No comments about Miller's: Toys & Games: Antiques Checklist (Miller's Antiques Checklist).

1 comments about Collecting Yo-Yos.

1. Prof. Dundas has finally created a really helpful and informative book on the subject. The images are by far the clearest and most comprehensive, a real bang for the buck. Other books on yo-yo's are unfortunately poor in image quality or poorly organized. This is really the best!

1 comments about Catholic Collecting, Catholic Reflection 1538-1850: Objects As a Measure of Reflection on a Catholic Past And the Construction of a Recusant Identity in England And America.

1. For those interested in Roman Catholic history in England and America during the time of Protestant persecution, this volume provides a solid overview and is well illustrated with artistic and literary pieces. Connected to a now finished exhibition, the work stands sufficiently by itself and helps develop a greater understanding for the development of Catholicism during a time of persecution. England did not grant emancipation to Catholics until the 19th century and religious freedom and liberty in America was often viewed as being only for Protestants - attempts were often and repeatedly made to deprive Catholics of liberty, property, and even, on occasion, life. Inspite of these difficulties, Catholic culture and life survived - and this volume does a good job of explaining the art, culture, and concept of Catholic identity as it developed in this period.

No comments about Literary Taste - How To Form It (With Detailed Instructions For Collecting A Complete Library Of English Literature).

No comments about Collecting Russian Art & Antiques.

3 comments about Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives.

1. The case studies are quite entertaining. The analysis of the drive to collect as a way to undo inner anxiety, stress and childhood trauma seems dubious, but who can say? Collectors may scoff at the analysis, or they may enjoy it....



2. I thought it would be fun to see some interesting insights into why I collect books and like collecting in general. Nope. His insights are dry and old and no different than what drives any body to do anything. We all seek happiness because we are unhappy and there is always an underlying stress or anxiety about this. So why do some people collect? Or eat too much, or ski, or sky dive, or on an on and on. EVERYONE does SOMETHING to seek because they feel insecure and not sustained in the Universe. So collecting is not in the least unique. It's the same reason Mr. Muensterberger wrote this book - he is seeking in his own way. It's as simple as that. I will be returning this boring book.



3. I was offended from the first page of this book written by a psychiatrist, whose theory trivializes the emotional, aesthetic and intellectual (not to mention fun) qualities of collecting by reducing the pursuit to "compulsive action molded by irrational impulses." The author interprets the acquisition of objects "as a powerful help in keeping anxiety or uncertainty under control." This anxiety is ostensibly caused by "underlying factors" such as "war, a parent's suicide, prolonged illness, physical handicaps, death of a sibling, or SIMPLY NOT-GOOD-ENOUGH early care."
   With this tunnel-vision approach, Muensterberger proceeds to relate anecdotes of famous collectors' lives and interpret them as compulsive and unconscious behaviors to alleviate neuroses. The text is padded with details about the rich and famous: Balzac was a collector of "bric a brac," a hobby described as deriving from childhood suffering. The collecting habits of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II are similarly reduced to "anal-obsessive character traits." Getty, Duveen and a plethora of historical fugues litter the text. This book is a classic example of psychoanalytic gibberish, probably originating from the author's doctoral thesis, based on the number of footnotes.
   Ultimately, there is no argument here related to collecting that could not equally apply to any human behavior. Thus, there is no argument at all. As any educated person knows, it is all to easy to take an erroneous theory and find lots of examples to support it. As a former curator at a top ten museum, I think I am more familiar with collectors than the author. As a collector myself, I know that collecting is a happy, positive and enriching experience.
   Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel

2 comments about Classic American Diners: Collectible Postcards and Matchcovers (Schiffer Book).

1. The classic American diner is an image embodying American culture, and here matchcovers and postcards which captured these images and were giveaway promotional items are presented in a collection which could've been featured in our Collector's Corner, but deserves a spot here for artistic and historical significance. Over 400 examples in color are included, along with a history of the diners and details on postcards and period matchcovers. Perfect for both collector's libraries and for art and American history holdings.



2. A rich selection of diner postcards and matchbooks though it must be said one diner postcard is not too different from another but when you see more than 270 all in one go they become quite fascinating. The rest of the 450 pictures in the book are matchbooks. All the material is from Don Preziosi's collection but he left out color glossy photographic postcards. I agree with his reason: these cards, though obviously an exact record of what a diner looked like yet they lack the exuberant color and period feel of the illustrative diner postcard.
   
   There is an interesting few pages near the front of the book that covers postcards and matches from diner makers. The O'Mahony, Silk City, Kullman, Paramount, Fodero, Manno and DeLuxe get a look in with black and white photographic postcards though they have a retouched look to put the best gloss on the units. The matchbooks use illustrations. The diner makers didn't miss a trick by going for a streamline look, suggesting modernity and cleanliness, so many of these diners use the curves, glass bricks and lightweight metals associated with streamline design.
   
   There is a nice feature on page 132: four cards and a matchbook for the Ideal/New Diner on Route 40, Aberdeen, Maryland. Preziosi writes a bit about the background to the changes to this diner over the years. There are also a few cards where owners used the Dinor rather than Diner spelling.
   
   Wonderful though all these postcards are I was disappointed with the book's production. There are so many pages with two or three items that just don't fill the space even though they are angled and frequently a bit of one overlaps another. I suppose the problem was having a book of too many pages for too little material. To break up the editorial flow of white pages a few use blown-up card images as a background with the proper cards printed on top of the picture but even here crude white oblongs are arbitrarily cut into the background for the short captions. The imprint, contents, acknowledgements, intro and the few text pages are uniformly dull with unimaginative typography. The author's text is set in a large type to fill out as many pages as possible. The one concession to a contemporary look is a nice drop shadow on all the illustrations.
   
   The front cover, with twenty postcards, all the same size and butted together looks stunning but how frustrating to see these lovely period graphics wasted on the inside pages because of poor editorial design. For the price I really expected something better looking.
   
   ***FOR A LOOK AT OTHER DINER BOOKS click 'customer images' under the cover.

2 comments about The Art Dealers: The Powers Behind the Scene Tell How the Art World Works.

1. This is a mere formulaic padding of the prior edition of this book. There are a few new chapters. In some cases, these chapters address dealers who have come into prominence since the 1985 edition. Other dealers given equal attention were added for reasons that shall remain mysterious, as they address players never known or soon to be forgotten. The original chapters related to figures such as Sydney Janis and Leo Castelli have some historical interest. The new chapters tend to be shorter and tend to suffer from a narrow focus on the personal background of the dealer and the editors' apparent effort to prompt the dealers to speak to art world issues that may have been new or compelling in 1985 (e.g., the "new" role of auction houses) but which are certainly capillary today. The upshot is that I learned quite literally nothing about the contemporary art market.



2. This book sheds real light into how New York based art dealers from the 1940s to the 1980s lived, worked and thought about art. There are many interesting anecdotes, opinions and brief biographies inside this book filled with short essays about some 25 dealers who hepled shape the world of art as it is still known today.

No comments about Treasure Houses of Britain, The - 500 Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting.

3 comments about Fighting Iron: A Metals Handbook for Arms Collectors.

1. Wether you are interested in firearms or in edged weapons, this is really a must have book. I deeply commend this book to anybody involved in collecting, or in museum conservation work. The book is small and compact, and contains a mine of interesting information. It is technical information, but written in a plain language, easy to understand to the reader, without the need of being an engineer. Surely, this is not a technical manual for engineers, but it is directed to the plain collector.

   I found a lot of interesting facts, tables and drawings, as well as descriptions. I always keep my copy near me for refference, and I'm ordering additional copies, one to be presented to the library of the local National Museum of Arms, and one more for a close friend.




2. This is an Excellent publication. Although I'm not an arms collector, as a hobby machinist I've long been fascinated by the metallurgy and heat treatment of carbon steel. Unfortunately, engineering texts on the subject are over my head, and Fighting Iron answered a lot of my questions. Further, since I work occasionally with both bearing bronze and brass, Mr. Gogan's thorough explanation of non-ferrous metals cleared up a lot of questions. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who works with, or is otherwise interested in, metals. This would include welders, machinists, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, and jewelers. Well done, Mr. Gogan!



3. If you work on, weld, silver solder or generally mess with antique weaponry (and metal antiques in general) this book is a boon, a guide, a resource. It is pitched to the layman, highly readable and well researched. I use it as a reference more or less constantly when selecting tools, metals, temperatures etc.