1 comments about Kings and Connoisseurs.

1. I first saw this book in a store display and was captivated by it's breathtaking and sweeping art work from talents ranging from Bosch to da Vinci. It captures 17th century European art with style and grace rarely found in other books. Being a big Anne Rice fan, I was most captivated by the painting Crucifixion Altar, by Roger van de Weyden, which depicts Veronica holding her famous veil, which plays a key role in Rice's book Memnoch the Devil. Other highlights include Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights and Raphael's Archangel Michael. The color of the paintings are superb, and the text is a perfect match. Bearing in mind that 17th European paintings depict many religious icons, it's a wonderful book to posses, whether you're religious or not. A magnificent find.

No comments about The Houses and Collections of the Marquis de Marigny (Documents for the History of Collecting. French Inventories, 1).

1 comments about Henri Langlois: First Citizen of Cinema (Twayne's Filmmakers Series).

1. "Henri Langlois, First Citizen of Cinema" ( beautifully produced with an excellent translation by Lisa Nesselson) is a fascinating account of Langlois' life and a captivating history of the Cinémathèque Française. More important, it is, in many ways, the story of contemporary French cinema. The book's authors, Glenn Myrent, an American in Paris, and Georges P. Langlois, Henri's brother, give us insight into French attitudes about film and show us to what extent Langlois had an important impact on the new wave directors and the generation of filmmakers that followed. In fact, Langlois almost single handily influenced the way that the French perceive film: cinema as an art form. The 7th art.

   On a personal note, this was quite clear to me as a young film student sitting in the first rows of "La Cinémathèque Française" in the mid-sixties. Not only was I surrounded by would be filmmakers but also in the audience one would often see François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, Susan Schiffman to name just a few. And there in the front row would be the young Bertrand Tavernier or the teenage Patrice Lecomte or Elio Zarmati. I remember standing in line outside the Cinémathèque and seeing Henri Langlois surrounded by new wave directors and film buffs passionately talking about films and filmmakers. It reminded me how, a few years earlier as university undergraduate, I would talk with fellow students about poets and poetry or writers and books with the same passion, the same enthusiasm. At the cinémathèque, I would watch, between 3pm and midnight, anything and everything: Chinese films with Czech subtitles, silent documentaries, Chaplin and Keaton comedies, whatever. I suppose we were the last generation of filmmakers who could be truly called "les enfants de la cinémathèque" - children of the cinémathèque. Glenn Myrent, in this excellent American edition, has managed to capture the magical atmosphere of La Cinémathèque that I knew. Not an easy task.

   I, like many European filmmakers of my generation, am indebted to Henri Langlois. He communicated to me his passion for the cinéma and his cinémathèque was the single most important thing that helped me decided to become a filmmaker.

   In my first feature, LA NUIT DE SAINT GERMAIN DES PRES, I have a small scene in which one of the protagonists organizes a screening at his home of an old 1932 cult movie, Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack and Irving Pichel's "THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME", starring Joel McCrea and Fay Wray, for left bank film buffs. In a way, this little scene was my way of saying "merci" to Henri Langlois and a kind of secret tribute to La Cinémathèque Française. And now 25 years later, "merci" Glenn Myrent and Georges Langlois for such an informative and entertaining book. Vive la Cinémathèque!

   - Bob Swaim /Paris, 9-99

No comments about The English As Collectors: A Documentary Sourcebook.

5 comments about The Grand Complication: A Novel.

1. If you love inventory, secret penmanship, erotic pop-ups, Marie Antoinette memorabilia and shrimps . . . then this is the book for you.
   
   Alllen Kurzweil has written an intriguing page-turner of a tome. Our hero, Alexander Short, reminds me of Indiana Jones if he was the kind of guy who hunted for relics by using library slips and zip tubes (these tubes move books from the library stacks to the front desk). He is lured into a search for The Grand Complication-by a roguishly eccentric collector, Henry James Jesson III.
   
   Short, being a reference librarian with a compulsive disorder to make lists of everything in a journal knotted to his clothes, is the perfect pawn to Jesson's puppetmaster. He resolutely pursues the Grand Complication, from its disappearance in a cabinet of curiosities to a theft in Jerusalem . . . jeopardizing his job and his marriage.
   
   The third note-worthy protagonist in this book is the library itself and its bizarre characters and routines: George Speaight, the Librarian of Sexual Congress (actually the curator of a collection initially funded by a pornographer), Emil Dinthofer who keeps threatening to send Short to a bookmobile in Amish country; Finster Dapples, the Genealogy specialist who teaches us a lot about how to create a coat of arms, Irving Grote, the head of Conservation who goes head-to-head against Mr. Paradis, the autodidactic janitor in a library competition that tests their knowledge of the Dewey Decimal system . . . and there's even the Sabretooths, a football team who become the recipients of a most unusual book tour.
   
   There's an enthralling energy to this novel that you don't expect when you consider that most of the action happens among books and paper products. Kurzweil also has a magical grasp of the macguffin and he neatly pulls off the difficult trick of entertaining as he educates us in the intricacies of full body tattoos, timepieces, heraldic self-invention, and the use of a ham sandwich as a criminal diversion.



2. This is a cleverly conceived novel with some amusing moments but ultimately dissatisfying.
   A novel about trying to find a stolen treasure (Marie Antoinette's clock) - could be a good yarn but notice there are 60 chapters like the 60 minutes on the clock face and you'll start to see that this book is trying to be clever. The characters are unbelievable, the plot unbelievable; but it is clever and we can have a few chuckles at the anally retentive librarian protagonist's predicament - but that is all you get.



3. This book was exasperating because it started so well and bogged down so quickly. As a former special collections librarian, I hooted with recognition at its accurate depictions of the bureaucratic absurdities, personal politics and turf wars of library life. Yet disenchantment soon set in. I love a cerebral thriller as much as anyone, but Kurzweil smothers us with intellectual minutia. His two principal characters are too fond of their own cleverness to be engaging. Watching them wallow in self-appreciation of their own wit becomes cloying -- the reader waits with dwindling patience for some movement in the plot. It's like being slowly pecked to death by Phi Beta Kappa sparrows.



4. I enjoyed this book, and it was a nice break from stress and non-fiection reading. It was not profound, and will not change my life, nor I did expect it to. I picked up my copy from a discount bookrack probably due to the interesting cover art. I then read the back and thought it might be interesting and took a chance. Unlike others reviewing here I expected little and was pleasantly surprised.
   Having worked in two different university libraries as a student, I especially enjoyed the territorial power struggles portrayed between library employees and departments. The obsessive-compulsive level of nit picking about various library procedures may only be a slight exaggeration.
   At first while I read the book I found myself enjoying it while at the same time being slightly annoyed at the writing style. Because it is a first-person narrative, I accepted that the writing style was "in character " and eventually dismissed it. Later the writing style changed dramatically; a change as dramatic as the psychological changes that had taken place within the narrating character. I really felt as liberated as he must have. I was then impressed at what the writer had accomplished. The ending is a bit weak. However it should be considered that the technology that was being used in the books ending is now taken for granted. As to the disappointment that so many have mentioned regarding the circular literary device used--you should have figured that out at the beginning and been expecting it.



5. I thought the book started well. It kept my interest for a while but I found myself plodding through to get to the finish line. At some point it just got boring and though I did stick with it... I was disappointed in the ending.
   
   I thought the author was quite pretentious with his vocabulary. Why not just say what you mean instead of trying to use as many obscure outdated words? I found it tiring to read and would not recommend it.

No comments about The Auction of King William's Paintings 1713: Elite International Art Trade at the End of the Dutch Golden Age (Oculi: Studies in the Arts of the Low Countries).

No comments about Tropical Shirts and Clothing (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

5 comments about The Standard Guide to Collecting Autographs: A Reference & Value Guide.

1. This book filled with facsimile signatures and finally some accurate prices for a variety of autographs. The author's analysis of the market is also included and alone worth the purchase price.Well worth purchasing by anyone who loves the hobby!



2. This huge 608 page volume is loaded to the gills with over 50,000 autograph values covering 15,000 names. More than 1,000 facsimile signatures and photos of autographed items are shown. There are numerous chapters of background information that will be of interest and value to experienced autographers as well as novices. This book covers topics including sports, entertainment, music, artists, literary, business, medicine, space, heads of state and much, much more. The index alone is over 70 pages!! It provides accurate pricing, informative insight into market trends and many current topics. A super reference book.



3. I'm not a fan of monopolies, but in this case, the Sanders Price Guide is the one and only. This book tries to be the "standard?" Sanders is the standard in the field, and while ambitious, this book simply doesn't measure up. Good for facsimilies, but that's about it.



4. Wow, after reading so many books about autographs finally a realistic book enters the market. Unlike the Sanders guide it it deals with values at a realistic level and why not Baker has written more books about the subject than any other author in this genre. Not since Charles Hamilton's books on the subject have I ever learned so much, Bravo!



5. I don't know if there are many people out there who can lay claim to a Louis XIII autograph, or even a George Washington autograph. If they did, they probably also have Jesus Christ on a baseball.

   My point is, there are listings for hundreds if not thousands of people whose autographs probably don't even exist. The book is good for referencing celebrities and sports stars, but there are far too many pages dedicated to the various types of William Henry Harrison signatures, and other topics we need not explore.

   If this is the "standard guide" it should be a little more up to date. I would rather see five facimilies of a Robert De Niro or a Mickey Mantle autograph than of somebody who has been dead for 500 years, because you know what-- chances are I won't be getting their signature any time soon, so I won't need to compare it to a facimile.

   This book is a very comprehensive price guide for today's celebrities and sports stars, which is why I give it a four star rating. But if the book spent less time dealing with signatures from centuries ago, and more time dealing with the stars of today and tommorow (I got Heidi Klum's sig the other day, and she isn't listed-- she is probably one of the most famous models in the world), it would truly be the best autograph guide out there.

5 comments about Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas.

1. This book is a wonderful addition to the library of African American Art History and a tremendous resource for both artist and collector. What an opportunity for the expansion of our work. Thanks, Halima. -Nadine LaFond, fine artist, Art Lives



2. Ms Taha hit the nail on the head. Anyone with an interest in African American Art, this book is a must buy. The Author, takes the reader step by step through the African American art Market. Any work presented in the work is a fine example of the work that a collector and or an art lover should own. Too often, collecting african american art is thought of as buying $50.00 posters and placing a $500.00 frame around the work. Ms Taha describes how African American Art is here for all and how one can begin the road to sucessful lover affair with ART. Please support this Author.



3. If you have ever thought about purchasing a piece of art by an African American artist you should read this book. It is a rare gem. I met Ms. Taha at an opening some years ago at which time she told me she would be releasing this book, I had no idea it would be the treasure that it is. It is insightful, informative, beautifully illustrated, and gives you all the information needed to begin collecting art or to continue adding to your collection. Having a passion for art and the history of African American artist in this country, I want to thank Ms. Taha for encouring me to continue my pursuit for collecting and sharing much needed tools that will help me as I continue in this endeavor.



4. Although filled with very valuable information for anyone interested in collecting African American Art, I was looking for info on particular artist. I/E: James Denmark, Kadir Nelson, Alix Beaujour, Leroy Campbell,etc. These are just a few to give you an idea of what I was looking for. The book had great detailed info. I recommend this book to anyone...



5. This book is a must have for African Americans who are collectors of fine African American art. Gives great information regarding the artists and on what to look for in fine art.

No comments about Collector's Guide to Trenton Potteries.