and influences of Japanese art on Wright and his work, continuing interest including Wright's almost voracious collecting habits, and the final selling and distribution of his collection late in Wright's life.
   
   'When Wright died at the age of almost ninety-two, he owed money to several Asian art dealers in New York, and there were six thousand Japanese colour woodblock prints in his personal collection, not to mention some three hundred Chinese and Japanese ceramics, bronzes, sculptures, textiles, stencils, and carpets, and about twenty Japanese and Chinese folding screens.'
   
   Some of this collection remains as part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, but much had to be sold to pay debts, including tax bills.
   
   Japanese art probably first came into Wright's sphere of creative influences with the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago. Louis Sullivan had many books of Japanese design and art in his offices when Wright first joined the firm of Adler and Sullivan. This probably represents the earliest introduction. However, Japanese art was becoming widely available in American and Europe by this time, and Japanese principles were beginning to be introduced in novel ways to various buildings. Wright's first trip to Japan came in 1905, the first of many.
   
   Wright became well-known in Japan, and entered a period he sometimes referred to as his 'Oriental Symphony'. During the time of his work on the Imperial Hotel, he gave an interview which showed his standing and mis-understanding in the Japanese architectural community:
   
   Wright was not only a collector, but was himself a dealer of some standing. Particularly in Oak Park and the Chicago area, his designs for buildings would often include artistic recommendations that he would provide as dealer.
   
   This lead to a major scandal, which Melch recounts in some (sometimes juicy) detail, including Wright's egocentric way of viewing the world and attempt to 'get away' with various controversial practices of manufacture and transfer of art work.
   
   'Wright was an immodest foreigner operating outside the guidelines of the closed community of Tokyo print dealers. He flaunted his money and exuded the thinly veiled bravado of the ace dealer. Prices were escalating, the stakes were high, and h is jealous rivals were no doubt pleased to take him out of the game. Revamping was a new technique, totally unexpected. Greed and anticipation of huge profits had made him careless.'
   
   Wright left Japan in 1922, before completion of the Imperial Hotel. He never returned. In fact, he had few international dealings in art or architecture after this period. He longed for greater international acclaim and exposure, but save a few unfinished projects in Hungary and Baghdad, he had few foreign assignments, and none of note.
   
   Disposing of the collection, both before his death and by his widow after his death, is a tale in-and-of itself recounted in the book. Trading with friends and other art dealers, auctioning off pieces individually and as collections, and giving gifts away reduced the collection somewhat, but Wright continued to add pieces throughout his life.
   
   Julia Melch
   The author, Julia Melch, has had a career devoted to Asian art. Educated at Smith College and Harvard University, she has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art organising exhibitions of Asian art. She is currently a senior consultant to Christie's, the famous auction house, specialising in Japanese art works.
   
   This book is produced by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., which has a strong reputation, well deserved, for producing outstanding volumes of art. The colours are vibrant and attractive; the pages are firm and well-suited to the art represented. This is a reference volume, a great coffee-table book, and an interesting narrative read. Giving a perspective on both Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the lens of each other is a unique perspective, well executed.

4 comments about The Ultimate Fruit Label Book.

1. John A. Baule's The Ultimate Fruit Label Book is a gorgeous representation of fruit labels from the late 1800s to the early 1960s: the heyday of millions of bright, colorful paper labels used by fruit growers to catch the eye and advertise their produce. This isn't just a value guide, though: over 1,700 color images are listed alphabetically and including stock and private labels from grows and associations alike, along with histories of major fruit companies and collecting hints. The result is a gorgeous presentation and a 'must' for any with more than a casual interest in fruit labels.



2. This book should have an expanded title: "...from Washington's Yakima Valley". Shoppers beware! There are no citrus fruit labels displayed within the book. It seems odd that the title would claim to be the "ultimate" without including citrus fruit, hence the need for a different title. Othwerwise, the book is a treasure of wonderful works of art beautifully displayed with lots of historic information.



3. I went through a phase where I collected fruit box labels. I enjoyed the imagery and the sense of nostalgia. These labels harken back to a simpler, more rural and natural time. You can just feel yourself relaxing as your eyes gaze over the images from our largely bygone agricultural America. I've since moved on to collecting rock concert posters, but it was from fruit box labels that I learned my love for beautiful, idyllic imagery. This book will have you immediately yearning for eating a juicy apple in a grassy, flower-saturated meadow alongside a frolicking maiden, so stock up on those. The apples, that is.
   
   As someone else has mentioned, this book is primarily about produce from Washington state. I'd say it is about 90% dedicated to apples, and there are some pears as well. There are about six pictures per page, so they are small images, but they are still large enough that you can enjoy the image and feeling. I do wish there were a few full-page images, just to shake things up visually a little. This almost feels like a catalog in certain respects. And, there is actually quite a bit of image redundancy, due to the fact that the same image was used on several labels with minor derivations in peripheral details. For a collector this might be extremely valuable so you can identify diffferent versions of a given label image.
   
   You definitely don't have any citrus portrayed here, and I don't think there is anything from California or Florida. So "Ultimate" is clearly hyperbole. The book is lacking in a type of dimension I had hoped it would have. This is basically a book with a lot of beautiful pictures of apples. To me, that's still a good thing, as far as it goes.
   
   The print quality here is first rate, just splendid. Paper quality is first rate.
   
   So far, I'd still give the book five stars. My gripe?? The absolutely cheap and disgraceful shiny cardboard cover they put on the book. This is the kind of cover which you find on a child's Dr. Suess book, not a label collector's book which itself should become a collectible. Really, such a major mistake: someone's head should roll at Schiffer Publishing. And, look at the price: for this price you should get a book which will last for generations. Instead, they sell you a book which almost certainly will be in tatters in a few years if it get any regular use at all. Given the low quality cover and binding, this book should be priced at about one-third its current asking price.
   
   The art of bookbinding and book-making seems to be going the way of the American automobile. This book represents the Ford Pinto-fication of the American book publishing industry. Huge, horrible corners cut, with some scheming conniver just hoping we won't notice the down-grading of quality. You will. At this price, I suspect you wouldn't buy this book if you were to see it at a bookstore. The compromise in cover quality is grossly conspicuous.
   
   I think of books as investments. I'm willing to pay more for quality, and I think of it as a nice, simple heirloom for my children, from which they may learn to share some of my interests. But here, you get a cheaply manufactured product, where some concession was made which ruined the whole, wonderful concept that someone (the author,namely) probably poured years into developing. Regardless, for this price, I want a first-rate book. And, quite frankly, I don't want any cheaply made books in my personal library. Books should be--and always have been, until recently--objects of art. Cheaps bindings destroy that concept.
   
   I'm a huge fan of Amazon, but I'm recommending to them that they have binding designations to indicate "cloth" so we can distinguish the hardbacks between quality and junk. This book begs for a cloth binding, and I'm saddened that it--and we--did not get that.



4. Hard to fathom why "The Ultimate Fruit Label Book" would have ZERO orange crate labels.
   What is the author's rationale for this HUGE omission?
   He was obviously aware of it, so how could he have okay'd such a title?
   It's a wonderful APPLE LABEL book -- which makes the title all the more unfortunate
   Jim

1 comments about Royal Delft: A Guide to De Porceleyne Fles (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. Royal Delft: A Guide to De Porceleyne Fles (Schiffer Book for Collectors)An excellent book for anyone interested in collecting ortiginal delft plates, etc.

5 comments about Encyclopedia of Cabbage Patch Kids: The 1980s (Schiffer Design Book).

1. This was an awesome book! As an avid collector of Cabbage Patch Kids, it is nice to know that there is some value to my collection. Further, this provided many of my friends and acquaintances with eager cries of "Mine looked like this one!" The research that when into this book is obvious. As one skims over the glossy pages of pictures, they find themselves stopping to read the stories behind the value of "kids." I enjoyed this book thoroughly and often stay up late rereading it.



2. The cabage patch kids are one of the best books i have read!!. It is easy to read and is full of drame and really keeps you on the endge of your seat the whole time while you are reading it. I cant wait to read it again!!



3. This book gives the complete picture of cabbage patch kid collecting. I haven't seen a more overall picture of the dolls anywhere. It is a fantastic guide not only for the new collector, but also for the expert. Thank you.



4. My second wife (a shrew of a woman if ever there were one) blessed me with three little kippers--and each bore a strong resemblence to a cabbage patch kid (Note: the woman had the largest cranium I've seen prior to Shreck). This encyclopedia was invaluable during the difficult child-naming process and has been a nostalgic reference these passing years since the harlot took the kids (and the pudgy judge-awarded palimony) to Kansas in order to follow some religious kook and raise the bigheads in an "upright" environment. I miss them occasionally, and when I do, I shed my tears with this fine book by my side. Thank you Schiffer Design Books.



5. Although I did enjoy reading the facts about the kids, their orgin, rarities, head mold facts.....and so on.....This book ONLY focused on MIB kids. Even though there are great photos (hundreds of them), several are duplicates and the author consentrated mostly on the beloved #4 head mold. ALOT of the kids talked about were mentioned as *hard to find* and *extreamly hard to find* MIB. I do not believe all head molds and eye/hair color combonations were pictured. I also believe that what one collector views as mint another may not agree upon. For instance, some kids are redressed and out of the box...is that still considered mint in the box?
   
   The first 14 pages are very brief paragraphs of the different headmolds, clothing, eyes and hair colors, boxes and so on. No price guide on any clothing with the exception of animal sleepers, terry sleepers and rompers.
   
   I feel as though in my opinion only, that a Collectors guide for Cabbage Patch kids has alot of potential if more information was given and less of identical photos. This book just didn't give ME the info. that I was so hoping it had.
   
   With that said, this book is a definate read for any collector, but quite pricey.

5 comments about The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror.

1. I had grabbed this book while passing thru a bookstore out of sheer desperation for something to read, and it has turned out to be a wonderful literary surprise. The author brings her characters to life, even the artist, Dadd, takes on a whole new meaning. I'm now anxious to learn more about him. But even more, I am looking forward to reading more of Elizabeth McGregor's books. She has an extraordinary talent in keeping readers interested, even as the story of both Dadd and the primary characters changes from one minute to the next.
   
   I strongly recommend this for a really good read.



2. Received in a very timely manner, book was new and I certainly enjoyed reading it. I would buy from this vendor again.



3. This may possibly be a good book - I found it so boring I gave up after reading only a third of it. Maybe I missed the good part. Although I am a compulsive reader (who ELSE reads the side of cereal boxes?), I couldn't force myself to finish it.



4. I read this for our bookclub. I am a fan of Richard Dadd and was looking forward to this book. I was disappointed, however. The characters are not particularly sympathetic and the two parts of the book (the ongoing romance between John and Catherine; Helen's sinking pathetically into serious mental illness; Catherine and Robert's peculiar breakup--intercut with the peeping into Richard Dadd's psyche) just didn't work really well as an integrated whole. The pace was a bit slow, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though the ultimate payoff did not make it worthwhile. Not a terrible book by any means, but not very memorable. If you are interested in Dadd, by all means take a look.



5. A great book by an author I knew nothing about previously. Wonderful characterization, beautiful descriptive detail, and a great story line. I loved the inclusion of some art historical elements as well.

5 comments about Lea Stein Jewelry (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. Lea Stein Jewelry is a thoroughly researched beautifully presented book. The photography and design of this book is outstanding. There are hundreds of photographs of Lea Stein's wonderful necklaces, pins, rings, earrings and bracelets. I was not aware that aside from jewelry, Lea Stein also created jewelry boxes, dressing table mirrors, cigarette lighter holders and other gorgeous accessories. When I discovered that finally a book about Lea Stein had been published, I ordered it immediately and it has proved to be even better than I hoped. I shall never tire of looking through it.



2. I was disappointed with the content of this book. I expected to learn about the history of how the Stein's layering process came about. Also, certain popular pin styles were left out completely. The photography is
   beautifully done, however.



3. "Lea Stein Jewelry" is a coffee table book containing 180 pages of colour photographs of the jewellery of Lea Stein, with 2001 values. Other than the picture captions, there is very little text throughout this book. As far as I am aware, this is the only book available that is dedicated to Lea Stein jewellery, so if you are contemplating starting a collection, this book is a must. However, people who have already started a collection of Lea Stein jewellery are likely to find this book to be lacking.
   
   Although this book provides photographs of a large number of Lea Stein's pieces, it is incomplete (I have seen several pins that are not included in this book) and no indication is given as to the full range of colours and styles each pin was produced in (many Lea Stein pins were produced in a wide range of colours, and in some cases embellishments, such as rhinestones, were added). It also lacks an index, making it very difficult to find any one particular item.
   
   This is by no means a comprehensive catalogue of Lea Stein's work. Nevertheless, as I said before, it's the only book available on the topic, so until something better comes along, this is it.



4. I am thrilled that I found this terrific book. I do believe that it is truly informative and enjoyed reading the method of how Lea Stein produced her wonderful jewelry with the help of her husband. The photography was super full of a vast amount of Lea Stein's design. A book I will always treasure.



5. Lea Stein Jewelry is a very special book for any one who might find Lea Stein's designs of interest. The book is outstanding. The information about how her work is manufactured on the first few pages is very informative. The photography is exquisite and I recommend this book to beginner collectors and all other collectors of Lea Stein's gorgeous jewelry.

No comments about Emily Hall Tremaine: Collector on the Cusp.