Best Video Game Art
Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"As a Zelda fan it's wonderful to have a physical book of all game events (from 1986=2011), concept images and developer interviews."
"There's translations of some of the games in-game language systems and explanations for why certain things are as they are, for example hinting that timeshift stones and the ocarina of time are made of the same time-travel capable material. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that perhaps learning about the development decisions made during other games would have been nice, particularly Majora's mask, instead of just showing Skyward Sword concept art."
"One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool."
"I say, anything that will hold his attention for that long and he will read in it daily, I consider it a great buy."
"After going through Amazon in search of gift ideas, I came across this particular one and decided it might be a good gift to purchase for him."
T he Legend of Zelda™: Art and Artifacts contains over four hundred pages of fully realized illustrations from the entire thirty-year history of The Legend of Zelda™ including artwork from the upcoming The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild ! A few years later, the Gameboy and the Super Nintendo cemented Nintendo as one of the premier gaming companies in the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"First of all, if you're a die hard Zelda fan, nothing in this book is new as this book is essentially a collection of promotional and concept art for the series. You do get art from the entire series from the original Legend of Zelda to Zelda Twilight Princess HD or Zelda Tri Force Heroes."
"This is a must own to learn the history of one of the greatest franchises is video game history."
"The only unique part to the book is the final 40 pages or so that are full of interview Q&A's which are pretty interesting."
"Gorgeous to look at, came safely packaged, no wear and tear, protective plastic sleeve fits perfectly with the cover illustration."
"I bought this book as a gift and it is beautiful!"
"That said, I am an obsessive Zelda image hunter and have sought out most of this art in the past."
"I bought this for my son's birthday and he loves it."
"I'm pretty obsessed with everything Zelda, so when I saw this book I had to get it."
Prepare a feast fit for a warchief with World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook , a delicious compendium of recipes inspired by the hit online game from Blizzard Entertainment. A lifelong artist and fan of fantasy, Chelsea discovered her love of interesting food during a year living abroad in Turkey.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My friend Nomi and I cooked every recipe in this book, but everything came out burned."
"All my life in Azeroth, Ive eaten many virtual meals."
"I cooked the Buzzard Bites tonight for my Husband, Son and I. My husband loved it and i deff loved it :) I will say, It is listed as a "side" and it tells you it would pair well with a Cheesy Pasta, DEFF make the pasta, By themselves they are tasty but can be a tad overwhelming after a couple of them."
"I recommend anyone who loves to cook or wants to learn; whether your a fan of the game it's inspired by or not, give this book a try and I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised what your able to place on your table for any occasion year round."
"I was geeking out before I even made it to the recipe pages."
"This book is amazing!!"
"It has some interesting takes on beloved WoW cooking recipes, and most of the must-have favorites can be found."
"I haven't made anything in it yet but the recipes for the most part make my mouth water and make me want to cook."
Best Computer & Video Game Strategy Guides
Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"There's translations of some of the games in-game language systems and explanations for why certain things are as they are, for example hinting that timeshift stones and the ocarina of time are made of the same time-travel capable material. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that perhaps learning about the development decisions made during other games would have been nice, particularly Majora's mask, instead of just showing Skyward Sword concept art."
"One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool."
"I say, anything that will hold his attention for that long and he will read in it daily, I consider it a great buy."
"After going through Amazon in search of gift ideas, I came across this particular one and decided it might be a good gift to purchase for him."
Best Art History by Theme
Growing out of President Bush’s own outreach and the ongoing work of the George W. Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative, Portraits of Courage brings together sixty-six full-color portraits and a four-panel mural painted by President Bush of members of the United States military who have served our nation with honor since 9/11—and whom he has come to know personally. President Bush will donate his net author proceeds from PORTRAITS OF COURAGE to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a non-profit organization whose Military Service Initiative works to ensure that post-9/11 veterans and their families make successful transitions to civilian life with a focus on gaining meaningful employment and overcoming the invisible wounds of war. It’s also a tale of life’s capacity to surprise, its ability to hand up new and unexpected lives not only to these veterans but also to their constitutional commander.” -Seth Lipsky, New York Post. After staring at the haunting close-up portraits of wounded warriors and reading the searing accounts of their suffering, I’m beginning to understand why this beautifully published book went to No. “Most of [the portraits] show the head and face full size, seemingly bursting out of the frame with genuine presence and considerable expressive energy . “[It’s] impossible to look at these 98 extraordinary images without thinking deeply about the artist who made them: A leader who sent troops off to the battlefield, and who, so many years later, spends his days channeling the damaged but determined warriors who came home .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm an artist and a Liberal."
"So while I don't want to cross the line into the contentious, I have to be perfectly honest and say I never would have expected myself purchasing one of President Bush's books. But I watched an interview with him from Jimmy Kimmel's show while he was promoting this book, and when he mentioned that all the proceeds to to supporting causes for veterans, I said “I'm in”. I read a piece a couple years back by some artists and critics who weren't very flattering in their assessments, so I imagine he's already been exposed to some of that. I took a drawing class in college and got a B on a project...the professor's only reason was she hated my subject matter, thought it wasn't mature enough, the thrust of her criticism was not about my technique."
"The love and honor is expressed in every brush stroke of the portraits."
"The president took on art (painting) after leaving the office, without any previous art background, but his desire to paint lead to this book; Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors. The title of the book is kind of self-explanatory, it deals with the courageous men and women who served in the military. It will make a great coffee table book and something special to keep in anyone's personal library. Lastly, the president did not just paint these men and women, but he has met with most of them personally multiple of times."
"These portraits seemed crude to me at first glance, but once I read each story and looked a bit longer at each portrait, I could see that the president managed to capture each person's character in the eyes or mouth, or some other aspect of that individual's personality."
"Proud that my spouse served while President Bush was the commander in chief."
"So inspirational to read the stories of our warriors."
Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Art
T he Legend of Zelda™: Art and Artifacts contains over four hundred pages of fully realized illustrations from the entire thirty-year history of The Legend of Zelda™ including artwork from the upcoming The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild ! A few years later, the Gameboy and the Super Nintendo cemented Nintendo as one of the premier gaming companies in the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"First of all, if you're a die hard Zelda fan, nothing in this book is new as this book is essentially a collection of promotional and concept art for the series. You do get art from the entire series from the original Legend of Zelda to Zelda Twilight Princess HD or Zelda Tri Force Heroes."
"This is a must own to learn the history of one of the greatest franchises is video game history."
"The only unique part to the book is the final 40 pages or so that are full of interview Q&A's which are pretty interesting."
"Gorgeous to look at, came safely packaged, no wear and tear, protective plastic sleeve fits perfectly with the cover illustration."
"I bought this book as a gift and it is beautiful!"
"That said, I am an obsessive Zelda image hunter and have sought out most of this art in the past."
"I'm pretty obsessed with everything Zelda, so when I saw this book I had to get it."
"It is surprisingly thick, has tons of artwork from all the games, Breath of the Wild has like a page or 2 dedicated to it but I did not see anything spoilers (BotW only) so that's good, unless I haven't looked through the book enough."
Best Ceramic Art
When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire. In this family history, de Waal, a potter and curator of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, describes the experiences of his family, the Ephrussis, during the turmoil of the 20th century. A somewhat rambling narrative with special appeal to art historians, this account is nonetheless rich in drama and valuable anecdote.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"His efforts with the innumerable German, Viennese and French words in de Waal's book go from bad to comically miserable to utterly mystifying."
"I dread it - but I want to know how some of this family survived and managed to save their one bit of art - a collection of over 200 netsuke.The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss."
"A set of over 200 Netsuke, Japanese figurines of animals, plants and more, hold the souls and voices of his family history – that of the storied Jewish Ephrussis who in late 18th century Odessa started one of Europe’s greatest financial houses that led to enormous wealth and stature in Vienna and Paris."
"The author's quest to personally reclaim the family history of a collection of antique netsuke (of which he is the current owner), is a real page-turner."
"Instead of a predictable tale from Mitteleuropa about lost grandeur, the author takes a (slightly Proustian) shortcut that leads to unexpected and sometimes deeply moving places. One of the illustrious ancestors collected tiny but incredibly intricate Japanese carvings called netsuke used in early modern Japan as toggles for purse strings. Through this device, De Waal manages to both narrate the story of the rise and fall of the Ephrussi and also sketch the myriad objects they owned and collected during their century and a half of eminence."
Best Mosaic Art
Discover the magic of mica powders and the regal look they can give to mosaics Learn quick and easy ways of adding paint to handcrafted and commercial tile See how easy it is to create molds and cast your own relief tiles Find ways to add personal meaning to your work with the addition of text tiles Experiment with the addition of beads, jewelry and other embellishments by embedding them right into the tile! Mika has also appeared on HGTV's Crafters Coast to Coast and the DIY network's Craft Lab , and has taught workshops at Artfest in Port Townsend, Washington, Art Unraveled in Phoenix, Arizona, and Art and Soul in Dallas.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In all, it's a great bible for polymer clay mosaics, and a really good resource on what materials work in what projects, and where to find them."
"If you are not looking for a mixed media book that is mostly polymer clay projects, then this is not for you."
"It is very clear and perfect for someone who has never worked with polymer clay before - as well as providing inspiration for those who have moved on to more advanced techniques."
"Highly recommend the book and the art of Laurie Mika.Mixed-Media Mosaics: Techniques and Projects Using Polymer Clay Tiles, Beads & Other Embellishmentska."
"I personally do use a pasta maker to roll my clay, the thin tiles work just fine,I use a water based acrylic varnish and before stamping images into the clay, I "paint" on a little baking soda to eliminate sticking."
"I'd never been particularly interested in mosaics, even though I have extensively explored many of the various components on their own...stained glass, beadwork, polymer clay...I just never thought to put all of them together in this kind of expression."
"I love it!"
"Even seasoned artist will find this book to be a source for renewed and fresh ideas for projects and techniques."
Best Glass Art
Tracing the connection between Chihuly’s art and botanical life, Chihuly Garden Installations shows how the exchange between art and nature can shift from the harmonious and tranquil to stunning juxtapositions of scale and color. Also Available: Chihuly 2018 Wall Calendar (ISBN: 978-1-4197-2599-9), Chihuly 2018 Weekly Planner (ISBN: 978-1-4197-2598-2), Chihuly 2019 Wall Calendar (ISBN: 978-1-4197-3093-1), Chihuly 2019 Weekly Planner (Engagement Calendar) (ISBN: 978-1-4197-3094-8). Dale Chihuly is an icon of American art and cofounder of the renowned Pilchuck Glass School outside Seattle.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are lucky enough to see one of his creations in person or visit his 1 "retail" museum/ shop in Florida (or now his very own glass house in Seattle) then you realize how hard it is to capture his utterly unique visions with a camera."
"If you are going to get 1 book from Chihuly, this is it!"
"It is heavy, a perfect coffee table book and my guests have been enthralled with the photos."
"This is an absolutely beautiful book."
"Nice thick quality coffee table book full of beautiful pictures of Chihuly's installations around the world."
"Beautiful book on a coffee table, a lot of colors."
"This was a gift for my daughter, so I haven't actually seen it and my stars are based on her reaction: "It's really big and beautiful.""
"This is a fantastic book."
Best Digital Art
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout® 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim®, welcome you to the world of Fallout® 4 - their most ambitious game ever, and the next generation of open-world gaming. Creators of the 2006 'Game of the Year', The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® , the 2008 'Game of the Year', Fallout® 3 , the 2011 'Game of the Year', The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® , and most recently the highly-anticipated upcoming title, Fallout® 4 , Bethesda Game Studios has earned its reputation as one of the industry's most respected and accomplished game development studios.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It has the exact same quality as a school textbook build and paper wise."
"By far the best video game artbook I have seen."
"The size, detail, and quality of this book can't really be described, you have to purchase it for yourself. For those of you who purchased the Collector's Edition Game Guide, and were impressed by that, let me say...the Art Collection will blow you away. High quality, high definition, colorful prints of every aspect and facet of Fallout 4 is detailed through the pages of this book."
"I particularly enjoyed going over some of the pages with a magnifying glass to see all the little intricate details of things like costumes, weapons, and robots, and seeing details that could never be included in the game without ballooning the already massive file sizes to something impossible to load. Some of the costume design and weapons seem similar, more so in the concept art than even in the game itself, between Fallout and Star Wars. It is obvious from their descriptions despite knowledge that many of their detailed brainstorms and concept art wouldn't make it into the final game that they were having fun just making them."
"I adore video game art books, and this was no exception."
"I've been a Fallout fan for a while now, and I've always admired the design work that goes into the games regardless of how good the games themselves are."
"Some art books have very thin paper and it feels like you're going to tear it, or it won't soak up the ink correctly. Which if you've spent the money on an art book of this nature you don't need the story retold. Thousands of images of concept art, from matte paintings for setting of cities and the wastelands down to comic book covers. The paper of the book is so good and stiff that it ended up hurting my finger after turning the pages on the way through!"
Best Art of Film & Video
In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator--from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz --needs. Richard Williams has won more than 250 international awards for his animation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"One of the best well written art books I have read in a long time, Mr. Williams is full of knowledge, which he generously shares with others."
"This is a must have for everyone learning animation, it could be used by yourself or by teachers to teach about animation principles, and the amount of knowlege in the content of the book and animation exercises is amazing."
"It has so much detail to it that it still blows my mind every time I. open it."
"If you are getting into animation this is the book for you; in depth information on all the necessary topics that you need."
"An excellent book."
"Bought this as a gift for a friend when she started her Animation degree."
"This is one of the most useful animation books I have every purchased."
"One of the most detailed animating books I have purchased so far, it is really helpful."
Best Public Art
An addictive collection of new full-color postcard secrets and app secrets from the author of the smash the #1 New York Times bestselling PostSecret books—with more secrets than any previous PostSecret book! Included in this compelling new book are dozens of the best archived secrets from the original PostSecret app; inside stories about the most controversial secrets Frank Warren has received; moving text from the new PostSecret play, foreign secrets, "puzzle" secrets, and much more!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I've been a MASSIVE fan of Frank Warren and PostSecret long before he started putting "our" secrets together in book-form."
"I've been reading Frank's posts since the beginning and they never fail to amaze, amuse, encourage, and inspire."
"I only wish that Frank Warren would continue publishing books: I give them as gifts annually...except when he doesn't publish them at annual intervals!!!"
"Love the concept, loved hearing Frank Warren speak in DC in April 2016, but this book's binding is awful."
"the post secret books are wonderful."
"If you've read the previous books, you know this is the best."
"I bought three copies of this book this year to give to friends."
"I have enjoyed all of the Post Secret books."
Best Prints Art
The geometric shapes and natural forms, captured with exceptional precision in Ernst Haeckel's prints, still influence artists and designers to this day. Haeckel was a passionate student of the evolutionary shaping of biological forms, and Art Forms in Nature captures both his artistic sensibility and the scientific rigor he applied to all his studies.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a beautiful and fascinating book."
"Well written and illustrated."
"Love it."
"Gorgeous."
"Nice quality prints of beautiful, trippy, highly impressive artwork."
"The otherworldly art of Haeckel is absolutely mesmerizing in its intricate detail and beauty."
"i wish there was a large print version."
"Very nice book, coffee table size."
Best Conceptual Arts
An extraordinary and surreal art book, this edition has been redesigned by the author and includes new illustrations. “…the book really does live up to its reputation: The drawings are in turn hilarious, disturbing, bizarre and, sometimes, just flat-out incomprehensible, but all of them are annotated in Serafini’s script.” - Dangerous Minds “It’s not the sort of thing that easily lends itself to classification, but probably the most accurate way to describe it would be as an encyclopedia of an invented alien civilization…the Codex is still a disorienting and provocative vision of inscrutable otherness.” - Slate.com “ Codex Seraphinianus is an art book in the most direct sense—there are big, beautiful drawings accompanied by indecipherable letterforms--and it is impossible to “read” in a literal way. " Codex Seraphinianus : History’s Most Bizarre and Beautiful Encyclopedia, Brought Back to Life...a weird and wonderful masterpiece of art and philosophical provocation on the precipice of the information age....Undoubtedly one of the most intricate and beautiful art books ever created."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The true author, Serafini claims, is a white cat he found some day as he went back home and lay on his lap as he wrote and drew the codex. It is the kind of object Jorge Luis Borges imagined in Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, an artifact from another world that for some reason passed through the cracks of reality into our own. This is how he says the crazy calligraphy of the codex was born: “It was the writing that contained the dreams of several other writings.”. The book is divided in 11 chapters, with themes that can more or less be inferred by the images: flora, fauna, biped creatures, chemistry, culture, mythology, games, architecture, technology and so on."
"My campus library had a copy briefly a decade ago, but foolishly left it open to general circulation."
"A weird and wonderful calendar, and the printing is outstanding."
"Beatifully done calendar based on this amazingly mysterious book."
"Drawn & painted in some alternate n ancient universe where dear reader shall be inthralled in its mystery n excellent paper of that of kings ."
"If you've gotten this far, you know what this book is, but perhaps where I can add value is in describing the Rizzoli (white cover) edition. Though i would prefer a black background over white, it has the red circle ladybug illustration (one of my favorites) on the cover instead of the alligator bestiality illustration that the 1st edition has."
"Transports to a new world."
"You can't help but admire the genius to create a whole civilization, with language, geography, religion, culture and science."
Best Installation Art
The Art of Seeing explores traditional and contemporary art and artistic media focusing on art as seen from the artist's point of view . Extensively revised and expanded, this best selling exploration of traditional and contemporary art and artistic media focuses on art as seen from the artists' point of view treating artistic techniques and introductory aesthetic principles.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Now I love art and feel no intimidation when approaching forms of art new to me."
"I like this book enough to keep it in my personal library even after the class is over."
"All good: Item ad described, promptly delivered, carefully packaged, correctly billed."
"This is a great book...there is a lot of rich history and beautiful artwork."
"This arrived as promised in great condition as described."
"Highly recommend this to any one involved with the Arts."
"In almost perfect condition, really happy with my purchase!"
Best Illuminations Art
Noted authority Christopher de Hamel invites the reader into intimate conversations with these texts to explore what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and about the modern world, too. He traces the elaborate journeys that these exceptionally precious artifacts have made through time and shows us how they have been copied, how they have been embroiled in politics, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty and as symbols of national identity, and who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell). And in producing such a gorgeous object, Christopher de Hamel’s publisher has had the courage of his convictions, because its physical and visual delights mirror its commercially unlikely subject matter…[De Hamel] is voraciously completist, recording impressions of each journey, place, building and reading room, as well as every coverage detail of each manuscript’s creation, content and existence as a physical object through time and space… On this archival odyssey, I lost count of the things I learned…[ Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts ], like the volumes that are its subject, is a book of wonders.” - The New York Times Book Review. Little wonder that in Britain this extraordinary book has already won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Duff Cooper nonfiction prize.” – Washington Post “De Hamel is a man of extraordinary erudition and easy charm; his book asks many questions of the past, and invokes many mysteries.” – The New Yorker. [and] details each document’s idiosyncrasies while contextualizing its time and place of creation…De Hamel’s delightful book is bound to inspire a new set of medievalists.” – Publishers Weekly , starred review “Interested general readers will appreciate de Hamel’s lucid treatment of the themes and literary techniques that mark these manuscripts as cultural milestones…But they will marvel at the lavish reproductions of the masterful calligraphy and dazzling illuminations that have long made the manuscripts irresistible to collectors. A former librarian of Parker Library at Cambridge and cataloger of illuminated manuscripts for Sotheby's, de Hamel brings extensive expertise to his meticulous examination of 12 celebrated manuscripts created from the sixth to the 16th century…The book is sumptuously illustrated…A rare, erudite, and delightfully entertaining history.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review. Beneath his urbane manner, Christopher de Hamel is a formidable scholar.” – Jonathan Sumption, Spectator "With scholarly elegance, Christopher de Hamel opens the door and invites us to join him for the intellectual expedition of a lifetime...This is an endlessly fascinating and enjoyable book." – Neil MacGregor "Erudite and enthusiastic...de Hamel has catalogued more medieval manuscripts than anyone in history; everyone, not only academics should listen to what he has said." De Hamel, the librarian of Corpus Christi, has spent a lifetime handling, cataloguing and interpreting these gorgeous objects....If I could walk you to your nearest bookshop, take £30 from your wallet, and place this wonderful book in your hands, I would." – Peter Thonemann, Sunday Times One of the cultural highlights of the autumn...Christopher de Hamel has turned a lifelong obsession with ancient literature into a book that critics are comparing to A History of the World in 100 Objects and the wonderful The Hare with Amber Eyes ." ... De Hamel makes an informative, entertaining book (the most suitable medium, after all), and no one but he could have written it."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Christopher de Hamel is a dear friend for over 30 years, and I am honored to know someone who combines erudition with accessibility in his many studies of manuscripts, creativity, and the obsessive pursuit of these treasures. We settle for photographs, high-priced facsimiles, or an exhibition in a darkened room with mere moments in front of an original manuscript. We learn to study the history, the construction, the meanings, and the variants as we explore the scribbles, the calligraphy, the painting, the binding... everything."
"If you enjoy looking at old manuscripts, love calligraphy or illustration, and aren't already a palaeographer, or if you are just looking for a really engaging romp through medieval European history, this book is a wonderful adventure."
"After reading the e-book, I was going to get a hard copy for myself but first I ordered the hard copy from my local library as I wanted to have a good look at the illustrations of the manuscripts described in the book, so glad I did as I was very disappointed with the quality of printing of the illustrations, very mediocre, almost as if they were done in the early 1930’s and this was a first attempt colour book printing; or the print house was using their new mud lens to take the photos!"
"This text is a compact interesting book of many manuscripts and I am very pleased that I purchased this remarkable meetings book."
"What is present in his writing, but even more so in his speaking is his unquenchable enthusiasm for this area of history, combined in a non-condescending way with his encyclopedic knowledge of art history, theology, currents of cultural influences, and above all his generous humility. As much as I looked forward to "Meetings" in print, this version really fulfills the fantasy of sitting with the expert while we figure out how to get into the Library, how to hold the object, how to obey the sometimes stringent rules, and how to seek genuine pleasure from the experience."
Best Graffiti & Street Art
Banksy, Britain's now-legendary "guerilla" street artist, has painted the walls, streets, and bridges of towns and cities throughout the world. His identity remains unknown, but his work is prolific, and now for the first time, he is putting together the best of his work — old and new in a fully illustrated colour volume.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very interesting book, mostly great pictures."
"If anyone supposes they have a sense of humor and a little bit of irreverence, or is it reverence, for the human condition.... this book will sure to make that anyone a banksy fan."
"This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone who either knows Bansky's art or wants to explore a new genre and learn how wonderfully bold and beautiful his artworks are."
"so many awesome Banksy pieces in this book."
"Interesting book & a must have for any Banksy fan."
"The shipping was faster than expected, coming at least 5 days early."
"I especially like having this book because so many of his works have been removed, painted over and stolen."
"This is more of a picture book, the written content is minimal, but still a worthwhile purchase and thought provoking."
Best Body Art & Tattoo
Tattoo Johnny to the rescue! Tattoo Johnny is the largest supplier of designs to professional tattoo studios around the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Gift for son, and he loves it."
"Excellent variety and quality stencils!"
"Excellent fun tattoo designs."
"Awesome book great pics of tatoos."
"Great book."
"Absolutely love this book."
Best Mixed Media
Each exercise includes new tangles to draw in sketchbooks or on tiepolo (an Italian-made paper), teaches daily tile design, and offers tips on related art principles, and contains an inspirational "ZIA" (Zentangle Inspired Art) project on a tile that incorporates patterns, art principals, and new techniques. She began her career with the first graphic rubber stamp company in the U.S., and has worked as a full-time mixed media artist ever since.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Attached pictures are from my first tangles ever done (the single picture is Tangle no 1, the others are done in the order displayed in the book). If you are starting out.. you could not buy a better book!"
"I have many, many books about zentangle - this is the BEST by far!"
"I am an artist, have been for many years, but I have been struggling with an essential tremor in my dominant hand (the left) which has forced me to start training myself to use my right hand for things like eating soup or bringing a glass of water across the room without spilling it. Instead of doing one Zentangle a day, I have been using my left hand for one Zentangle the first day, and the next day I do the same lesson (using the assigned pattern but not the same composition) but I use my right hand. I had never been able to draw or paint with my right hand."
"She has thoughts about what makes an interesting Zentangle and tries to communicate them through examples of her own work, that of guest artists, and suggestions. Unfortunately, her command of written English is poor enough that in several places I really didn't understand what she was trying to explain, including her suggestions for interesting Zentangles. In others, I was merely annoyed: she uses "transcend" when she means "transition" and calls established rules about what is a Zentangle "historic' or "traditional", which is a bit pretentious for an art less than ten years old. Several squoosh a couple of steps together, others are unclear as to which aspects of the example are basic to the tangle and which are just the artist's whimsy."
"I realize I've been creating a rough version of Zentangles most of my life...without knowing what it was called..Just taking a black magic marker, making random designs and coloring in the spaces with markers or colored pencils...But this book is so much fun....it makes sense out of the virtual scribbling I was doing before."
"This book takes you through one zentangle a day (as it says), with each drawing being just a little more difficult as the previous one."
Best Erotic Arts & Photography
The work was gathered from collections across the United States and Europe with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation, and features many drawings, paintings, and sketches never previously reproduced . The elegant oversized volume showed the full range of Tom’s talent, from sensitive portraits to frank sexual pleasure, to tender expressions of love, and haunting tributes to young men struck down by AIDS, and was completed by eight commissioned essays on Tom’s social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham , and others, plus a scholarly analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith . Dian Hanson produced a variety of men’s magazines from 1976 to 2001, including Juggs, Outlaw Biker, and Leg Show, before becoming TASCHEN’s Sexy Book editor.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is the same calendar available from the Tom of Finland Foundation."
"A great collection of his works from early years to the latter ones we are more familiar with."
"Great Book and worth the price."
"Possibly the greatest purchase of my entire life."
"WAY beyond what I expected."
"It's waaaaay much more bigger and heavier than i expected."
"the book its perfect just i spected to be im in love with it."
Best Calligraphy Guides
Chalkfulloflove was created to encourage, inspire and make you giggle, so just pour yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in to start your own unique, adorable lettering creations! Hardcover, oversized gold wire-o binding and gold corner protectors Step by step instructions on how to create various fonts and designs Thick premium paper, perfect for lettering Beautiful coffee table book and practical workbook. A day in her life looks like taking a crazy number of photos, dancing in the garage while packaging up orders, and cuddling with her pups.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is beautiful!"
"I just started brush lettering and already trashed one pen on another book, so this book is perfect in my opinion."
"Love this!!!"
"BUT, the blank pages.... About 45% of the book is blank pages, not to mention all the white space. Pages 96-110 are ENTIRELY BLANK but for the page number, and so is almost half of the book."
"In purchasing a $30.00 book I expect more inside information, tips and tricks and showing me HOW she achieves her style of lettering, etc... For example, the flourishes pages literally just tells you that flourishes and illustrations are great to add to your lettering then shows you a 2" x 2" example of the author's own "Bless Your Heart" design (with zero instructions on how she achieved it) and has about a 6"x3" area next to that design that says "Practice Here.""
"I should have listened to the other people who reported that this book was full of nothing, but I was encouraged by the the claim that additional content was added."