No comments about Restoring Teddy Bears and Stuffed Animals.

4 comments about Christmas Jewelry, Second Edition.

1. Christmas Jewelry by Mary Morrison is the very best book currently available concentrating on costume Christmas jewelry. The photography is excellent, allowing you to clearly see the details in each pin. Mary's descriptions with each photo are informative and interesting. It's size is very convenient for carrying to shops and shows. It is extremely easy to use. The variety of pins shown is staggering; as a Christmas tree pin collector with over 100 pins, my only disappointment with this book is that it is not a catalog where I can place orders!



2. I love this book! I am a beginning collector and this book has inspired me. The research is thorough, and it is great to finally know the story behind the pins I already have.



3. Mary Morrison has put together a wonderful array of some of the best costume Christmas jewelry out there! A good range of the inexpensive and available to the rare and most desirable pieces with reasonable prices that reflect the market of the time the book was published. If you only get one book on this collecting area, this is the one to get



4. If you are going garage sale shopping, this book will fit in your tote and provide immediate information. Ms. Morrison does a good job of organizing alphabetically by designer, and she takes the time to warn about copies, particularly the Weiss tree pins. She also has a theme section with pointsettia pins, candles, reindeer, etc. I really like the cover where she lays a selection of her pins on a piece of Christmas fabric. I do find the print of the captions very small, even wearing my glasses, no doubt an accommodation for the size of the book. I also sometimes have trouble deciding which pin among three or four she is describing. Each is noted in the text with a letter of the alphabet, but there's no letter on the picture. I would also recommend that in her next edition, her husband not photograph any pins on dark paper backgrounds. In several instances, a dark burgundy or sapphire paper makes it impossible to see the details of the pin.

1 comments about Nineteenth Century Cameos: A Price and Identification Guide.

1. This really is a wonderful addition to the unfortunately small number of sometimes iffy books on cameos currently available. Though it generously contains 134 color plates and is so well presented, I only wish it was longer. Thankfully, it does not waste your time with photos of junky, mass produced modern cameos. These are all important, Georgian and Victorian cameos, fine examples in hardstone, shell, coral, tortoiseshell, lava, jet, jasperware and ivory to train your eye toward picking out the very best at high-end antique venues. The author, a London antique jewelry dealer, has a website, (rowanandrowan), which contains many beauties, if you want to see more. This is a book I will often enjoy browsing through, especially since I am not wealthy. Price guides are notoriously undependable, especially for one-of-a-kind, rare items, and the location of your find can wildly affect the price you can expect to pay. This book is not a price guide, though it occasionally includes a price in UK pounds. (Many of the cameos are privately owned or in museum collections that you might not easily visit, but are of a high-end type occasionally still found in odd places, estate sales and auctions by the avid cameo hunter.) It depicts primarily Greek and Roman mythological subjects in very clear color photos with concise overviews of the myths and identifying information. Additionally, there is a small collection of portrait cameos that does not include, thankfully, the ubiquitous, anonymous ladies' heads. These are portraits of famous Victorians, Lord Byron, Florence Nightingale, and a Victorian portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. Of interest to me are wonderful, deeply carved ivory portrait cameos of the poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the novelist, Elizabeth Gaskell. There is a short 2 page section referencing eminent carvers who signed their cameos in an effort to differentiate their work from real antiquities. If I could wish for anything, it would be for the author to expand her book in the future with even more examples of the lovely and unusual cameos that have passed through her hands. I recommend this book as a small indulgence to serious fine cameo collectors. Antique Collectors' Club books can be depended on for quality information and wonderful color photography.

2 comments about Remembering Revell Model Kits.

1. This book takes a look at the history of Revell in its heyday of the 1950s to the 1970s. The book looks at the development of everything from the kit itself to the artists who drew the box tops which drove me nuts because I could never even come close to making the model like what was on the box top.

   I was born in the 70s when Revell was starting to go through the turmoil that consolidated the plastic model industry so all this history is new to me. This book makes me want to go back in time and build most of these kits with only my trusty tube of glue as and a powerful exhaust fan as my companions.

   Although I generally build the Tamigawa kits when I get the chance, I still have many happy memories of building assembled models from Revell even though they were poorly painted and badly built (fault of the builder, not the company.)

   My only quibble is I wished the author would have spent more detail in describing how a kit goes from idea to market.

   If you are a modeller who enjoyed building the planes, vehicles and ships of Revell, you will find this an enjoyable history into the company that helped millions (including me) find things to do on a rainy day.




2. On coffee table books such as this I usually borrow a copy from my local library before I lay down 30-plus dollars at my high street stockist (hobby shop, Yank). It's a good thing that I followed my usual pattern with "Remembering Revell..." since the book covers only US-based operations during the period 1952-1979. Revell's sizeable, more profitable and argueably more interesting UK, West German, Mexican (Lodela) and Japanese design and manufaturing operations are virtually ignored. The UK shop does get some ink but it is primarily spent criticizing the British tool and die makers. To be accurate the book should have been titled something like "US Revell Models 1952-1979".
   The author has given the reader a well organized, smoothly written and beautifully illustrated book, albeit, one of limited scope. The text's limitation goes beyond the time and geography. The end of Revell as an independent, closely-held firm is dismissively summarized in less than half a page. All that the reader is told is that "costs rose" and "Profit margins had always been slim",...oh. What does that mean? If margins had always been minimal how had Revell survived, no, prospered as the world's largest model manufacturer? The author does tell the reader about changing liesure time options for US children and teenage boys, Revell's traditional market, that cut into US sales but nothing else. The effects of Revell's always more proftable foreign operations and the emergence of fine scale modeling as an adult hobby in the US go undicussed as do the oil shocks of 1973-74 and 1979 as they effected the cost of Revell's raw materials. Similiarly, the place of Revell in the stagnant N. American and W. European econonies of the late 1970's is ignored. This is not a tome aimed at MBA's but I'd like the full story about why my favorite boyhood model company folded. I suspect it is rapped up in the early death of the founder and the presence of a fuzzy undefined corporated hierarchy with ill-defined authority, responsiblity and accountablity.
   Additionally, be advised that the introduction and much of the first chapter are lifted from this same author's earlier book about Aurora models.

4 comments about Winchester Model Twelve.

1. This is the definitive book about the famous "Model Twelve" Winchester.

   George Madis covers the history and background leading up to this fine gun, the standards and variations, malfunctions that can happen, their probable causes and remedies. He covers the various chamberings, markings, chokes, matting and ribs, sights available, stocks--you name it, it's in this book. And, the book is full of high-quality photography depicting the things in the text.

   This shotgun, which is the direct descendant of the equally well-known Winchester model of 1897, is today a collector's item. You can imagine my delight when a relative gave me one in return for some work I did for him on his computer.

   He had been on the verge of giving it to the police on gun buyback program. It has a four-digit serial number, and was actually made in 1912! It is a 16-gauge in pristine condition

   Since the shotgun had already been blued once, I had it re-blued and the stock refinished. It is one of the most beautiful guns in my collection, today.

   If you have a Model 12, or are just interested in them, this is a book you must have!

   Joseph Pierre,
   Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity




2. Excellent history on the Model 12 and its variations. Repair section is an excerpt from the Winchester Model 12 Sequence Book and minimally useful if you are buying this book for repair instructions or problem diagnostics.



3. As an avid outdoorsman, but inexperienced in the many nuances of firearms, I found Madis' book to be very helpful in understanding and appreciating the Model 12 that I own. Madis describes the history, features and configurations of the Model 12 in a documentary-like style. I would liken it to looking at a factory catalog, but one written with great knowledge, detail, care and skill.
   
   Upon showing the book to my father-in-law and brother-in-law (both avid hunters; one of which owns a Model 12 and a Model 97), they thought the book to be the most detailed and authoritative they had ever seen. They frankly thought that such a book did not exist and were mesmorized at Madis' work. "Look at this!," they exclaimed at several pages.
   
   For the Winchester enthusiast, this book will be a valuable resource and worth the investment.



4. This is a comprehensive book with interesting illustrations and a lot of information.

5 comments about The Postcard Century.

1. Thank goodness for Tom Phillips. This postcard-filled volume is packed with images and texts created by countless sets of hands and eyes. There are few artist/thinkers today who could create order out of this chaos, and Phillips has done so delightfully. Featuring a multitude of stories within its overarching theme, The Postcard Century reveals its numerous histories with insight and charm.



2. Tom Phillips has captured the quest for collecting postcards with an eclectic mix of cards from the last century. We may view old postcards as nostalgic (for a history that never was), but when printed the card often pictured the latest thing. Being English, there are many Winston Churchill cards (as early as 1908), Prince Charles, the Queen, and Margaret Thatcher. There are plenty of cards for Americans, and a 1960 Nixon card is a favorite, as well as the original Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1947. In each year, a card from Piccadilly Circus and the New York skyline are included, as well as 10-15 other subjects. The cards reflect the changes of the time but also constancy, and many of the old jokes and statuesque women are recycled in each decade.
   
   Tom Phillip's artist eye is really used. Phillips commentary of each card is informative, sometimes humorous, sometimes irreverent, but always interesting and range from comments on punk fashion to statement about Kierkegaard liking a joke on a cow card. His pairing of cards is also enlightening: e.g. the King's head dress in 1935 is printed next to a Fiji headhunter head dress. A person's cards selection may be a Rorschach test, and I don't know what the fascination with camels (4 cards) tells us about this author. No matter what your interest or home, there are certainly cards to delight you here. A 1996 card of spaceships over St. Louis was a personal favorite.
   
   This book goes a long way in making the case that this was the golden century of postcards. I can't imagine a book in 2099 with a similar collection, or a printing of emails. Phillips includes the writing on the cards also, and these also reflect the times and a certain concise but revealing formula. Those who enjoyed the messages of these cards would also enjoy Robert Butler's book " Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards



3. This is my third pass through this lengthy and thoroughly engaging book. While I'm not a normal fan of postcards, reading this book makes me want to rush out to the nearest flea market and see what I can find.
   
   The best aspect of this book is that the author presents each postcard in terms of the publishing history, the story on the card, and the general scene on the card. The wonderfuly dry, British humor really makes me laugh out loud at time. His commentary on the postcards meant to woo a significant other are quite amusing.
   
   This book will truly engage you in ways you would never imagine. It also is a great way to learn odd facts from history that have largely passed from our collective memories. These postcards bring them back for our consideration.
   
   This is a fabulous book that you will find hard to put back down.



4. I was disapointed in this book because I was looking for one that included more detailed information about postcards. The problem of buying online I guess.



5. Excellant book in every way. Great pictures, and descriptions. Do not buy this book if you are looking for a price guide, as it is not set up for that purpose. A great book for the postcard historian. Divided into years, it can be a great asset to a collector who is trying to date cards in his or her collection.

No comments about The Man From St. Petersburg.

3 comments about The Postcard Price Guide, 4th Ed., A Comprehensive Reference (Postcard Price Guide).

1. This guide provides prices for over 10,000 cards and will be useful for collectors, dealers, and novices. The book highlights the most collected categories, and the artist-signed chapter covers over 250 pages. The 900 postcard images, though reduced and in black and white, are useful; my favorites included the Krampus cards, Alligator border card, and the Halloween cards are a real treat. Mashburn provides short biographies of some of the artists and publishers (and even an introduction to Krampus). Although Mashburn does present some useful guidelines on topical, views, and roadside America I thought those chapters were too short in light of the vast number of cards available. Mashburn also includes references for more specific topics also.



2. This book gives you a good feel for the value of postcards. Beginners will definitely get their money's worth from this guide before buying from a dealer or an online auction.
   
   Keep in mind that Mashburn is a dealer as well as a collector and author. He devotes way too much space to the categories he collects and sells...origional art. I estimate that he devotes a measley 25% of the book to photographic postcards.



3. It's been over 7 years since this has been updated, and a lot has happened in the world of postcards. I'd say that the vast majority of prices quoted in this book are much higher than prices realized at traditional and online auctions, and many retail sales. So, if you just found a shoebox of postcards in your grandmother's attic and are planning on selling them, don't expect to realize prices anywhere near most of the prices you see in this book. That said, there are exceptions - and condition really does play an important part in pricing, but as the Internet opens up dealers to a worldwide audence it appears that many cards that were in demand 10 years ago are no longer that scarce.

5 comments about A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict.

1. I was terribly disappointed in this book. It's more of an autobiography of the author's life than it is about books and book collecting. Also, while I read more than the average person and I don't only read mainstream books, I felt like "Pound of Paper" was full of references to obscure authors.

   I would recommend "Used and Rare" and other books by Larry and Nancy Goldstone if you really want to read about books and collecting.




2. 
   
   I rated this book 5*'s but not in the normal fashion.The title got my attention as I like "books about books";of which there are a varied lot.To start with,this book is well titled;A Pound of Paper,how unpretentious can you get?
   Now, as to my rating:
   As an overall book,I enjoyed it at times,at other times I found it a drag,I skipped a lot;but still couldn't put it down.
   I rated it 5*'s;but only by adding up 5 single *'s:
   1*-As a biography,for anyone who knows the author;I had not
   heard of him.
   1*- Stories about experiences of buying books and searching
   for 1st.editions,inscribed tomes,etc.
   1*-Telling what makes a bibliophile "tick".I noted many of
   the same traits in myself.
   1*- Description of book buying and selling in France.
   1*- For the three appendicies.
   Each of these areas was overshadowed by his experiences;but so many writers and books were of no interest to me and the whole of Sci-Fi leaves me cold as I don't tend to read much of it;although one with that interest would probably rate the book a 5*,for that material alone.Also,the book is heavily slanted to British and Aussie books and hardly mentions anything else.This is understandable as this was where he lived and where his interests lie.
   Nevertheless any bibliophile will enjoy the book and it is really a 5*.I plan to keep it ,mainly for the appendicies.



3. I am a book collector and I enjoy my passion very much. Many people would say I'm obsessed but it only takes a book like this one to remind myself that I'm in the minor leagues.
   
   Part memoir and part peek into the world of book collecting, Baxter tells of his youth in the wilds of Australia where, like many of us, he delved into the world of comic book and science fiction collecting. He matured along the way with an interest in Graham Greene before dumping that collection and moving onto other literary interests.
   
   And he did not stay in the wilds of Australia forever. He travelled and made his way up in the world of film and publishing. Baxter has had the fortune as a film critic, writer and collector to meet a number of interesting people, from the writers he collected to eccentric bookmen like Martin Stone. The book has a definite British flavor, though Baxter has made some forays into the United States. Still, any book collector will see things he recognizes in Baxter's experiences and, in some cases, things we wished we could have experienced ourselves.
   
   Let's face it, a person with a passion for book collecting will feel some jealousy when reading of some of Baxter's finds and encounters. Unfortunately, most of us do not have the means and/or opportunity to do some of the things Baxter has done. But this does not totally diminish the fun in seeing how he was able to come to have the experiences he had and it makes for a great read for anyone interested in books.



4. This was a terrible disappointment. More of a memoir than anything about book-collecting, it was so disjointed it is hard to say what it was about or what the point was. There seemed to be no context or fabric to the book.
   
   There were, however, HUNDREDS of references to obscure authors, actors, film-writers, magazines and books. There were pages at a time where I was completely lost because I had no idea about whom the author was speaking, but he wrote as if the person was well-known to the reader.
   
   Baxter leads the reader around the world from his beginnings in Australia, thence to Britain to the US and ending in France. Again, there is no context. He would flip from a reference to the obscure artist, to an anecdote about himself or some bookseller or collector and then perhaps mention how he had acquired a book.
   
   If viewed as a book about collecting books, you will not learn much. If viewed as a memoir, there was little that was interesting about the author's life and there was precious little about his life other than acquisitions.
   
   There were a very few nuggets about what makes a book valuable or diminishes its worth to a collector, but they were too few and far between.
   
   If you could not tell by now, I can not see much reason to read this book. I think Mr. Baxter flattered himself to think that either he or his collection would be of general interest.



5. The book is a mixture of tidbits about famous collectors, the author's coming of age in Australia, obscure collectibles/authors, and whatever else came to the author's mind. Maybe a hardcore collector could keep up with this account.
   I gave it up after 118 pages. I love books and was interested in the Australian descriptions, but became discouraged by the disjointedness of the book.

2 comments about Diamonds Famous & Fatal : The History, Mystery and Lore of the World's Most Famous Gem.

1. In Diamonds Famous & Fatal: The History, Mystery & Lore Of The World's Most Precious Gem, Leo Kendall shares his fascination for the ways in which diamonds have influenced the history of the world. All the major diamond finds of the centuries are chronicled, examined, and described. A wealth of anecdotal and historical stories of outstanding diamonds are dramatically recounted and range from the Koh-i-Noor (dating back to at least 1526 and which affected the course of the Mogul Empire and finally ending up a part of the British Crown Jewels) to Henry VIII's diamond collar, the collection of Louis XVI, the Romanov gems, and more. Here also are the stories of such luminaries in diamond history as Cecil Rhodes and such diamond mines as the DeBeers. If you have an interest in the history, legend and lore of diamonds, the give a careful reading to Leo Kendall's Diamonds Famous & Fatal!



2. The history of the famous diamonds is just fascinating. This book is very thorough and Mr. Kendall really gave me an education. From ancient India to present day, from the Maharaja's to Louis XV to Victoria to Elizabeth Taylor, powerful people have aways coveted rare diamonds. The story of the Louis XV's French Blue is probably the most famous, but all of these stories are interesting, really a fun book to read. If you have any interest in diamond's or just interesting history in general then I believe you will not be disappointed in this wonderful book...it's hard to believe what people will do to possess something noone else has.