5 comments about The Doorstop Book: The Encyclopedia of Doorstop Collecting (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. For those of you who deal in the "Cast Arts", this book is a must have. Clearly written for the layman doorstop collector, lots and lots of crisp and clear photos of the ultra rare to the not so. A section in the front that gives a brief history of the larger casting houses, with a few reprinted catalogs and price lists. Great giude for the field hunter!



2. The book is appropriately sub-titled "The Encyclopedia of Doorstop Collecting" It covers a vast amount of information, history, general information, with well photographed examples--over 1000, most I had never known existed. I am thrilled to have this in my library.



3. HIGHLY INFORMATIVE. SUPERB PICTURES. KUDOS TO THE AUTHORS ON A JOB WELL-DONE. GREAT REFERENCE FOR ALL CAST IRON.



4. The BEST Doorstop reference book ever!! We own two copies--one for the car and one for the house. TONS of information-- history, foundries, designers,catalogue pages, plus over 1000 fabulous clear LARGE pictures. My wife and I can't put it down--we just love it. These authors have done their homework for sure!



5. This is one of the most informative and detailed doorstop books to date.

3 comments about Goldmine Standard Catalog of Rhythm & Blues Records (Goldmine Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums).

1. being that there are no other books of this type out there to choose from, this book is essential for the discography information. gripes: 1st: there's too much recent muck listed in with the good stuff . 2nd: as usual, some of the prices these guys come up with are extremely debatable - but then, these guides are SUPPOSED to be a rough "guideline" to appraise lp's . 3rd: didn't find much on the rare soul and funk 45's & lp's i bought this book for. 4th: got a question: why are EXTENSIVE elvis presley and beatles discographies in every one of these price [...]guide books? geez! get over it already! both of those artists ALREADY HAVE THEIR OWN PRICE GUIDES and tons of books out there already covering every thought in their drug addled brains. i would have rather seen reproductions of some rare or unusual picture sleeves or lp covers. thank you. p.s. wouldn't all the price guide books be excellent if they were just music discography books instead of [...]price guides? yes, they would.



2. Goldmine is to Music like what sports Card Magazines are to there Sports.very detail&tell you what to look for&how certain covers or records are more valuable than others.I've always dug Goldmine&this along with other collections from them is a must have.



3. finally a book thats afordable about soul and real r&b recvords?
   welp..almost.
   not quite enough though because somhow towards the end of the listings it makes disco and hip hop rhythm and blues thereby scarring any well meaning attempt to show wonderfull people like ray charles,the robins and maybe even the hollywood flames respect.
   no real r&b artist deserves to be scraped into a book with all that crap.
   but neely did aGREAT!!! job on the early and scarcer records.
   unlike the kreiter guide which is nearly impossible to find and usually trashed,this bbook is more afordable and gives good insite to the music.(untill like i said..disco hits home).
   but its a good start.thanks tim!

2 comments about Halloween in America: A Collector's Guide With Prices (A Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. This is much more than a book for collectors of Halloween.This is the best book on the subject. I've read all the others and this is the bible of Halloween. If you have only one book on Halloween, this has to be the one. It brings back childhood. This book is really a look at what Halloween means. Ghosts and goblins, fall colors, adventure and childhood fears. I've read mine over and over and over again.



2. Stuart L. Schneider's dynamic Halloween In America: A Collector's Guide With Prices spectacularly captures the spirit of the classic years of the American Halloween tradition: the period from the turn of the century through the end of the nineteen-fifties. Though the book includes more recent material, Schneider wisely focuses on what he recognizes to be the holiday's glory days in this country, when its spirit hadn't moved too far from its agricultural roots and American culture was predominantly positive, forward-looking, and uncynical--and its Halloween decorations charming and vividly imaginative.

   The book opens with three short, loosely-composed essays, "A Brief History Of Halloween," "The Colors And Images Of Halloween," and "Halloween In America." Schneider, who provides no source material, is often broadly correct but specifically wrong. He suggests, for instance, that the Druids may have built Stonehenge when it has been long established that they did not, and that 'Dryad' is another word for 'Druid.' The author also writes a paragraph about witches and "witch conventions" during the Celtic reign of the British Isles as if this were an established historical fact, embellishing his account with images of witches stirring cauldrons, speaking in tongues, dancing around bon fires, and sacrificing animals; if Schneider knows this to be historically factual, then he has access to information the rest of the world doesn't. He also discusses 'Samhain' as a god of the Celtic people who "controlled the dead or non-growing season," when whether or not 'Samhain' was a Celtic deity or even an entity, rather than a season or holiday, is something currently hotly debated among historians, scholars, and Wiccans.

   Schneider is to be commended for his honesty in addressing some of the more unpleasant aspects of the holiday and its associations head-on, as well as for the wonderful historical scope he provides in placing Halloween origins in a wide, multi-cultural context. Readers will find a rich phantasmagoria of topics discussed in the essays, including the custom of sin eating, All Saints' and All Souls' Days, the belief in the 'veil between worlds' and the return of the dead to their families one the night of the harvest feast, the story of 'Jack of the Lantern,' Snap-Apple and Crack-Nut Nights, apple bobbing, fortune-telling, the Scottish influence on American Halloween traditions, Cabbage and Mischief Nights, the various theories surrounding the origin of trick-or-treating, the meaning of the literal 'scapegoat' and its influence of the appearance of the Christian Devil, the Mexican Day of the Dead, and even mention of the elves, gnomes, boogies, and goblins with which agrarian societies peopled the forests and fields.

   The gorgeous main portion of the book is dedicated to collectible items and includes sections on Postcards, Decorations, Lanterns, Costumes, Hats and Masks, Noisemakers, Invitations, Games and Toys, Trick Or Treat Bags, and Vegetable People, Figurines and Candy Containers.

   Halloween In America is by far the best of the books on Halloween collectibles available, and also the best of the Schiffer books on the subject. Many readers will remember these items from their childhood homes, classroom bulletin boards, Five & Dime store shelves and windows, and neighborhood parties. Readers will also be astonished at how the painters, artisans, and creators of these crepe paper, cardboard, composition, glass, and celluloid items were able to envision and capture what we remember and still think of as the very essence of holiday, and in a wide variety of forms: lonely, barren, orange-skied landscapes with setting suns ablaze or yellow rising moons, black cats and owls lurking in pumpkin patches with an anthropomorphic moon overhead, witches flying on broomsticks in formation over dark, isolated houses, skeletons parading in graveyards, etc.

   Folklorists, sociologists, academics, and artists may have special appreciation for the visionary and sometimes surreal paintings, illustrations, and three-dimensional designs revealed here. One 1908 German postcard portrays a witch, a black cat and a vegetable spirit riding in a car made of a partially hollowed-out watermelon with squash-slice tires; another portrays a red-caped witch riding a immense cob of husked corn like a phallus-conquering Amazon through the stratosphere, with an astonished moon and planet Jupiter looking on; and a third, from 1911, shows children happily bobbing for apples in their warm, cozy home, while a tall, red-skirted, stone-faced witch, accompanied by an owl and a black cat, looks in at the window like the ultimate outsider and a disenfranchised, but still proud and powerful, loner. An entire page is devoted to 1910 postcards of anthropomorphic vegetables riding cars, dancing with or chasing fairies, and joyfully imitating human family practices. Others display Rockwell-like scenes of boys and girls carving pumpkins or trick-or-treating, or elderly women in dimly-lit Victorian mansions being frightened by children's pranks and high jinks.

   Throughout the book, visionary landscapes and distant horizons beckon; curly-toed elves spring from hollow trees and slide gleefully down rooftops; lone witches warm their hands at their cauldrons under brilliant, star-filled skies; beautiful young ladies sleep fitfully on ruffled pillows while fairies circle their heads; peaked-hat shadows stretch in threateningly at midnight doorways; black cats screech to their own banjo, accordion, violin, and horn playing; and scarecrows extend their arms heavenwards to frighten off their circling opponents.

   Readers will run for their magnifying and/or reading glasses so that none of the often minute detail will escape their gaze and inspection. Halloween In America is a huge treat, will make collectors and seekers out of most, and hopefully inspire generations to come to celebrate and pass on the traditions recorded here. Highly recommended to holiday lovers, educators, folklorists, Scout leaders, and all lovers of Americana.

2 comments about Collectible African American Dolls.

1. THIS BOOK IS FANTASTIC! I REALLY APPRECIATE THE VALUES MS. ELLIS HAS GIVEN TO THESE WONDERFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN DOLLS. MY ONLY GRIPE IS THAT IT IS A LITTLE SHORT FOR EACH MANUFACTURER, AND DEFINITELY SOME COMPANIES MISSING. BUT OVERALL, THE GLOSSY COLOR PAGES, RELAXED WRITING AND FAIR VALUE AMOUNTS MORE THAN MAKES UP FOR IT! THANK YOU MS. ELLIS!



2. Wow! This book is truly a one of a kind. It is detailed and classy. I cannot put it down. The bright colors, lure the reader into magical moments exemplifying the rich culture and status of the African American Doll throughout time. Ms. Ellis, your insight is to be commended. I am certain that you will bring joy not only to avid collectors, but to many young boys and girls as well...anxiously awaiting the next edition!!!

5 comments about Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

1. Douglas Adams made a name for himself with his ever expanding trilogy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" which has spawned six books. His writing is a unique blend of wit, humor, philosophy, psychology and sheer silliness that is hard to duplicate. "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" is a quick-paced, often laugh-out-loud funny trip through time and some absolutely impossible story lines.
   
   Richard MacDuff is an up and coming computer programmer, under pressure from his boss, and on the verge of losing his girlfriend because he immerses himself so completely in his work that he loses track of time. When a trip back to his old college at Cambridge goes awry, Richard finds himself seeking out an old college pal, the infamous Dirk Gently who now runs a detective agency that specializes in 'finding' lost pets and sending bills to clients with outrageous charges on them. For Richard's boss has been murdered, and Richard believes himself to be a suspect, and allows Dirk to help him uncover a mystery that includes time travel, a murderous ghost, and saving the human race from extinction.
   
   Douglas Adams is a master at interweaving several different plotlines that seem disconnected into a simple concoction by novel's end. "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" is full of his trademark wit and humor, but seems a little too off course, like his later "Hitchhiker" books. All in all, it is an enjoyable read, that even with its out-of-this-world plotlines, still manages to speak to life in today's world.



2. When I first saw this in the public library, many many years ago, I was afraid. I'd just finished SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH, the fourth installment of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, and my favorite. (The fifth didn't exist yet.) I was afraid I'd be disappointed by this detour. Then I read the cover blurbs, and it sounded horrid. I put it back on the shelf and found something else. My loss. But now, well, my gain, so hah!
   
   I thought it was little slow getting started, or maybe I was -- it happens to the best readers sometimes. But it's an enjoyable page-turner, combining his trademark humor, imagination, fun, creativity, philosophy, and an honest-to-gosh story that hangs together, peopled by honest-to-gosh people. Pay attention because it's very satisfying. Same thing he did in Hitchhiker 4 before it and Hitchhiker 5 after it. The two Hitchhikers which began as novels rather than radio scripts, by the way. I've gotta hit the bookstores again looking for the sequel to this. THE LONG DARK TEA TIME OF THE SOUL. Douglas Adams has hooked me all over again, and it's a great feeling.
   
   And again, I had to wait for the guy to die to rediscover him. On the one hand it's kinda cruel how I do that, but on the other it gives me hope that somebody will read my own scribblings after I die.



3. This book is crazy and nothing can be expected from this "holistic" detective story. There is mystery, exploration, suspense, and interesting characters. Douglas Adams has the comic science fictional feel of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy but is a completely different category of book. It is a mystery that seems more "down to earth" while still being crazy and sensless.
   
   The comedy is less abundant and deeper than the Hitchhikers Guide series. The characters of Dirk Gently follow the same sort of pattern as in being deeper and not the comical ones of HG. They are still amusing and fun to read about and the situations they get in are comical. The book jumps around from perspective to perspective and all are fun to read; you will rarely find yourself hoping to for this section to end.
   
   First you find yourself with an outdated electric monk (programmed to believe anything) on a distant planet. This monk rides around on a horse that really wants to be free. This monk is different because he is starting to feel doubt in the things he believes in.
   
   Next, all of a sudden your back on Earth with a man named Richard McDuff. Richard is a computer programmer for Way Forward Technologies. His boss, Gordon Way, is his girlfriend's (Susan) brother. He is falling behind on a program when his boss is mysteriously murdered. Richard is wanted for questioning when he runs into Dirk Gently.
   
   Dirk is a detective that investigates crimes through the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. He claims to specialize in missing cats and messy divorces. This would seem like an interesting way to scam old ladies whose cats have gone missing if they would ever pay him. Dirks role in the book is to help Richard find out what's going on and what happened to Gordon.
   
   Dirk hypnotizes Richard to find out all he knows. When he is done the two things (that arguably have nothing to do with Gordon's death) that he is most concerned with are Reg's trick and how Richard scaled a wall to get a tape recording from Susan. He also makes him do the most hilarious thing (that I wont spoil for you) in order to explain the second thing he found interesting. The rest of the book is their expedition to figure things out and they defiantly find the unexpected.
   
   I really thought this book was great. It showed that he could write things other than the Hitchhiker's Guide. It may be confusing at times but if your patient with the beginning it will unfold.



4. I actually bought this as a replacement for an older hard-back copy that started falling apart (due to excessive lending). Though the Hitchhiker's Guide the Galaxy is considered Douglas Adams' quintessential work, this is probably my favorite single book of his... mainly because nearly every subtle detail in the story somehow becomes relevant to plot. It's both insanely funny and extremely intelligent at the same time.
   
   But, before reading, it might be a good idea to refresh your memory about Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his writing of The Ballad of Kubla Kahn. Explaining why would likely reveal too much of the plot.



5. I'm not going to give any spoilers in this review about this book, because honestly the plot is so odd I don't know if it's POSSIBLE to spoil anything effectively. (That's the head-spinning part of the title)
   
   Anyway, the humor is absolutely great. I will warn you though, that the plot of this book doesn't quite pick up until about 8 chapters or so into the book. So if you've tried to read it before but gave up because it's too slow, just be patient. From what I have pieced together, Douglas Adams' writing technique is to give the reader several seemingly disconnected pieces of the plot and this takes several chapters to do. Then he slowly but surely begins to connect them together and by the end, you still may not know what the hell the story's about, but it's quite funny. I found this book laugh-out-loud funny and it only took me 4 sittings to read!

No comments about Radiola: The Golden Age of RCA, 1919-1929.

5 comments about The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card.

1. I liked the book, read it in two days. It makes you wonder about a lot of memorabillia out there and why the people selling it are out are there and running around unchecked. It kills me that even though people know about The Card, they still want it. It could be brand new and they'd still want it. That's called wanting something others want. It's not the item, it's the want. Interesting reading, a must for anyone interested in the world of baseball memorabillia or collecting sports cards.



2. Authors Michael O'Keefe and Teri Thompson tell an interesting and entertaining story about "The Card"--the most valuable Honus Wagner T206 card as well as the card collecting and sports memorabilia "hobby." The Wagner card sold for $2.35 million in February 2007. It is, as the authors write, "the symbol of a hobby out of control."
   
   As one prominent collector said, "Too much of this hobby's driven by greed." The authors chronicle the transformation of the hobby into a $2 billion a year, Internet-driven business, which attracts more than its share of unsavory characters.
   
   While slightly familiar with the Gretzky Wagner T206 card (so named because hockey great Wayne Gretzky and a partner once purchased it), I had no idea about its history and the controversy that surrounds it. The authors present a strong case that the card was actually cut from a sheet of cards, trimmed and altered. If this is the case, the value of the card should have been drastically reduced. It seems, however, that too many people have too much to lose, if it was actually proven.
   
   "The Card" is an intriguing story that will keep you turning the pages. Kudos to the authors for also providing a couple chapters on the career and post-career of Pittsburgh Pirates great Honus Wagner, one of the five original inductees in the Hall of Fame.



3. First of all, I love baseball and baseball cards and have been collecting cards since I was in First Grade. I really thought this book would be both compelling and informative. However, what I discovered is that what is stated in 256 pages easily could be condensed into 50 pages of text. Often anecdotes and stories are far too drawn out and the authors often find the need to go back to these old stories or bits of information as filler in later chapters. There is some to be taken from this book, but on the whole, it is much longer than it should be. I would pass, and if you want to give it a chance, surely check for it at the library and do not buy it. It won't add much to your personal collection.



4. The Card was a very fun and easy read. It has great incites into the world of card collecting and collecting in general. My favorite part is the way the authors weave not only baseball history but American history as well throughout the book. I recommend this book to anyone interested in baseball and especially card collecting. It made me want to rifle through my sons shoe boxes of cards in hunt for that Honus Wagner!



5. This is a great book for anyone who loves baseball and grew up collecting baseball cards. It colorfully takes us through the history of the infamous T206 Honus Wagner card, and all of its adventures. The tales of corruption and deceit along the way are fascinating, and gave me a different perspective on the hobby I once loved.
   
   This book is an extremely quick read, and a very fun one.

1 comments about Kovels' Bottles Price List, 13th edition (Kovel's Bottles Price List).

1. This did not help to identify the bottles that I have. You have know what you have to look up the possible prices in this book.

3 comments about The Big Book of Vaseline Glass (Schiffer Book for Collectors.).

1. This is an excellent book for anyone that wishes to learn more about Vaseline glass. I already had some knowledge of the glass, but was very pleased w/ alll the information in the book. It has helped me w/ future decisions on glass purchases. I highly recommend this book!!



2. Very good overview of Vaseline/Uranium glass throughout it's history. It could definitely use more photographic examples but the verbage is worthwhile.



3. This is a book on Vaseline glass, but a lot of the pieces in the book are from Europe, not the U.S. If that is what you are looking for, then this is the book for you. The book has great pictures and good info on the chemical makeup of the glass and it's history.

1 comments about Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll.

1. Japanese dolls are more than just collector's items: they've planed an important cultural role in Japan's society as talismanic figures, festival centerpieces, medical study tools, and more. It's surprising, therefore, that Ningyo: The Art Of The Japanese Doll is the first comprehensive book in English to cover antique Japanese dolls. Six categories of dolls - palace dolls, Girl's Day dolls, Boy's Day dolls, costume and theatrical dolls, and those connected with health, were made during the Edo period: color photos from private collections detail these dolls and provide historical background as well as lovely, full-color photos. A 'must' for any studying Japanese doll history and art.