Antiques Collectibles Books

I got started on this series by reading a couple volumes that have been released in the last three years or so. I decided to go back to the beginning and see how Davenport started out.

It was nice to see where the money came from and that he began as a tough guy. As with the other books I've read, I'm not wild about his main girlfriend/wife. The game development detail adds a lot to the character and how he works.

The hunt for the maddog kept me hooked. There's nothing quite like the take-down of an obnoxious jerk, for a satisfying read.

Very good book, the start of the Prey series. Once you start you can't put it down. You'll want to read all the Prey books after this one!

This book shows that, in his years as a journalist, John Sandford learned a lot about the relationship between police and the media. Unfortunately, the story is lacking at times, and the reader has to slog through lengthy portions of procedure talk - the book ends up with a lot of dialogue-heavy scenes that may sound impressive and official, but the story stands still. That said, at times when the plot picks up, it's much more enjoyable. Didn't get much out of the computer game subplot. Unnecessary character over-development. Really liked the ending. Clever writing.

I'm a huge fan of Harlan Coben, Michael Conelly, Lee Child, and the like, and was told by a friend that I have to check out John Sanford's "Prey" novels. I always start at the beginning of a series, so I picked up "Rules of Prey" and am happy to report I was not at all disappointed with this read, and look forward to the rest of Sanford's novels.

I find it interesting that most of the poor reviews given to this novel were by women but, then again, our hero, Lucas Davenport, is not exactly going to appeal to anyone with liberal or feministic values. He's a no BS, macho, womanizing cop, and a FICTIONAL one, I might add and, obviously, Sanford is catering to an audience that wants a cop who doesn't play by the rules when trying to catch a scumbag like The Maddog. I couldn't put this novel down, and found it to be everything I look for in a good thriller, with lots of twists. It was sexy at times, violent and hard-boiled, and kept a consistent pace from start to finish.

After reading Dark of the Moon I thought I would jump into the Prey series. If this book is any indictator of things to come I can't wait to get my next one. I like how he starts out with a murder and draws your attention to describing the killer. Then moves into the story and keeps the suspense going through the end. I really enjoyed Rules of Prey, I hope you do too.

Fashions are compiled chronologically and the fashion plates are very detailed. Many plates don't just show the front of the models, but they also show the same posed women from the back. One of the main things I like about this book is that it's not just all formal wear. There's also a lot of day wear being featured which helps in understanding the lifestyles of Victorian and Edwardian ladies (albeit the privileged class). This book is simply a beautiful resource and should be included in every Victorian/Edwardian fashion-lover's library.

This book is one of the most comprehensive, well-done and complete guide to both Victorian and Edwardian fashion I've ever seen. Although the illustrations are black and white, they are surprisingly well done (most costume design books don't detail hair styles, patterns, etc, but this one does.) I recommend this book as a very accurate guide to the period for researchers, costumers or fashion enthusiasts. The book, along with fantastic illustrations, includes a summary of the times and fashions and a very helpful glossary. Also it is much more than any other book I've seen--- it included SEVERAL fashions for each year and several different occasional wear layouts. If you are curious about this period, you must buy this book. I only wish they had a similar book for every period!

"La Mode Illustree" was to 19th-century fashion mavens what "Vogue" and "Elle" are today, with its gorgeous color and B&W line illustrations of the latest in fashions for men, women and children. Joanne Olian, former curator of the costume collection at the Museum of the City of New York, has painstakingly assembled a huge collection of the finest illustrations showing beautiful ladies' fashions from 1860 to 1912, with almost every year getting at least one page (though, as another reviewer mentions, some years unfortunately aren't examined in much detail). Every illustration is full-page and accompanied by a paragraph or two of text, generally taken directly from the original description of the item in LMI. Nobody who is at all interested in fashions of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods should be without this book!

I was leery of ordering this book, because most of the books that claim to illustrate both the Victorian and Edwardian eras merely skim over the Edwardian. But I was pleasantly surprised.

The book covers the years 1860-1914 and gives equal (or slightly superior) coverage to the Edwardian and pre-WWI years. The illustrations are large and detailed, allowing for very good views of the trimmings of the garments, and the smaller rear views of many garments are invaluable to the recreationist. Also included are period captions describing the intended uses of the garments (tea or opera, for young girls or women "of a certain age"); these are both interesting and very helpful for the self-educated costumer. The selection of dresses, coiffures, hats, parasols, coats, lingerie, nightdresses, and children's clothing is well chosen and the garments are lovely.

My only complaint is that a few years are either entirely skipped, or skimmed over: 1866, 1872, 1875, 1878, 1883, 1893, 1899, and 1911. However, the existing material is excellent and very useful--I wholeheartedly recommend it.

This is a great addition to our collection of books to help us identify antique glass ware!

I recently decided to delve into Milk Glass. The decision came in a round about manner: I needed a vase or two and opted to go the eBay route. Remembering a friend's milk glass vase, I decided that was what I was going to get. The variety and choices out there are phenominal. More choices that the average person can navigate. I purchased a couple just because they were there and realized that I needed to learn more about these beauties. Enter a book search at Amazon. This was the first book listed and it provided the "search inside" feature. This way, I was able to stroll through the index and find a couple of my new purchases.

Well, the book arrived yesterday and it is incredible. This edition has been updated with 2005 values but it is fun being able to read about the companies and check out the pictures. Not all milk glass is pretty. Some of it is just darn disturbing and some is just plain kitchish. All in all, I am finding this to be an excellant resource especially for me the newbie collector.

Why 4 stars and not 5? At the back portion of the book, some of the pictures are difficult to make out. It may be the result of copying directly from the original company catalogues.

I needed a picture book with decriptions. I got that and a history on each kind of milk glass. I think I'll keep this one.

Good resource for exceptional pieces, but it's not organized well, and does not cover most everyday pieces. Values are over-inflated, especially for what milk glass is selling for online.

I pick up a lot of milk glass in thrift stores and was hoping this book would help me identify some of the pieces. Unfortunately, most of the items in this book have long been unattainable to the casual collector. The informational section was too short and poorly researched, and the author virtually ignored contemporary milk glass from makers like E.O. Brody, Anchor Hocking and Avon (only a few of Avon's dozens of milk glass pieces were featured).

If you want a book about milk glass from 1950 to present, this isn't it. Hopefully someone will realize the need for a book that covers "common" milk glass, which is getting harder to find and will ultimately be tomorrow's collectibles.

This is a thorough book and one that I refer to often. It helps to identify many of those pieces you find in your grandmother's china cabinet. There is a lot of information about the various designs, colors and years of production. It's one of the handbooks that I constantly look to for information.

I got this gift for someone else, and they LOVE IT. All the information they were seeking was there, plus it helped price and identify the Fenton items they had.

The pictures in the book are beautiful, you can see every detail.

im a newer collector so i needed some reference guides.this book has tons of pictures, pricing and information from cover to cover..id recommend it to any fenton collector new or old

Book is very helpful in identifying pieces. New Fenton lovers should buy this!

The lack of an index makes this book difficult to use efficiently. The only guide is the table of contents which divides the book by pattern, then color. If you want to look up a particular piece and you don't know the name of the pattern, you will have to look through the entire book to figure it out and hope the piece you have happens to be in this book. Likewise if you don't know the color name of the piece. With Fenton, what you think is pink might actually be called peach. Is what you have light blue, aqua or turquoise? You won't be able to figure it out unless you look at every possibility. If you happen to collect Fenton "Amberina" don't buy this book, there isn't any reference at all to that color.
I find the layout too busy and hard to look out. The black type on green background for the price guide adds to the busy look.
Yes, there are a lot of photos and info but in my opinion, the book really needs to be more well organized for me to call it a good book.

A wonderful book for the costume jewelry enthusiast. Great pictures and fantastic writing. It gave me a great insight on the quality and craftsmanship of unsigned pieces of costume jewelry. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in collecting costume jewelry

An excelent reference book, however, sellers/buyers need to know a particular designer to find items. Not all items are referenced. Sellers/buyers need to do MUCH more research if they are looking for something special.

Marcia "Sparkles" Brown puts together the best books on costume jewelry there are. With all the pictures she includes it makes it so much easier to find something you may be wondering about and she has a lot to look at! I absolutely love her books!

I had read the book before when I started researching my mothers pins. I have now purchsed two of Marcie's books. They are well written, easy to follow, good pictures of pins and great advise.

I was looking forward to receiving this book because as a collector I did not have a book on unsigned costume jewellery. However I was disappointed with the copy I received.
My main complaint is the quality of the illustrations. For the most part the photos are dull, too dark and the colours are distorted. Some pages have a definate brownish tint and other pages are quite grey. In comparison to other books on the suject the photos lack colour and clarity but this may be due to the printing and perhaps I received a particularly bad copy.
The book has 3 chapters that give insight into the birth of costume jewelry, the metals, stones, shapes and settings and also how to start a collection, date and restore pieces.
For the price the book covers the subject well.

I must say I expected a good book following the purchase of Metallic Cartridge Conversions, what you get with Colt Single Action: From Patersons to Peacemakers is a superbly produced book covering this genre. Not only informative as you would expect but written so well, not over technical just sheer good interesting subject reading, add the brilliance of Dennis Adler's photography you have one of the best books on the market. If you are a devotee of R L Wilson's books as I am, he now has some very serious competition.

This book is chuck-full of information; the opening chapters, particularly those pages dealing with Patterson rifle conversions are unique in my experience! Mr. Leavett has some fascinating pieces.

The illustrations are of the highest quality; I was happy to see the coverage given to the engraved versions of the "second-generation" black-powder revolvers, having owned a few myself.

This is right in there with the best $19.99 you can spend on a gun book.

Both monographs on Boon's work are spectacular - he deserves much greater recognition outside of Europe. The level of refinement is unrivaled (and perhaps tough to achieve on less than a hedge-fund baby's salary!). Endless rewards in the detail - hardware, finishes, scale, relationship of interior to exterior are all pitch-perfect.

I've very recently started collecting coins and I found this book to be the perfect introduction.

Great stuff for the beginner in this book - small histories of US denominations, coin categories to buy with caution, useful pictorial guide on grading, basics on coin shows, great tips on preservation. Probably not woth a buy for the experienced, but it is called coin collecting 101. Could have done without all the pages of state quarters. Seriously, it looks like the author was just filling pages. Overall all though, worth a buy for the novice.

The book is beautifully presented with exceptional diagrams and step by step instructions. There are many different varieties of flowers not found in other books, exotic orchics and beautiful butterflies. I love it.

I received my book very quickly, Amazon kept me informed via email that the order was received and when the book was sent. Great service.

I've been working with beads for many years, and creating french beaded flowers for at least 20 years, and I STILL was very impressed with this book (which isn't easy to do!) The instructions are clear and the designs are wonderful! It's hard to say if a beginner would view it the same since I have been working with this art form for so long, but I believe it would be an excellent instructional guide, and a fantastic addition to every beading artist & hobbyist's library.

I bought Dalene's first French Beaded Flowers book and used it extensively. I was happy to add the second one to my collection. It is a very project-based book like the first one. I have made a number of the flowers already. The instructions are clear and concise. A good book for beginners.

Dalene's second book of French Beaded Flowers is a welcome addition to her first. I've already made several of the flowers! Her instructions are clear, and the flowers are just beautiful. Good work, Dalene!

I've had Kelly's first book (as a section of a larger beading book) for a while and have had great fun with it. The flowers in this second book are just as beautiful. The instructions are clear and relatively easy to follow. I've already done a couple of the projects and they've turned out well.

Now for the caution flag. Kelly's first book is titled 'French-Beaded Flowers: New Millennium Collection'. This second book is titled 'More French Beaded Flowers: 38 Patterns for Blossoms, Leaves, Bugs & More'.

However, there is another Kelly book that you may see, titled 'French Beaded Flowers'. Be aware that this seemingly THIRD Kelly book is the UK's version of the second book. The only differences between the two books are the cover, the longer title and the publisher. The project content is exactly the same. Judging from the dates of the reviews written for the UK version, it seems to have been published first. Maybe the publishers of the U.S. version decided to add the word 'MORE' to the title just to be different. Or maybe it was some type of legal thing. The one thing it IS, is confusing to the consumer.

So, please don't be fooled by the cover, like I was and buy both of them. As far as I know, there are only two books by Dalene Kelly on French Beaded Flowers, not three.