Collecting Books

This somewhat whimsical book contains a vast amount of useful information that will be of interest to souvenir spoon and novelty silver collectors. The basis for the book is the authors' collection of 137 souvenir spoons. Their handles, and some bowls, are illustrated in a thematic children's alphabet comprising the first section of the book. The fifty-seven page section is designed to function as a "quality" time point-and-read-together picture books for small children and adults. The illustrations, printed mostly over-life-size on glossy enameled paper, should engage the imagination of most small children, for they depict the wonderfully weird imagery of popular souvernir spoon: from alligators, bears, and cowboys on through the alphabet to a complete set of zodiac sppons. (Some of the "difficult" alpabet letters provide the most fun. I will make you buy the book to discover the "fishy" solution found for X).

The story that string this alphabet together, Mother and Father Spoon taking Baby Spoon to choose a new "grown-up" handle is a bit forced in it spoon jokes, but sweetly gentle, and should cause less wear and tear on the adult reader than does any episode of Barney or the Care Bears.

The second, larger section of the book provides extensive commentary on each of the spoons, which are numbered for easy reference to this text. Full description of the spoons and illustrations of their ornamental bowls are included in the Commentary, with extensive notes on the historical or touristic lore associated with their imagery and on their manufacturers. These notes are in turn heavily footnoted and referenced with a miscellany of additional information, trivia, and suggestions for further research. Manufacturing and distribution dares are included when known. I am thoroughly impressed by the author's determination to include as much information as they can; this work is clearly the product of many years' collecting, study and contemplation. I am happy to commend this unusual and pleasnatly personl book to collectors, historians, a parents alike.

This review can be found in printed format in SILVER MAGAZINE 30.4 (1998) 19

?The Amenities Of Book-Collecting And Kindred Affections?, by A. Edward Newton is a classic in its genre as well as a book that will be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in the collecting of books, and some of the most noted collectors. Some may question the wisdom of reading about this man?s experiences, as they were collected in this book in 1918. A variety of books have been published in recent years that claim to offer a guide to the collecting of books or the experiences of novice collectors. Building a library of books is not something that is easily done or learned. And a person with a fortune at their disposal acting without guidance will only amass a collection that had it been guided by a trusted advisor would be exponentially more valuable and complete.

The curator of the rare book department of a noted college who also was a participant in the latest book by Nicholas Basbanes, ?Patience And Fortitude?, introduced me to this book and two others. Mr. Basbanes is the author of, ?A Gentle Madness?, and will be publishing a third volume to his work that is already considered a modern classic by collectors and book lovers.

While the prices and auction results that are listed in this book are very out of date, they still make for great reading, and in some cases may bring to memory a book on a grandparents shelf that today would buy a car or home. If nothing else these old prices show just how much value continues to be placed on collectable books. Mr. Newton lived during the same time that some of those authors whose work he collected were alive and writing. He was a collector of manuscripts, which meant that the author?s original drafts of their work were often available. At one point in the book he laments the appearance of the typewriter and the effect it will have on replacing the hand written original. Had he foreseen the computer it probably would have caused him physical distress.

Another area he was an avid collector of is so-called association copies. Like manuscripts these have the rarity that comes with being a one of a kind item. Throughout the book he shares many of the treasures he acquired like a book inscribed from Charles Dickens the father to his son. For people who love late 19th Century Authors, this man not only collected their work, but often knew the writers and their friends. In other instances his collection of Boswell and Johnson?s work may not have come directly from the author to him, but he still was able to collect correspondence and other written material that is now difficult to find outside of museums.

This particular book is also wonderful for it has photographic illustrations as well as black and white and color plates as well. If you love books, find as old a copy of this work as you can, and you will have added a treasure to your shelves.

My sister-in-law has gotten me interested in antiques, something that I never thought would happen.While checking out some books in the library, I came across this one.
Although it was published in 1966 the information in it is still very true and the descriptions of American furniture are very good and should easily help you to identify different pieces.
Author Edgar Miller put over 2,000 illustrations in the book which is a super aid in identifying a piece.
This maybe an old book, but it in itself is a treasure for the antique furniture hunter. You can still purchase it on Amazon and if you are a serious antique hunter you will want this book. I recommend it.

This set of three volumns is one of the best and most comprehensive information books concerning art on the market and covers art from the 16th to the 20th century, with both descriptions of hundreds of artists and a sample picture of their work in full color. This book is misrepresented in the fact that it is listed as a reading level of age 9 to 12, which is ridiculous.

I have been using the Blake & Mouton managerial grid for years, but only recently did I discover that they wrote a book about it! It has been through 19 printings, and it is excellent.

The managerial grid is visually represented by a quadrant with "task orientation" on the X axis and "social orientation" on the Y axis. A person might be in the lower right quadrant indicating an obsession with getting the job done and indifference to people and relationships--the command-and-control mentality.

Or he might be in the upper left quadrant indicating that he considers relationships indispensable and productivity expendable--the country club mentality.

He could also be anywhere on the grid. This seems so obvious and intuitive that I accepted my own guidance in terms of interpreting the grid. That was my loss, until I found this book.

The beauty of this book is that the authors, using a tremendous amount of research, describe the behaviors, assumptions, and motivations of managers and employees in all the grid's quadrants.

The one I found most informative was the middle-of-the-road managers. The authors clearly delineate how such people obsess on safety, how they take the pulse of their organization before they take a stand. They dismantle conflict without any concern for getting to its root cause or using it as an opportunity to learn something about the opposing forces in their organization. These middle folk only give lip service to creativity, and their highest priority is simply to fit in and to be known as a "good people."

This is an extraordinarily valuable book, and the fact that it is available used, for a penny a copy, is one of life's little ironies.

This book is very well done and easy to use as a reference guide. It has extensive collections of planters, banks and cookie jars as well as other ware produced by the American Bisque Pottery. The history of the pottery was extensively researched and really interesting. The photography is just fabulous and there are some very rare pieces shown here. In my opinion, having collected cookie jars for over 20 years, I think this book is a "must have" in your research library. If you're like me, you will enjoy looking at it over and over just for the pleasure of it, but it will also help you put together an awesome collection of your own and prevent you from mistaking reproductions for the real thing. In today's world that could save you a bundle! I recommend this book very highly.

A great buy for a great colorful book of all the 50s Classics. Chevy's, Ford's, Chrysler's, Buick's, Pontiac's, they're all in this book in gorgeous color photographs. Wonderful background stories on all the makes fact filled with interesting anecdotes. A must for any 50s Car enthusiast! Well presented and easy reading.

This book, which was published in 1987, contains a wealth of information on carbide lamps. Carbide lamps were the main source of illumination for miners from about 1900 to 1950. They were cheap, reliable, and, best of all, they produced a lot of light! These lamps were also used by a variety of outdoor enthusiasts, including hunters, fishermen, and cave explorers.

This book lists the many brands of carbide lamps that were produced and has photographs and drawings of many of them. Of special interest to the collector, Appendix A gives a list of United States Carbide Lamp patents, arranged by date. Appendix B gives a list of all the known "Brand Names" and rates each brand as to rarity from 1 to 10, with 1 being very common and 10 extremely rare. This is especially valuable to the beginning collector.

This book is hardback, with a dust cover. There are a number of interesting old photos of lamps being used in mines and caves. Very little has been published on American carbide lamps and this is a wonderful source of information.

A detail from Frieseke's "Lady with a Parasol" wraps around the cover of this beautiful quality paperback. The book is aptly titled, as the authors include many works that show the bredth and depth of American painters best known for their Impressionist works, and of contemporaries such as Winslow Homer, Chase, Sargent, Maurice Prendergast, and others. Works by F. C. Frieseke include "Girl Reading" c. 1900, o/c 107.6 x 90.8 cm, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston;"Lady in Rose" c. 1910-1915, o/c, 82.2 x 82.2 cm, William Hill Land & Cattle Co.; "Sewing in the Garden" c. 1915, o/c 74.6 x 93 cm, Ann Gordon Trammel; "Sunbath" c. 1910, o/c 73.4 x 92.7 cm, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and "Lady with a Parasol" c. 1908, o/c 64.8 x 81.3, Private Collection.

I developed a passing fancy in early pewter, so I assembled a small library of books relative to the subject. Most early pewter in the early United States was imported in and what most collectors encounter. Probably of interest to most, however, is that which was actually made here. Unfortunately for collectors, it is also the most desirable, and hence, the most expensive. It doesn't hurt to look, though, and this book covers all bases. It is over 20 years old, and I'm sure there is a lot of new information out there, but it is still timely and very informative. The whole subject is covered, with all the types, styles, makers, etc. There are ample illustrations and nice close ups of the makers marks. There is plenty of information on the makers and the times that they operated. I've seen this book for less than $10 on Amazon. It is almost a crime for a book as good as this. If you have even a passing interest in knowing more about pewter, especially American, like I did, you will not be disappointed.