Antiques Collectibles Books

Has been very helpful to my husband in restoring his guns. Book as promised.

Although I am not finished reading this book, I am very pleased with the content so far. This book goes into very good detail with good quality pictures. I was looking for a book to assist me in the purchase of an M1, and I feel more comfortable in my quest now that I am much more educated on the specifics of differant models and details purtaining to certain years and serial numbers as pointed out in this book. The content may be a little to detail oriented for the reader that is just trying to gain the history of this weapon, but for the reader looking to learn the "nuts and bolts" of this gun, I would highly recommend this guide.

As a collector of U.S. military rifles, I decided
to purchase this book. I found the carbine information
helpful, if a little confusing, and incomplete in
regard to some of the later developments, and there
is NOTHING in here at all helpful about ammo.

I have ALL the M1 books, though. And this area
is where Canfield sort of falls apart and becomes
irrelevant. He completely poo-poohs the Italian
Breda and Beretta rifles, does not explore the
rebuilds or much of the postwar history, does not
mention civilian developments at all, and
badmouths the "import rifles"...which pretty much
means what today's shooters and collectors can
actually get is skipped COMPLETELY.

And a lot of the photos, while pretty good, are not
completely explained. In point of fact, there is
some good material here, but not much of it, and
it is all incomplete.

Bruce Canfield's books are always worthwhile reading for the interested student of history: he always explains the development and technical details of the firearm under review within its historical context, never slacking in detail yet somehow never getting bogged down in minutiae.

If you don't already have _War Baby_ and are interested in the M1 Carbine, this is a worthwhile book; if you already own _WB_ or are planning on getting it and are uninterested in the M1 Garand rifle, you would be better off saving your money & spending it on _War Baby_, which focuses exclusively on the M1 Carbine. I have read _War Baby_ and found the section on the Carbine in Canfield's book to be (understandably) inadequate in comparison, but wholly enjoyable and complete in its own right if not already familiar with the extensive and absolutely thorough coverage provided on the subject by _War Baby_.

Any fan of the Garand rifle is well-served by adding this title to his personal library. That said: I really wish that this title was offered as part of a compendium with Bruce Canfield's _Johnson Rifle_, as that other book is rather pricey in comparison; if the two were combined at the present price of his book on the Johnson rifle, it would be a no-brainer to buy it, offering as it would a fairly comprehensive look at the long arms developed and used by the U.S. immediately prior & during World War II. Something the publisher should consider, as I imagine sales of the book on the Johnson rifle are handicapped by it's high price, while this book is not as thorough as others devoted exclusively to their single topical long arm and hence could benefit from the addition of the added material on the Johnson rifle which competed with the Garand for political favor...

I found this book to be just what I was looking for in a Reference/History book. Bruce Canfield must have had the average military collector in mind when he wrote this work. He has updated the original text and the clarity of the pictures is excellent. It has helped answer some of the questions that I had about my M1 Garand. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR COLLECTORS.

Wonder Woman: The Complete History is a delightful book for fans of the character, even if you only know her from the old TV show. The background of her creation by a clinical psychologist was very enlightening.

The illustrations throughout are excellent and all in all, it's terrific book, exceptionally well written by Les Daniels.

I have always enjoyed Les Daniels and his carefully researched books of comics history, but everyone has a blind spot. Wonder Woman is obviously his. This book, beautifully designed as it is, fails to capture what has made Wonder Woman such an enduring character and icon. It's clear on almost every page, Daniels is unimpressed by her. It's fine if he doesn't like her -- no one character can be everyone's favorite -- but it does make for a frustrating read at times when one wishes to celebrate Wonder Woman's unique place in comics history. His fascination with her creator is evident to the point that it seems clear Daniels would much rather write about Marston than Diana. His heavy emphasis on the bondage subtext of the Golden Age incarnation undercuts the more postive surface elements of those stories. Indeed, he sneers at Gloria Steinem's endorsement of those early years, casting great disbelief that there could be anything of substance taken from them.

Also, as another reviewer points out, Daniels gives short shrift to George Perez's post-Crisis revamp. Widely acknowledged by fans as the high point of her modern career, it's strange to see Daniels blandly note the support Perez got from female collegues in overhauling Wonder Woman's character and deride it by calling the later issues akin to ADVENTURES OF MENOPAUSAL MOM (I'm paraphrasing but only slightly). Daniels here suffers from the same fanboy syndrome that infuses the industry these days -- the idea that if HE doesn't appreciate it, it must be terrible. Meanwhile, Mike Deodato's art is viewed favorably, despite that being universely considered a lower point in the post-Crisis stories.

At the end of the book, it really seems as if Daniels only reluctantly churned it out because of a contractual obligation. His Superman and Batman books are excellent and filled with total respect for the characters and their appeal. If only he could've retained enough objectivity for the Wonder Woman assignment. Despite it all, it is a beautiful book and the history is thorough and still fascinating if somewhat subjective. Good for historical nuts, not so good for WW fans.

Not only do you get hte nostalgic book with the history of this heroine, you get the figurine that you can display and become the envy of all your friends! The statue is of classic Wonder Woman, the one from the 50's. She's still wearing the skirt.

This is truly rare. It's fantastic for all collectors and a MUST-HAVE for all die-hard fans!

First off, loved the book. It was nice to read the comments from Lynda Carter and see the multitude of changes that WW has gone through. But I did notice two things, the actress that played Wonder Woman's mother in that tiny demo in the 60's was named Maudie Pricket and the photo of Ms. Carter's costume says it is from the first season and it's not, it's from the CBS years as are the bracelets and tiara on the following page. I know Ms. Carter preferred the CBS years updated costume but the original on worn while fighting Nazis in the more humorous years will always be my absolute favorite! Thanx...

Les Daniels' Wonder Woman: The Complete History is the third book in a 3-volume series (the first two addressed Superman and Batman). While not without its flaws, it's overall a well-researched and enjoyable treatment of the character.

Wonder Woman first appeared in 1941, the brainchild of Dr. William Moulton Marston (writing under the pen name Charles Moulton), by any standard a bit of a weirdo who's remembered today for two things: (1) he invented the polygraph, (2) Wonder Woman, of course.

I could pick a few nits with Daniels' text. In places he does reveal an ignorance on certain topics. For instance, when speaking of Marston's World War I U.S. Army service, he states Marston "rose to the rank of second lieutenant." False. No officer (and I can't imagine someone of Marston's high educational level ever being an enlisted man) "rises" to Second Lieutenant because that's the absolute lowest officer rank.

Daniels is extremely opinionated. How much space is allocated to any of Wonder Woman's creative teams over the decades is very much controlled by how much Daniels likes their work. Obviously the Marston stories, with artwork by Harry G. Peters, are his favorites thus receive the most attention, though he devotes surprising time and positive comment to the generally despised stories written by Robert Kanigher. This is fine. Half the fun of a book like this is getting the writer's likes and dislikes on the character and her creators. Where I part company with Daniels is his low opinion of the George Perez stories of the mid-1980s thru early '90s. Daniels devotes an entire chapter to Kanigher's creation of such fascinating (hah!) characters as Glop (a "shapeless mass of grinning goo from outer space [which] absorbed everything in its path including 100 rock 'n' roll records"), Wonder Tot ("Mommy be proud to see me now!"), and Egg Fu (a Chinese Communist agent inexplicably shaped like an egg the size of a house, who used his mustaches as weapons and had a Charlie Chan speech pattern). After that, it was more than a little disappointing to have the Perez stories, considered by many Wonder Woman fans including myself the character's finest hour (especially the stories on which Perez did the artwork in addition to scripting) dealt with in a mere seven text pages, much of that explaining how they weren't really all that hot.

The only truly major flaw in this book involves its layout. These days, book publishers are terrified of the Internet. And well they should be. However, instead of focusing their efforts on what books do better that the 'net - provide one, continuous, uninterrupted stream of information - publishers' response has been to make their book pages look as much as possible like web pages. Lots of bright colors, lots of sidebars. I hate sidebars. I don't appreciate having to flip back and forth between pages, sometimes reading blocks of text in four or five different locations, to get all the info. More to the point in this particular book, choice of color on some of the sidebars is extremely poor, so much so it's difficult to read the text. Black lettering against a dark blue or dark red background just doesn't make it.

With those few negatives out of the way, this book is a delight. It's all here: a biography of Marston, on to the creation of Wonder Woman, all the creative teams of note and their storylines up til this book's publication date (2000), the Cathy Lee Crosby made-for-television movie, the Lynda Carter TV show, Wonder Woman merchandise, her appearance on the cover of Ms. magazine's first issue, etc. This book is a must-have for fans of one of the 20th/21st Century's most fascinating fictional creations.

I almost didn't buy this book since the reviews were fairly low, but thumbed through it twice upon receiving it...I think it one of the best books in my collection. It covers most materials used in making S&Ps, identifies a lot of the makers, (Shawnee, Occupied Japan, Hazel Atlas, etc.), the photography is good, & I'm very pleased with the information it has given me. I know it will become a well thumbed book for searching.

Book was a big hit with a growing collector - some shaker's categories could be expanded upon with more detail and photos - but overall a success...

The monetary valuations of Salt & Pepper Shakers in this book are virtually useless to either a collector or seller. I have never seen a book so totally unresearched on both pricing and product description. The majority of the photos of the S&P's do not describe the material utilized in their construction, so one is left wondering if they are looking at plastic, metal or other material.
No person interested in Salt & Pepper collecting should buy this as their first book. If you do, you'll be in for a big surprise when you try to buy an S&P that has been valued in this book for $12, but is belling for $48.
For the more seasoned collector, it does have some decent pictures, but is more or less a rehash of better produced S&P Collecting books.
If you've been collecting S&P's for over 6 months, you'll realize that this is a piece of utter tripe; execpt for the photos of the S&P's.

This was the first book I bought on Salt and Pepper Shakers. I didn't find it helpful at all. Unless you just want a collection of S&P books, don't waste your money.

The book has tons of pictures. Some of the sets shown are not "true" sets. It is a great book to get a general idea of all the many themes of salt and pepper collecting. High end and low end are all well represented. It was fun to see sets I never knew existed that I would like to have. It gave me more stuff to look for in auctions. It's always fun to add to collections!

Book is well illustrated, with lots of good information on period furniture.

Excellent service and book as good as or better than originally thought to be. Would definitely order from them again.

This book is a classic and all the other reviews are right-on. If you're interested in woodworking--especially creating antique reproduction designs buy this book. It's cheap. Now if you're a woodworking novice, you'll likely be intimidated at the design detail saying "how can anyone ever carve that!" and you'll be tempted to throw it on the shelf and forget it. That's OK. If you keep doing woodworking, you'll find yourself coming back to look at Chippendale. You'll go to antique shows and museums and see the real thing and eventually gain the confidence to give it a try. The book is inspiring in its design. You should own it if you're interested in finewoodworking because over the years, your comfort with it will be a measure of your own woodworking maturity.

The ball and claw foot is perhaps the one thing most commonly associated with Chippendale, but it is omitted entirely since it had gone out of fashion by the time he wrote the book. Instead, he includes Rococo, Chinese, and Gothic designs. The Rococo designs are extremely heavily ornamented, and fashioned in the most outlandish curved shapes: if you ever thought Pablo Picasso and "modern art" was too far out, take a look at these! The ribbon back chairs struck me as a particularly interesting design. The Chinese designs are far more subdued, and most have a bit of a swastika motif built into them. The editor for the modern version has added an appendix with several photographs of original Chippendale era furniture (not necessarily built by Chippendale himself), including several chosen to show that it really was possible to build the more elaborate designs. This is perhaps the single most historically significant book on furniture design ever written, and no furniture library would be complete without it.

This large catalog style paper back book is an excellent reference for architecture, furniture and design. Black drawing on newsprint paper, this book was a catalog of Thomas Chippendale's furniture shop in England and gives detailed motifs for the antique dealer and cabinet maker alike.

If you are interested to learn more about Pearls, this is a must read book. It provides you a complete understanding on how to distinguish a quality pearl versus others.

If you love pearls--or just want to learn more about them--this is the #1 book to buy. I have Matlins 'Jewelry & Gems: The Buying Guide' which is very well worn from use, so I decided to start learning more about pearls with this book.

Wow! Talk about bursting with information! Matlins covers everything from history and lore to famous pieces, moves on to explaining the differences/types of pearls, how to evaluate them, *and* what to look out for... she provides estimated value lists, gives advice on how to buy, wear and care for pearl jewelry. Whew!

Did you know a drop of salad dressing can ruin a pearl? I didn't!

The author also interviewed many pearl industry professionals and their thoughts are informative as well as (at times) entertaining. In fact, the entire book could be described as "conversational". It's not textbook in style, yet provides so much information it could be used as one!!

Do you sell pearls? The information Matlins provides can help you better understand and describe the charecteristics (and value!) of the pearls you sell. Are you looking to invest in pearls or start a collection? Add this book to your shopping cart--you might save hundreds or thousands in the long run.

But if you simply have a passion for pearls and want to learn all you can about them, this book is a "must have" for your library. It's comprehensive, loaded with tips, and easy to read. There aren't pages & pages of photos. It does have some good compare/contrast photos, as well as others of important or famous pieces. You may find yourself wishing there were more of the "educational" sorts of pictures, but overall that's a small nick in an otherwise glowing treasure. No doubt the binding will become worn from frequent use.
IN SUMMARY:I highly recommend 'The Pearl Book'. It's truly worth every penny. You'll know what to look for if you get this gem.

This book covers everything anyone needs to know about pearls. It's filled with information that helped me finally realize what's important in selecting nice pearls, and why some are so much more expensive than others. I was so confused about them after talking to different jewelers that I wasn't sure what to buy (and they are too expensive to make a mistake). This book was a godsend. And I love the pearls I finally bought...and know they will stay beautiful! Also, I never knew there were CULTURED abalone pearls, but I plan to look for them for my next treat to myself!

As the title states, "The Pearl Book" is the definitive book on pearls. This 198 page book tells you everything you need to know about pearls, starting with a history of pearls and then moving on to descriptions of the different types of pearls, and advice on the selection and care of pearls. Of particular interest to me was Section 5, in which famous jewellers speak about pearls. The only drawbacks of this book are that the photos (with the exception of some colour plates in the centre) are in black and white, and being published in 2002, it is now slightly dated (the pricing guidelines are now irrelevant and the reference list does not include any web addresses). Nevertheless, this is an interesting read and a valuable addition to a jewellery library.

I bought this book for our store reference. My staff became hooked, the information is solid and written in a way that reads like a book built for leisure. One critique; There could be more pictures in her book, although a cliche - a picture is worth a thousand (descriptive) words. I will buy more books from Ms Matlins, she has established herself as THE DEFINITIVE WRITER for gems and pearls. Thanks for the great reading material. Veronica, Ali'i Jewelry - Hawaii

Very pleased with the condition the book we ordered came in and the delivery was very quick. Thanks and would buy from you again.

The book "Blue Willow: Identification & Value Guide" is an excellent reference book. Not only does it give a better understanding of all the different Willow patterns out there, it also contains beautiful, very clear illustrations. The quality of the paperback edition is excellent, using glossy, very good quality paper that enhances the photographs. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Blue Willow dinnerware. I bought the book for my husband who knew nothing about Blue Willow before this purchase. He is now much more knowledgeable on the subject and is confident in his purchasing. As a novice, it has helped my husband greatly.

This book contains interesting information about the origin of this design style but little detail about any of the many varieties that were/are being made. It is about 2/3 taken up with photographs of various styles but with only one or two pieces of any given style and no details about each or any idea of what the variety of other pieces within each style look like, so it is nearly impossible to truly identify the style you have or want. I was interested in the information, but found little guidance in my quest to discover more about the pieces that I own. Even the prices given are merely a recount of the price paid for each piece; but not when the purhcase was made or under what conditions or whether this is a reflection of the relative "value" of a given style of the blue willow design.

I bought this out of curiousity brought on by the possession of two subtley disparate pieces of Blue Willow ware about which I was curious as I was under the impression that the patterns were all the same. This book immediately disabused me of this notion which is, in big part, why this is such a great reference: Because it shows and describes a myriad of different vessels, wares, designs, and manutacturers in FULL COLOR with information that is relevant and helpful to both the novice and the professional.
If you thought you knew quite a bit about the Blue Willow pattern, I guarantee that this book will humble you because the author presents such a broad range of items (with a present day price range) from USA, China, the UK and Japan, ranging from plates and saucers to cups and pots to spoons and utensils to platters and chargers to egg stands and vases that only the most serious collector can hope to have seen as much different material as found here. There is also a helpful section on, believe it or not, reproductions. I think that you will be quite happy with this book even if, like me, you do not collect the stuff.

I really like all of the color photographs of the stamps and how the series are grouped together. It makes it easy to find the stamps and country you are looking for.

Any one who has ever thought of collecting stamps in the US, is familiar with the Scott stamp catalogs, the backbone of the collectors world. Yeah, they're a bit pricy, but then look at the work that has gone and continues to go into them! NEW for 2007.....COLOR!!!!! OMG!!!!! Most of the illustrations are now in COLOR!!!!!

I am in the process of inventorying my Grandfather's massive stamp horde to try and sell it off. At ChicagoPex this year, I was drooling over the new catalogs, mumbling something about "color......". My sister wasn't overly impressed with the concept (she's since changed her mind!) and balked at spending that much money for a new set of catalogs. We've been working out of a 1999 set.

Needless to say, I won! Hallelujah! Especially for the "not so informed" or anyone with not so good eyesight, the color makes a HUGE difference! It is SO much easier to find a stamp that you're looking for! I can not thank Scott enough for their huge effort in rescanning every single stamp in existence (that they could get their hands on).

Bottom line......if you're thinking about it, but doing the "well, my catalogs aren't that old yet" or "boy, that's a lot of money to shell out", my advise is BUY THEM!

This 1999, 384 page edition has over 700 black and white photos and over 700 categories of collectibles with values, reproduction alerts and indications of collecting trends. Contains brief histories of items and provides reference books, periodicals and clubs of interest to collectors. There are tips for flea market buying, including dickering over prices. The broad coverage runs from 4-H and airline collectibles, bird houses and bookends, to license plates and limited edition collectibles to yo-yos and Zanesville pottery. Valuable for experts and novices, alike.

If you are interested in the proper history of costume, this book is not for you. It was created in the 19th century, when costume history was at its beginning and it reflects all major faults of the researchers of that time. Many things, claimed to be true at that time, are now proven to be completely wrong. Personally, I have found some blunders in this book. So, if you want to do a thorough and accurate research for your costume, refer to the modern researchers, authentic paintings and manuscripts. Definitely not this book. It is like using 14th century manuscripts for studying modern English.
But if you want to compare the work of modern and Victorian authors - go ahead, this is a wonderful example.
This book can also be quite suitable for those, who are interested in theatrical costume, where looks come first and authenticity does not matter.

This is another book of Victorian redrawings of historical garments and outright inventions and fantasies where ancient clothing is concerned. While it might be useful to theatrical costumers, Victorian recreationists, or those interested in the history of costume illustration or interpretation, it is of no use to those doing historic costuming or interested in costume history.

If you want accurate representations of historic clothing, get a book with reproductions of art from the time period of the clothes you're interested in.

As a costumer for the high school i find it difficult to find books that are comprehensive with pictures of enough time periods to find what i am looking for. This book shows enough examples to get the styles across, unfortunately it is in black and white but it is still detailed and wonderful.

If you're a serious student of costume history, this book is not for you. But if you're a beginning re-enactor, or you work with them, it's an excellent source for getting the "feel" of a period. It is typically Victorian in line, as are many similar books still in print. BUT it's comprehensive through many time periods, shows accessories well (which a lot of similar books do not), and makes for a good beginning point.

I've found it very useful in getting beginning costume students to pick a period for further research.

This book is a reproduction of the 1907 book "Costumes of All Nations" (3rd edition), which in turn was reproduced from a series of plates produced by Braun and Schneider in "Zur Geschichte der Kostume" between 1861 and 1890. Unfortunately, in the process, all of the text (both the German and English) was removed (as was the color). So we have no way of knowing what went along with these drawings.

Furthermore, there are no references of any kind, so you can't go back to the "original" painting, or source to verify the information. It may be helpful for getting ideas, but not for any serious costume design.