Books - Page 3

Decorating with Books (House Beautiful)

Marie Proeller Hueston

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hearst Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $12.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From House Beautiful comes a worthy addition to any decorator's library--a stylish guide on making books a part of your home décor.
 
Opening the pages of a book can instantly carry you off to another world. But did you realize that, open or closed, books can also make your real world--your home--more fabulous? As legendary designer Billy Baldwin pointed out, they're “the best decoration,” capable of bringing incredible warmth, color, and character to a room. From grand bookcases in home libraries to casual stacks artfully arrayed on chairs, House Beautiful presents countless eye-catching ideas for displaying and arranging your hardcovers, paperbacks, encyclopedias, and even valuable first editions. Useful tips shed light on how to organize a large collection; situate bookcases in the room for the best effect; and make the most of books' appealing visual and tactile qualities. From traditional interpretations to contemporary visions--such as putting a book on a pedestal as an objet d'art--these concepts write a new page in design.
A Selection of the Homestyle Book Club.

Batman: The Complete History

Les Daniels

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $5.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Horrible design. 1 out of 5 stars.
14 of 24 people found this review helpful.

This is a real tough book to describe. It's packed with great comics art, paintings, photos, animation art, rare interviews and information. There's a ton of Bat-material from every media, and a comprehensive chronology of the Caped Crusader's comic chronicles. BUT--the layout is strictly a frenzy of "look what I can do with Quark!" Copy jumps several pages at a time to accomodate ridiculously enlarged Bat-heads and sidebars, completely derailing the reading experience. I know some may consider this chaos trendy and artistically modern, but its just the same old "pop art" condescension towards "kiddie books." Obviously readers cannot cope with page after page of words and relevant illustrations, so the "Award Winning Designer" has pumped up the volume with lots of big cropped images and 7-inch wide columns of copy in reverse-type sidebars (the nuns should whack his knuckles with a ruler for that alone--"BAD, BAD, designer.") Content is definitely A+. Presentation is strictly art school C-. This book is worth it for the rare and exciting artwork, but it really could have been so much better. When will the comic companies stop being so ashamed of their product? Books like this just contribute to the presumption that comics are hyperactive adolescent trash and the readers are unsophisticated cattle with the attention-span of gophers who will buy any incomprehensible crap that insults them. Wait a minute...

DC also released a calendar book using the same design aesthetic. Guess what? Same cluttered, crappy, childish look. My advice? Don't buy either product and let them choke on a couple thousand copies. Problem is, they won't blame the design, and will just assume that the Batcraze is over. You really can't win, because the "designer" probably has an MA, and we're all just stupid comic fans. Guess who can't be wrong?

Editorial Review:

Uncover the Caped Crusader's mysterious real-world origin and his evolution into a hugely successful TV and movie franchise in Batman: The Complete History. This book is filled with enough archival comic book art, photographs, and in-depth history to satisfy the most demanding fan -- and is now priced to appeal to the most casual reader.

Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005

Phil Baines

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $14.81

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beautiful & illuminating 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I picked this up because of the book's physical beauty, but I've just read it in one sitting, couldn't put it down--a fascinating window into 20th-century British cultural history as well as book design.

A FANTASTIC PURCHASE 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Hi from Barcelona.
First of all, sorry for my really bad english.
I really recomend the purchase in Amazon.
No problem whit anything, all is perfect.
I think that the book of Phil Baines (Penguin by Design) is one of the obligated purchases for any graphic designer. Perfect design and perfect information.
Thanks Phil!!!

Marc

Editorial Review:

By looking back at seventy years of Penguin paperbacks, graphic designer Phil Baines charts the development of British publishing, the ever-changing currents of cover art and style, and the role of artists and designers in creating and designing the Penguin look. Rich with stunning illustrations and filled with details about individual titles, designers, and even the changing size and shape of the Penguin logo itself, Penguin by Design shows how covers become design classics.

Features 600 color illustrations

Boring Postcards USA

Martin Parr

List Price: $19.95 By: Phaidon Press Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $4.85

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not postcards to be mailed. As a book it's......boring 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

First a word of clarification. These are not postcards to be mailed. I didn't read the description clearly. This was only my fault, but someone else out there might make the same mistake.

Second, the publisher's description and viewers' comments are correct: These are boring, charmless, insipid images, that might tell us a lot about who we think we are -- perhaps of how proud small-town America was of its new airports, bus terminals and banks after the war. But I thought that not including any reflections by a student of our culture (Lord knows there are enough candidates), was just plain cheap, and makes this little book, well, boring.

Editorial Review:

In the original "Boring Postcards", Magnum photographer and postcard enthusiast, Martin Parr, brought together the dullest postcards of 50s, 60s and 70s Britain. Here he turns his attention to the States with 160 of the dullest postcards from the land of opportunity. To qualify, a postcard's composition, content or characters had to be arguably "boring" or absent of interest. The book provides not only amusement, but a commentary on how America has changed, and a celebration of those places that have been forgotten by conventional history.

2009 Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide 1961-Present (Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide)

Maggie Thompson, Brent Frankenhoff, Peter Bickford

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Krause Publications Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $13.59

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Editorial Review:

Join the authorities at Comics Buyer’s Guide - the world’s longest running magazine about comics – as they take you on the ultimate journey of tracking and assessing the value of your comic book collection. Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide, with its outstanding original super hero cover art, contains 125,000 comics from 1961 to present, identifying cover date, creator information, and near mint prices within each listing.

Antique Trader Book Collector's Price Guide (Antique Trader Book Collectors Price Guide)

Richard Russell

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Krause Publications Amazon Marketplace: 59 new & used starting at $4.28

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

-Strong presence in online auction market -- majority of auctions feature pre-1950s editions

-Appeals to serious collectors by featuring a list of classic rarities in each collecting category

-Only full color guide to book collecting

Book collecting may have started in the 15th century, but it's definitely a hobby that's alive and well today. Readers will quickly discover this new reference is the most complete resource of its kind. Antique Trader Book Collector's Guide delivers:

-One-of-a-kind pseudonym guide to help collectors unearth books written by famous authors under different names

-Diverse categories of books such as Americana, banned, fantasy, horror and science fiction, childrens, mystery, occult and paranormal, and philosophy and religion.

-More than 6,000 current values to aid collectors with purchases and sales

Whether collector, dealer or basic book enthusiast, Antique Trader Book Collector's Price Guide is a valuable reference and interesting read.

Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures

Anne C. Bromer, Julian I. Edison

Amazon Price: $26.40 List Price: $40.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $9.30

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Miniature Books is the first lavishly illustrated, authoritative book on the delightful subject of books no taller than three inches. A dazzling array of books on subjects ranging from Shakespeare’s plays and the Holy Bible to politics and presidents, children’s books, the pleasures of life, and more are shown—with few exceptions—at their actual size.

Here is the prayer book that Anne Boleyn carried to her execution, seen open to its sole illustration, a portrait of Henry VIII. Here also are the world’s two smallest books (impossible to be sure which is tinier). There are books studded with gemstones, books that Napoleon carried with him on his campaigns, books illustrated by artists such as Picasso, Miró, and Edward Gorey. And there is a section dealing with the papers, printing, and binding of these tiny marvels. The text is lively and accessible, full of great stories and fascinating people. It will appeal to the experienced collector, but also to the one just starting out and to anyone who loves the look and feel of a good book.

2008 Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide (Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide)

Maggie Thompson, Brent Frankenhoff, Peter Bickford

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Krause Publications Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $4.58

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

MY PRICE GUIDE OF CHOICE 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

I've been very vocal in my support for the Comic Buyer's Guide Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide. To me it is the comic book price guide of choice over the Overstreet guide for a number of reasons. First, the CBG guide is not weighted down by literally hundreds of pages of advertisements like the Overstreet guide is. I mean, what is the point of endless pages of ads for comic dealers and shops anyway? Who buys mail order with eBay around?

Secondly, the CBG guide is not filled with dozens of pages of market reports from dealers around the country. Yes, at one time I found these market reports to be very valuable. But again, this we in the pre-eBay/Internet days. If I want to know what a certain book has been selling for, I can just search completed auctions on ebay or other auction sites. It's no longer useful to me to read what a dealer in Podunk, Idaho sold a Hulk #181 for.

Lastly, while concentrating its efforts only comics from the Silver Age to the present, the CBG guide is able to provide much more information about individual issues. True, the Overstreet Guide does go back to the Golden Age but at a cost of condensing it's information so tightly and with such a small font, it's almost unreadable. I much prefer the CBG guides where each issue of a title is listed individually, rather than as a range of issues. This allows the guide to provide more information such as notable events as origins, first appearances, and the issue's artist, as well as noting the month and year of each issue.

The CBG price guide provides only the near mint price for each issue but comes with a detailed, full color grading guide that explains how to calculate the prices for books that are less than near mint. Like the Overstreet, literally hundreds of cover pictures are included in the book's 808 pages. This is my price guide of choice. It is all meat without any of the Overstreet fat.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

Editorial Review:

Comic books are being promoted by noted organizations including American Library Association and many educators as a tool for engaging young readers

Features a new full-color 8-page grading guide

From jaw-dropping original super hero art on the cover, to a wealth of identifying details and updated values inside, 2008 Comic Book Checklist & Price Guide is the number one tool for helping you assess the value of your collection, and track new additions you've added to it. As the only price guide to provide extensive coverage of more than 125,000 comics from 1961 to the present, the listings in this book, which include cover date, creator information and near mint prices, surpass other references. Plus, you gain access to 2,000 detailed photos to help with identifying items in your collection.

Halloween: Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear Postcard Book

Diane C. Arkins

Amazon Price: $5.95 List Price: $5.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pelican Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $2.48

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Halloween: Romantic Art and Customs Of Yesteryear Postcard B 2 out of 5 stars.
11 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Customs?...what customs? This is just a collection of tear-out postcard reprints with no comments, far less writing, to go along with them. On top of that, none of the "notable" ones are shown (Schmucker, Clapsaddle, etc.). Another "why did I buy this?" item to put on the shelf.

Title confusing - but charming collection 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I see from a previous review that the title of this collection is confusing since it seems to indicate that there is information on Halloween customs in the book...I think this is arising from the fact that this is a companion book to the ACTUAL book (by the same author) called "Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear". If you take this one as an extention of that book (to give people the art as a separate, usable item) it makes more sense. I love it as the little vintage window it is.

Editorial Review:

Taken from the book of the same title is a selection of the images of Halloween as celebrated in the early twentieth century, when it was a romantic holiday, a time for soothsaying traditions in love and luck. The years from 1900 to 1918 are considered the 'Golden Age of Postcards' -- a time when lavishly designed and printed cards were exchanged at every available occasion. Halloween cards were extremely popular, full of all the vivid imagery of the occasion, and are highly sought-after collector's items today. These beautifully illustrated postcards capture the essence of the romantic art and customs of yesteryear and are a delightful commemoration of America's fastest-growing holiday: Halloween.

Living with Books

Alan Powers

List Price: $41.30 By: Mitchell Beazley Amazon Marketplace: 10 new & used starting at $28.74

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Books in their natural habitats . . . 4 out of 5 stars.
42 of 42 people found this review helpful.

I have a feeling the previous reviewers were expecting a how-to book of home construction projects. Actually this is more of a tour guide. It's fascinating to discover the many creative, ingenious, and very original ways architects and ordinary booklovers have found to store books, display them, and enjoy being in their presence. Face it -- one never has enough bookshelves. And some of these homes are definitely masquerading as libraries! Here are bookshelves up under the eaves of an older house, or installed over the doorways in the hall, or built into closets and cupboards and under kitchen counters. Others are freestanding on metal shelves and poles and rigged like a ship's masts. There are small libraries built into the landings of staircases and others that cover entire walls of bedrooms. Some are two tiers deep, with the front one moving sideways on rollers. Others share space with lamps, TV sets, telephones, clocks, computers, ancient artifacts, photographs, and knick-knacks. And the one thing all the arrangements depicted in this book have in common is, none of them -- even the most attractively arranged -- are just for show. One look at the worn covers and frayed jackets tells you these books are the constant companions of their owners.

Editorial Review:

Everyone has books—but most people simply put them on a shelf, neglecting more creative ways to make their treasures an integral part of the interior design. Alan Powers’ witty, elegant guide to showcasing your precious volumes will change all that. Going room to room, from kitchens to hallways, he reveals inspirational ways that books can create character in the home. Stunningly photographed images from around the world display large-scale libraries, as well as such ingenious space-saving devices as enclosed book lofts; shelves cleverly tucked into stairways; and narrow wall-mounted boarding that fits snugly behind a chair. There’s advice on caring for the volumes, technical hints on planning and building bookshelves, and practical, detailed projects. Special double-page features cover such topics as designer solutions and constructing furniture out of books.