1 comments about Great American Beers: Twelve Brands That Became Icons.

1. My father worked as advertising manager for the Olympia Brewery in the 50s ... the article was well written and brought back many fond memories!

1 comments about Chinese Clothing: Costumes, Adornments and Culture (Arts of China).

1. Badly written with no real knowledge or understanding of the subject. Illustrations taken without permission from other books on Chinese dress.

5 comments about The Ho Model Railroading Handbook.

1. This book truely is a great reference for all model railroaders. Beginners to Advanced modelers can learn from this book. I highly recommend it.



2. I am beginner in model railroading, and I learnd a lot from this book. However, I noticed one thing in the book , he prefers Woodland Scenics , expensive track systems. Scratch building is completely forgotten.I don't have big budget for my hobby (VERY LOW) and I will have to buy another book beacuse this one is for people with big money in the pocket.



3. This book is timeless. Robert Schleicher offers a lot of needed information for modelers. I found this book useful for any scale even though it is addressed to the HO scale railroader. You'll want this in your library for frequent reference.



4. This book by Robert Schleicher is timeless. Offers helpful modeling information to the beginner and advanced modeler alike. It's a book you'll want to have in your library for reference when building or upgrading your layout.



5. This handbook has great photography of his layouts. [Someone]who complained about expensive commercial scenery has a point, but Schleicher's use of [inexpensive] felt and natural dirt to make good looking grass is an example of a money-saving technique. And the insulation-board technique for building hills is a big improvement over the traditional plaster & paper-maché methods. As with any book of this nature, ideas and inspiration are more the point than a slavish step-by-step plan.
   If you're going to get started or if you've already got some experience, this book can give you lots of good advice. There's other books with more detail on specific subjects, but this book has chapters on planning, wiring, scenery, buildings, painting & weathering techniques, wiring for DC systems (not much about digital except its existence), and operations.
   I found the book so useful that I bought it so as not to have to keep renewing it from the library!

3 comments about Just the Right Shoe Collector's Value Guide (Collector's Value Guides).

1. This book is a beautiful book as far as the pictures go and it does have all the lines and styles in one book, but the price guide is very limited. It doesn't break down the generation of the shoes, ie: Thailand or China, shoe box colors (a collector's item in themselves), or oddities and their value as most are rare. This publisher should use the similar guidelines of their Beanie Baby Collectors Guide and break down the generations or in this case production generations, and it's varities. As it stands now, it is just a catalog.



2. Considering this is the only book in the market for the JTRS collection, it contains mostly everything you would need to complete your collection. All of Raine's shoes, up to the end of 2000, are included in this book along with her Take A Seat collection. There are brief descriptions for each shoe and the suggested retail price with a place for you to enter the price you paid for each piece. There is an interview with Raine as well as a brief history about the shoe collection. Keep in mind that since this collection is rather new, the market value information will be limited.



3. I'm not the shoe collector... the wife is so I bought her this guide. She loves it, which ends up costing me more money, 'cause now she wants more shoes.

1 comments about Collector's Guide to Vintage Tablecloths (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. I LOVED this book, it's beautiful, well researched and great reference book for dating your collection. A must have for all collectors....

No comments about Popular Milk Glass & Other Opaque Novelties: & Other Opaque Novelties.

2 comments about Pickups: Classic American Trucks.

1. If you like pickups from the beginning up until the 1950's, this is for you. Excellent photography, highlights some models not usually done (Diamond T, Hudson, Reo). Good home-grown stories about each one (where it came from, what the owner is like, et al) makes this book one of my favorites.



2. This book shows classic pickup bodies, some with modern engines, very clearly. The photos are exceptionally vivid in color. The chosen trucks are highly interesting, and the settings for the photographs very well chosen.

   I was not even aware it was possible to produce a book with level of clarity in the photographs. As a photographer myself, I was left wondering precisely how the photographs were done. i.e. Shutter speed, fstop, film type, filters, camera, lens and lighting. While the subject of the book, trucks, is not photography, the pictures, none the less, could serve as models of vehicle photography. Even a single paragraph on the topic would be appreciated by this reviewer. In a lucky world, perhaps the author or someone else familiar with the production techniques will further comment.

   My three year old son loves trucks, and this book has been a nice vehicle to help us share some time together.

No comments about Vintage Textured Barkcloth (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

No comments about Kitchen Glassware (Kitchen Glassware of the Depression Years).

4 comments about Full-Color Victorian Fashions: 1870-1893.

1. Full-Color Victorian Fashions is excellent. The book is exactly what I was looking for. There are a few pages of history, but mainly the book is pictures of victorian fashions. I have other books that deal with the in-depth history of fashion, but when you are wanting to "picture" what types of colors they might have used, the trims, etc. this book becomes very useful. In this case a picture is worth a thousand words.



2. This book contains a variety of rare hand-colored plates from French Victorian fashion magazines. The plates are glorious: they're full of detail and really give a good idea of what the clothes looked like, from fur-trimmed winter outfits to cool outfits for high summer, everyday walking dresses to evening and ball dresses, children's clothes, hats, and more. Most of the plates also have detailed descriptions, including the hats as well as the dresses. As a bonus some of the prints are oddly droll and amusing, such as a July 1887 print of seaside costumes depicting a little girl shoveling sand at the feet of one of the elegant ladies, who looks down tolerantly. Another rather startling print for fall 1891 hunting outfits depicts two ladies holding guns, with a dead pheasant, rabbit, and birds lying at their feet.
   However, the book suffers from one unfortunate flaw: several years are missing entirely, including 1872, 1873, 1876, 1879-1881, 1883-1886, 1889, and 1890. The styles changed a lot between some of these years, too. It leaves the slim, just slightly bustled 1882 styles juxtaposed with the huge, jutting bustle of 1887, and the still-full bustle and plain sleeves of 1888 jump right to the bustle-less bell skirt and high gathered mutton sleeves of 1891. On the other hand, some years are given particular focus with several pages of plates, including 1870, 1871, 1878, 1887, and 1888.
   If you want to learn about Victorian fashions in depth, this book would work best as a complement to a large black-and-white compilation such as Stella Blum's "Victorian Fashions from Harper's Bazaar".



3. What would romance writers do without Dover and their marvelous historical books? These books and even era paper dolls are inexpensive, and yet, thorough works that really can put you into the period. This book is stunning. Full color 9 ¼ x 12 ¼ inch plate rather than just a book, these are suitable for framing. Each drawing is two or three ladies in costumes, often with child/children in magnificent costumes of the Victoria era.
   
   Done is seasonal wear, it covers everything from ball gowns to a stroll in the park. There is a corresponding section that has a details analysis of the clothing, item by item. It starts out going year by year, but then jumps a bit missing some. So while this is a super reference book, you really need Blum's Victorian Fashion from Harper's Bazaar 1867-1898 as well.
   
   High recommended.



4. A wonderful informative stylish review of fashion at the turn of the last century. Delightful color prints, many black & white and patterns to make doll clothes - if you so desire. A really great purchase and marvelous if you are trying to dress French Fashion correctly.