Antiques Collectibles Books

What a creative and practical book! I love origami and have incorporated it into my card making, gift wrapping, decorating, and table setting for years. However, I had never made jewelry with it. The techniques in the book have opened a whole new area of possiblilites for me.

I ordered this book without high hopes and was pleasantly surprised. Finally, an origami jewelry book that goes through the process step by step with clear photos as a guide. All the questions I had regarding origami jewelry making were answered. In the past, much of my paper jewelry making was based on guesswork.

As someone who is a novice I found this book relatively easy to follow. I have been doing origami for a long time, but I am not consistent with it. It is something I love and I know basics, but not something I am constantly working to excel at, even though I wish I had the time to. With a stressful job I needed an outlet and so have taken origami up again to relax and have a creative outlet. I saw this book and thought, wow how cool. I really want to try this. I am more than happy with my impulse purchase. The pictures are clear and concise. She gives you all the basic folds in the front so you don't have to go looking in other materials for them. The author also allows your creative juices to flow. She shows many different project pictures with the same origami shape. This allowed me to take her projects one step further and really make them my own. I have never made jewelry before (other than macaroni necklaces in kindergarten) and she details all the tools and materials you need. Really, if this peeks your interest, the take the plunge and buy it. You won't be disappointed.

Origami Jewelry: More Than 40 Exquisite Designs to Fold and Wear Very nice presentation. Instructions and diagrams are fairly easy to understand. The pictures of the finished fold are nicely shown. I've been doing origami for 30 yrs and never thought of making jewelry. You always learn new things.

I am relatively new to Origami so I found this book a welcome addition to the library, it covers the obligatory choosing of papers, tools to use and importantly for newbies a good solid instructional section on the "basic folds". The jewellery created was quiet nice, a little kitsch for my personal taste, but easily accomplished with a bit of practice.

The big thing for me though came with Metal Clay "paper", I am primarily a jewellery artist and use Metal clay a lot, I love the product of silver sheet clay or paper clay as some people call it as I can fold this like paper in origami styles and then fire it to produce minature fine silver jewellery. Good ideas in the book for me to transfer to silver replicas.

The diagrams were clear, easy to understand and photographed well. Thank you Ayako for a good book.

I am not a professional arrowhead collector by any means but I enjoy learning about them and have been fortunate once in awhile to come across one. This book is excellent for the purpose of learning about the different kinds of arrowheads, lance points, knives, hand axes etc. It includes history of points. There is a choronological gallery of color points in the front, the rest of the photos are in black & white and the book is sectioned into regions to make it easier to learn what is most likely to be found in your area. For those inclined, it also includes what to look for as a collector and the estimated value of your point/s etc. I like this book!

A new update from the 7th, 8th, and 9th Editions about Native North American Points which I have in my library. By having the most recent edition (the 10th) you can compare how items have increased in value.
A host of new material, including new points, geographic area renaming, etc.
A must for the beginning and advanced collector.

Year after year these books are published with the same poor quality binding and paper. Even more disappointing is the same pictures and descriptions are reprinted in each volume. It appears that a variant point or two are added to "justify" a new printing. Don't waste your money. It's 98 percent old and 2 percent "new".

Outstanding book for those (like me) who do not authenticate points but want to learn about the various types. Includes informative articles on the archaeology of certain points. Lots of beautiful color panels of points arranged by age, in addition to the B&W photos in the identification pages.

10th edition is like the last 9 editions. But it does have an array of every type variant, albeit many, many variants that really are subjective at best. But as many collectors know. the book has ridiculous price estimates. And as a long time collector/dealer my biggest beef about many of the editions, and I can personally 100% say/witnessed that many of the points are not authentic and only make it into the book to increase their "provenance" and individual value. But that said, the book is on type variations for you and not whether the specimens are actually authentic or not. So its really a catch 22. Many people have made it a popular arrowhead book, unfortunately are the same people that think they have a dozen authentic Clovis points(a rare Paleo, high valued arrowhead) they bought at their local flea market.

I've used this book for years for all my guitar buying and selling needs along with the Vintage Guitar Guide. My only complaint is that they have yet to add many of the smaller niche guitar makers over the years and the burgeoning market in house brands is not well covered ( Airline, Supro, etc). Otherwise it has most of the information you'll ever need. Don't take the pricing as the absolute word though, the market fluctuates a lot and prices can be dramatically above or below what is quoted in this book. Use it as a baseline and you're fine, at least you'll always know if that guitar your friend or neighbor wants to sell you is junk or of some value.

Needed reference if you have anything to do with guitars. Well done and helps to peg odd guitars.

This is an excellent guide for serious buyers & sellers of musical instruments, and gives a fair appraisal of their market's value (in this case, electric guitars) together with historical information & background.

Some prices are above what they actually sell for (priced too high) well some prices are below market on EBAY anyway.
Also they need to expand some area's such as Harmony,Yamaha,Taylor and Blueridge,excellent overall guide to Acoustic Guitars aand there prices.
Blue book has set the standard for all.
They do an excellent job on Gibson and Martin both but too little info on small names.
Maybe i should write a book of Yamaha Acoustic Guitars?
These are very popular on EBAY and are considered the poor man's Martin,which includes me by the way.
Good amount on the history of companies that Manufacture Guitars which i find interesting,facts most people do not know or realize.
Gives buyer's the uphand on what price to pay for what condition,as well as an very good examples shown in pictures.
I would rate this a 5 but there is too much info missing in there guide which forces me to use several.I wish some day they could make this more complete so i only need to buy one.But otherwise i depend on it.
If you do not own this you are either a genius with one of the best memories on this planet or you are operating in the dark ages.

My Friend has an addiction to guitars so I purchased this book as a birthday gift three days ago and he hasn't put it down. Great book, very informative and apparently addictive too.

I read a brilliant review about this book on Jake's Rolex Watch blog, which convinced me to buy a copy and I love it.

Published by an Italian publisher to coincide with the centenary of Rolex it is a celebration of some of the most unusual and rare examples from around the world. The author, John Goldberger, who himself is a major collector and a professional photographer has had access to many watches that are very rare and have never been photographed before and the quality of the images is amazing

The book starts with a clear chronological timeline of the Rolex brand with thumbnail photographs, making it easy to follow and understand the history of the brand.

It showcases 100 special examples, but there are over 270 actual watches included in the book and over 750 photographs. Each showcased watch includes four detail shots as well the main image. Alongside technical information the captions tell the history of the more colourful watches. Some of the more unusual examples are: Rolex Zerograph (1937), Panerai Radiomir (1950), Black Dial Star Indices Super Oyster (1952), Rolex Centergraph (1937), Black Dial Star Moonphase (1952), Deep Sea Special (1953), Omani Sea-Dweller (1973), Limited Edition Day-Date with King Midas Styling (1977). These are watches with incredible history, including one given to the SAS by the Sultan of Oman, another made especially for Pan Am with white dials, one made for Deap Sea diving and used in August Piccard's Bathiscape, an example that belonged to the last Emperor of Vietnam, Boa Dai, and the Rolex Elvis Presley wore.

Not only beautifully designed and leather bound, the book is a wonderful record of 100 years of history. As a visual reference book about rare and unusual Rolex watches this book is unsurpassed.

Research to locate each of the 100 watches is superb; photography is fine, but not exotic, amazing or memorable; layout is particularly consistent and important from not an artistic view, but from a watch comparison standpoint. Binding and paper quality are outstanding to excellent, respectively, and printing finish is good, too.

But, the book lacks a few things I wanted to see: (1) price of each watch when new; (2) estimated current value of each, and (3) more details about the pluses and minuses author sees of each design, and more importantly, the same regarding each movement.

Missing, also, are details on why, for example, only one watch was made of a certain design, or why one design may have been produced in numbered additions, and how some very wealthy Sultans managed to motivate the stoic "manufacture" to produce bespoke special models. It also lacked information on "why" some watches were made, or what the "manufacture" had in mind.

For example, who was or is the targeted customer of the first production, and the 2008 production run of "Milgauss" models that withstand terrific amounts of magnetism? How many people, for example, are out there who buy $8,000 stainless steel watches who also are exposed to such vast amounts of magnetism? Workers at the massive, but new out-of-fix Swiss "atom smasher?"

More written information from what clearly was exhausting effort does not appear. There's little explanation, too, of why so many different "Submariner" models were made and nothing of their respective attractions and values. Same is true with the "GMT" models and similarly many photos appear of "Daytona Cosmographs" in varied designs, but with very limited written information.

Until recently, "Daytona" movements were not made by Rolex at all, but there are many photos of those varied Valjoux and I suppose, Zenith movements, but little attention, if any, seems given about the new Rolex-made movement.

Obviously I've not spent much time with the book, but first glance suggests that the 100 watches were chosen simply because the author likes them and took pictures of them, but asked no questions of the owners. I'd like to know more of the five Ws and the H: who, what, where, why, when and how. I did see several "whens" in short cutlines, but little of the remaining Ws and H.

In my pile of Rolex and other watch books, this is perhaps the "Patek-Philippe" of finish, but the "Timex" of facts, except a brief history of Wilsdorf and his watches. At the book's fairly steep price, I wanted to see more information within its elegant leather binding, not simply photos.

Unless the author owns many of the models shown, however, it must have been an exhaustive undertaking to locate and photograph each example. I just wish he had published more written information, especially about the personalities and politics involved in bespoke pieces, and of course, the respective original and current values of each, and how many of each model shown were produced and why.

Before I spend $300 on that Omega book, now available, I'm now motivated to ascertain its contents. Those contents, shame, shame, on the Rolex book were NOT available as they usually are from Amazon. I see why. Few of this edition would sell, I suggest, had buyers been afforded the opportunity to examine it more closely.

Not that it's not a "nice book." It is. Very nice. Quite attractive. I simply expected more than an attractive, leather-bound picture book. That's okay, I suppose, if the photos were exposed by Ansel Adams, but not for a book on watches with color snapshots and little else inside.

Similar to Rolex watches, as viewed by many collectors of really esoteric, super world-class, handmade jobs with multi-axis tourbillon movements and 6-7-figure price tags, the book is: Overpriced. Oversized. Overrated. (I own 7 or 8 recent Rolexes, among other very nice watches!)

Of the book, save your money. Page through a copy in 15 minutes at the library and go home glad you saved toward your next watch, even if it's not a Patek-Philippe, or a Thomas Prescher that took a year to build, but a very nice watch, indeed: a Rolex!

This is the kind of book you need when looking for inspiration. The pictures are big, crisp, and splendid. Each one contains detailed information about the size, material, and date of the piece. The variety of the pieces shows the true passion of the musseum owner for jewelry.

A tiny little reference book loaded with a lot of history. Shows photographs of gold pieces dating back to 2BC to the 19th and 20th Centuries, collected by Henry Walters, now on exhibit. Better than anything you'll see at any of the Egyptian exhibits touring about, and an up close look at specific pieces that defined the history of jewelry.

This is a nice little book, and by little I mean 7 inches on a side square.
At 64 pages it holds a lot of high quality images with full page shots and many closeups.
The text is informative without being pompous and overly wordy like many historical jewelery books written by endlessly blabbery art historians trying to flex their hyper inflated vocabularies and fill their quota of space.
There is even a short glossary at the end with many useful terms for the novice jewelry historian.
Despite it's demure appearance this delightful book fulfills it's promise of an informative and detailed review of some of the highlights of the Walters Collection.
Buy this book for your library and you probably have a friend who would like it too, so maybe buy another for them.

Bedazzled is a small book with high quality photos of distinct and beautiful pieces of jewellery held by the Walters Art Museum that covers prominent periods of jewellery design. I was very impressed as I have not seen these pieces in any other books on jewellery history. It is a gem don't be deceived by the size as it is well worth owning.

I received the item on time and in wonderful condition but was very disappointed by the book itself. Its VERY small and all the 5000 years of jewelry was just from one private collector. I thought there would be more information and definitely more of a history. I would not recommend this book to anyone. But not the fault of Amazon :)

It's almost criminal that this book is so popular. Anyone who is a true admirer of Dickens' work would toss his or her copy in the trash as I did mine. Admittedly, it's one of his shorter works. I believe this is why it's so widely read in schools (and, yes, I can understand a sentimental attachment on the part of otherwise intelligent readers who read the book at a young age). There are so many excellent novels by Dickens (Martin Chuzzelwitt, Barnaby Rudge, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood, etc.) that I felt betrayed by Mr. Dickens when I finally read "A Tale of Two Cities" and realized what a profoundly bad piece of writing it is. As with any prolific writer, not everything this genius set to paper is worth reading. Pass up "A Tale of Two Cities", suck it up and grab one of his longer, far better works. You'll be surprised just how quickly 799 pages can fly by (as consolation, his chapters are generally very short!). It's well worth the effort. While you're at it, if you're still in the mood for Victorian melodrama, pick up something by Dickens' buddy, Wilkie Collins. His "Moonstone" is famous, but he wrote several other highly entertaining works as well.

Dickens does a superb job in conveying how insensitivity of careless brute can meet pitiless vengence.

This classic story by Charles Dickens makes many allusions to history during the French Revolution. The characters are laden with emotion, and the book makes for excellent reading. The only peeves of mine are that the language is a bit difficult for some, and several of the characters don't show any personality; in their dialogue, you can't make out what they are feeling, specifically Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton.

Was Charles Dickens a poet? Conversely, perhaps his structure and style are no longer suited to today's rushed lifestyle, as some reviewers lament. I believe Dickens is one of the most magnificent story tellers ever to put pen to paper, portraying vivid landscapes that are often as vital as his characters in affecting events. Dickens, like Shakespeare, could never be told in TV length segments, or using today's best seller pablum.

'A Tale of Two Cities' is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. The prose is lyrical, the story telling awe inspiring, the tale simply unforgettable. It left a mark on my soul.

I remember my first reading of Shakespeare, and stumbling hopelessly through the pentameter and 'backward' structure. Thankfully a wonderful metamorphosis occurred and somewhere along the way I realized my mind had assimilated both meter and verse, and my unconscious brain was giddy with the beauty of it. I experience Dickens the same way. His unfamiliar style blends into the rich tapestry of his work, adding a depth and clarity that is difficult to imagine without it. And like Shakespeare, we are most assuredly on a journey of wondrous descriptive and emotional insight.

'A Tale of Two Cities' is a definitive description of the French Revolution, although it is a work of fiction. Dickens intricately weaves these momentous, earth shattering events through the lives of a small chorus of individuals, all hoping to cope with a world threatening to devour them at any moment. His strength in describing how each acts within such tumultuous times creates a fantastic story all its own. But Dickens is only getting started. In his own ingeniously inevitable style, he compels events and characters together in a climax of towering suspense. With a courageous act of human spirit our true hero takes center stage as he equals the desperate call that only rebellion and war can advance.

Through it all, Dickens remains himself; constructing beautifully intricate foundations, dropping seemingly innocuous small details in the midst of sub chapters which at the time are much more important, slowly composing the story with the sense of a trickle of a stream leading to the river and the rapids and the waterfall, gaining an urgency and crescendo until the sound and the fury of the story becomes a palpable beating in one's chest. Is the book a love story? Is it historical fiction? Is it the tale of rabid crowds taking over noble causes? Is it man vs. nature, or a story of a man who rises to his destiny? Yes, it is.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

With arguably the most famous first sentence of a book in all of literature, I shall leave you with one more thought if you are not sure if you like Dickens. Or perhaps you already tried to read him and felt unconnected; but perhaps you were too young then, or too busy, or distracted. And perhaps you're ready now, to leave everything behind, to curl up in a chair, preferably with a warm fire and a glass of wine, and rediscover him. Read `A Tale of Two Cities' when you are ready, with an open heart. Dickens will inspire you to song and tears. For I assure you, that somewhere along the way, you will make a start, or you will stand up and stretch, and you will realize that he has somehow profoundly altered your view, and that you will never really be quite the same again. And you will cherish him, as I do, and the beauty with which he writes, and his faith, win or lose, of the human spirit to endure all else.

is really a wonderful book, and I enjoyed it immensely. So immensely, in fact, that I immediately searched for an appropriate edition that would do the book justice, and I am glad to announce that I have found it. If you are to purchase a copy of this great book, get the one that is published by Vintage Classics. Not only does this book have a wonderful, colored illustration of a certain character (readers who have read this book know who), the cover and pages are thick and durable, not to mention acid-free (many publishers like Penguins do not use acid-free paper). Also, the binding is thick and very sturdy, and the font is of a comfortable size, unlike the mass-paperback editions. This book can make a wonderful gift to someone special, or a wonderful gift to oneself. In either case, it is best to keep in mind that this edition is really the best to get of this tale.

Recommended to me by a well known tattoo artist, this book truly gave me the nuts and bolts info I needed to make the big leap. Especially helpful
to me were the explanations of the different areas of the body that are typically tattooed w/their Japanese names. There was also a stunning picture of a gorgeous girl with a ray of butterflies tattooed in the body suit style. As the art evolves from a badge of the criminal class to pure art, I believe we will see more feminine interpretations
of this masculine art form. Excellent from text to pictures!

I was in the process of researching Japanese tattoos for my own tattoo design and purchased four books. Bushido was the best for telling the story and history of Japanese tattooing and the pictures were equally amazing. Bushido was informative and pictures were beautifully shot. By far the best book on the subject I have seen.

It's a cool book that shows us many curious aspects of the japan tattoo history and tradition.
But, in another way, there's a lack of variety of photos, like koi fish and masks for example.

Horioshi work speaks for itself and this book is an impressive tribute to it. The pictures are fantastic and it's very nice to see that the family business has its heritage assured.

This book is a great reference for tattoo artists and other artists that enjoy the art of Japanese tattooing. It displays full page photographs (including close ups) so you can see the detail and subject matter quite well.

Kim Knox Beckius, a well-known New England travel writer, has teamed up with New Hampshire photographer, William Johnson, to create a pictorial guide to 30 scenic drives throughout the region.

You get five scenic drives each from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Rhode Island offers up another four, and Maine weighs in with a larger six. The drives cover the best of New England, from mountains to the ocean, and from the lakes to the beaches. And a whole bunch more.

Kim doesn't spend a lot of time on directions. They tend to be brief and on the side of the pages - enough to get you around but not much more. Kim focuses her travel writing skills on making sure you experience in words the sights, sounds, and smells of each region. The beautifully produced photography greatly enhances this experience.

While I love this book if you're looking for one crammed with detailed directions and a step-by-step tour of attractions this isn't it.

This is a book to keep near you throughout the long winter... to browse whenever you want to remember a drive already taken... or one waiting for you in the spring.

When fall comes in New England, the trees turn into a splendid mass of reds, oranges and yellows that temporarily distract us from the coming winter. At the same time, the first fresh snowfalls have a special beauty that New Englanders love as well. But the first blush of spring causes a special joy to burst out from our hearts. In the lazy days of summer, we love to watch the wind blow the grasses and trees from languid poses.

At any one of those times, I find myself thinking how much fun it would be to see some new sights in the context of those favorite New England conditions. In the forty years I've lived in New England, I've found many of my favorite locations purely by accident. The back roads are always the best. But I don't have the time to randomly drive all the back roads to find the best ones.

That's where Backroads of New England comes in. Kim Knox Beckius has found 30 delightful drives over back road that mix scenery, history, culture and just plain fun. I have taken about half of the drives in the book, so I can swear by those. I am looking forward to doing the rest now that I know where to go.

How can I tell I would like the others? First, Ms. Beckius provides helpful essays about where to begin, what to see, and what to stop and do along the way. She even includes some suggestions for hiking to beautiful waterfalls. Second, William H. Johnson's gorgeous photographs colorfully illuminate the main sights for each drive. Whether you love covered bridges, snow-capped peaks, delightful streams, pounding surf, or mysterious vistas, you can page through the book to find the places that speak mostly fervently to your soul.

The book is also organized by state. So if you are planning to go just to Maine and arrive by air in Portland, you can simply focus on the Maine trips and those in New Hampshire and northeast Massachusetts that are not too far away. If you live in New York, and want to drive for no more than two hours, you can focus on that radius in western Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I have been looking at travel guides for New England for many years. I've never seen a finer one for back roads adventures.

Give it a try!

My wife and I just came back from vacation in New England. Aside from the Delorme maps, this book was the most important item we took with us. We went on several of the scenic drives described in the book, and they were all absolutely beautiful! The directions were perfect, even if they don't tell you the distances involved. The photographs in the book are worth the price alone, but it's even better when you come across the places pictured in the book and find out they're just as gorgeous as the author said they would be. If you're going to New England, you need this book.

This was obviously a carefully researched, well-written book, with great photos. But I was disappointed that there was so little focus on maps. Rather than showing a detailed maps of a recommended route, the author chose to write a verbal description of a recommended route. That's sufficient if you wish to follow the author's route exactly. But if you would rather create your own route with some guidance from the book, it's virtually impossible.

David Boye writes as an old friend might write to you via e-mail, describing his hobby and how he makes knives, soon infecting you with this 'disease'. By the time you've finished your subconscious will be telling you "I've got to become a knifemaker!". The book covers tools, knife types, stock removal, grinding, building the handle, heat treatment, regrinding and polishing, handle materials, buffing, sharpening and maintenance, etching and even how to make the sheath. For a beginner like me who has recently rediscovered the world of knife collecting and knifemaking, this book is simply amazing. I've got no regrets buying this. You should add it to your library.

This is a good and quality written book. I have used the information as a beginner and have started my knifemaking hobby successfully. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in bladesmithing.

This is a great book for the beginner to someone who has built some knives
But needs help in refining their technique
This will be a great reference for years to come

This was the first book I bought on knifemaking, and my copy is falling apart (it's 28 years old!) I absolutely love David Boye's sense of design, and his work has inspired my own considerably. That said, I learned a great deal about knifemaking from other sources, and I use few of his methods. Specifically, I would never use a wheel grinder on knife steel, it generates a great deal more heat than a belt grinder, isn't nearly as accurate, and the cutting surface is smaller. I would NEVER cut out blades with a cutting torch, unless you wanted to grind away at least 1/4 in from the cut edge, you're messing up your steel's microstructure doing this (see p. 111 under grain growth!) I appreciate the lengths he's gone to to describe heat treating, but had little luck with it myself; I would strongly advise against trying to heat-treat complex steels like D2, 440C, or 154CM yourself, unless you like throwing your work away. Finally, though I absolutely love the acid etchwork in the book, the beeswax/asphaltum etching ground recommended here is a very tempermental one, I would use commercial etching ground if I were doing this. Since messing with aqua regia at home is not the safest thing, I'd suggest looking into some of the other methods, such as electrochemical etching. So, I would say to the beginning knifemaker that I'd use this book for inspiration, but go elsewhere for methods. If at all possible, talk to someone who's been doing it a while.

I got this book out of my local library and I can't wait to get started making a knife. I've recently ordered a copy for myself. It will be edgeworn soon. This book is an excellent place to start making knives for the beginner, since Boye uses recycled steel. His explanations and diagrams and photos of the process are invaluable for this endeavor. I only wish he wrote one on folding knives.