Form-3 Books

This is the latest in a series of books that consist of collections of essays about the theory and practice of graphic design. The essays in the first two volumes were mostly from contemporary sources, particularly the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design. This third, retrospective volume is of even greater value in the sense that it gathers under one cover some of the most important historic writings on design from the late 19th century to the early 1980s, arranged chronologically. It contains over fifty hard-to-find articles by prominent figures in graphic design, among them William Morris, W.A. Dwiggins, El Lissitzky, Varvara Stepanova, Gyorgy Kepes, Alexander Rodchenko, Ladislav Sutnar, Beatrice Warde and Wolfgang Weingart. Graphic designers need to know where they came from, in order to better decide where to go. A substantial contribution to that effort, undoubtedly this is a book that should be on the reading lists of all designers, design students and teachers. (Copyright by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 15, No. 1, Autumn 1999.)

An excellent text survey, Looking Closer 3 provides an anthology of classic writings on graphic design. This is a 'must' for any who would study the foundations of graphic design theory: it's the first to gather early critical writings from the turn of the century to modern times, grouping rare essays under one cover.

This collection of international folk tales that feature magical horses will delight any child who loves horses/ponies. My six year old daughter loves listening to the stories. The text is rather advanced, probably a fourth or fifth grade reading level, so she just follows along with the pictures in the book. I wish there were more of these, but the illustrations that are included are quite beautiful. The multi-cultural perspective is a positive aspect of this collection. Stories are from a range of cultures: American Indian, Russian, Indian, etc. Order and enjoy!

My 7 year old daughter received this book for Christmas and what a wonderful book for any child who loves horses and stories about them.

This book breaks down the stories by country and describes in detail the history of the breed of horse specific to that region and the story. It is a wonderful blend of fact and folklore with gorgeous illustrations. The stories are rich in detail but are not "fairy tales" nor are they about unicorns or flying horses or other horse-like animals. They are folktales about horses with special wisdom or magical powers.

I'd say this book wouldn't hold the attention of a typical 5 year old. Some stories are 2 or 3 pages long with only small illustrations that might become dull for a younger child.

But if your child is a fan of folklore and/or horses, he or she will love this book!

Except, this time the individual comic strips are packed with compressed humor. This book has many diferrent incidents in which Snoopy is often the central character. Featuring in this book is/are Charlie Brown's infamous base ball team, the World Famous Surgeon(Snoopy), and of course, Woodstock: "King of the Jungle"! This book is a good book for anyone of any age. It is fun and lighthearted. I also recommend Charls M. Schulz's "Being a Dog is a Full Time Job." The only thing wrong with this book is that it is not long enough! I also recommend any other Schultz "Peanuts" book.

"Make Way for the King of the Jungle," by Charles M. Schulz, is a delightful collection of comic strips featuring the author's popular "Peanuts" characters. Many of the recurrent themes and motifs of the series are here: Snoopy's fantasy of being a World War I flying ace, the kite-eating tree, Linus' security blanket and his obsession with the Great Pumpkin, Lucy's psychiatric stand, etc.

In the course of this book we get to experience both Christmas and Valentine's day with the "Peanuts" gang. There are a lot of antics involving Snoopy and his pal Woodstock. But my favorite extended storyline in the book involves Charlie Brown's decision to quit school in order to devote himself to making Snoopy happy. Anyone who has ever been devoted to a pet should be able to relate to this funny but tender plot.

"Peanuts" has always been a successful blend of humor and gentle philosophy, and that is true of this volume. "Make Way" is a treat for fans of Schulz's work.

i was very happy with the quality of this product as well as with the timely manner in which it arrived.

Most of the books on Candomblé are written in Portuguese. This is an informative book for those wanting to understand the Candomblé tradition in Brazil. This book gives a lot of details and insight into the practices and procedures of the Candomblé Terreiros, which up until a few years ago has always been very private. There is a website that seeks to give an understanding this tradition to the American public: www.orixas.org. Big thanks to the author for writing this book. A `must have' book for the serious seeker.

My eleven year old daughter and I enjoy the intriguingly weird logic of Jansson's world. There's something so sweet and true about Moomintroll's reactions to the other characters and the situations in the comic strip.

Imagine if a bottle was adrift for over 50 years in the ocean and finally found way to the shores of North America. Inside you would find the works of Tove Jansson's comic strip Moomin for the first time. Untainted by time, the strip has found new life in North America because of Montreal's premiere graphic book publisher Drawn and Quarterly. This the third in a series that is finding new fans from all over and garnishing awards while it circulates province and state every day. It's amazing how work like this has gone under the radar for so many years. The character Moomin has enjoyed great recognition as far as Japan and all around the world, but is mute in both Canada and United States. This is slowly being remedied thanks to Chris Oliveros of Drawn and Quarterly and his staff of diligent connoisseurs of both new and older talent gathered under one roof. Moomin and other graphic novels by this company is making a dent in book sales all over the world. A true pleasure trip of an idea in the way books are created and the big publishers have taken notice and copied this winning formula.


Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip - Book One
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip - Book Two
Moomin 4 Disc Collector's Set 1

This book would be great for a gift or when traveling. It's worth the money.

This book would be great for a gift or when traveling. It's worth the money.

This much-translated book is the story, in his own words, of a real person whose life seems more like fiction. For clarity, I am going to offer readers unfamiliar with the work some facts, before briefly describing the excellent Oxford World's Classics version (the sixth in English), translated and annotated by the team of Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. I hope that this will help others find their way through a confusing bibliography. (Those familiar with Cellini should skip to the end.)

Benvenuto Cellini, Florentine goldsmith, sculptor, and enthusiastic self-promoter, can safely be described as a man of the sixteenth century, since he was, conveniently, born, in November 1500, and died in February 1571. Other statements about him, however truthful, often sound like fiction. The autobiography he wrote and (he says mainly) dictated between 1558 and 1566 breaks off in November 1562. It covers several tumultuous decades in later Renaissance and early Counter-Reformation Italy, with excursions into the Swiss Alps and France. Alongside Cellini's frequent descriptions of his own prowess as an artist, a duelist and brawler, and a lover, it is notable for Cellini's almost equally frequent confrontations with celebrated figures; it sometimes seems the most appropriate title would be "And Then I *Told-Off* the Pope, the Emperor, the King and Queen, the Duke and Duchess, and the Judge." Amazingly, a lot of it can be confirmed from contemporary documents; Cellini's penchant for getting into trouble, and the fact that he worked in precious metals, both helped leave paper trails.

Cellini's treatises on goldsmithing and sculpture were published in his lifetime and include autobiographical passages; his account of his life had a limited circulation in manuscript, including one corrected by his own hand, until it was published, from an inferior copy, in 1728. A series of Italian critical and popular editions have followed, up to the present. He has yet to achieve the status of Michelangelo and Raphael, which he coveted, but he is being read. His great bronze statue of Perseus, the casting of which he told and retold, was recently restored. Unfortunately, this was soon overshadowed by the theft of his last surviving goldwork, the "salt-cellar" he created for Francis I of France (not the original patron for which it was designed, as usual).

[Stolen in 2003, the ten-inch high object was finally recovered in January 2006; at which time its worth was estimated at 60 million dollars. Or -- in the same BBC story -- as either 33.9 or 36 million pounds; I'm sure Cellini would have insisted on the higher figure. He certainly would have been delighted by the constant repetition that it is "the Mona Lisa" of sculpture," until he decided that the reference should be the other way around.]

The first English translation, by Thomas Nugent, appeared in 1771. A German rendering (serialized beginning in 1796, according to the Bondanellas), published in book form in 1798, ensured the work immediate European attention; the translator was Goethe, THE international best-selling celebrity author of the age. A second English version, by Thomas Rosco, appeared in 1822 ("Memoirs"). By this time a specifically Romantic vision of Cellini was developing, immortalized in Hector Berlioz's splendid opera of 1838, "Benvenuto Cellini." (Was Berlioz's own highly entertaining autobiography influenced by Cellini's example? Or Goethe's?)

The classic rendering in English, by John Addington Symonds, "The Life of Benvenuto Cellini, Written by Himself," was published in 1888. The Bondanellas attribute Cellini's present fame in the English-speaking world to this translation. It has certainly appeared in a variety of forms, including abridgments, and under various titles, and is sometimes listed by editor. It is still in print; there is a Gutenberg e-text available on-line, which is easily searchable, but you need to know Symonds' renderings of Cellini's sixteenth-century spellings of names. (There was even an edition of the Symonds translation illustrated by -- Salvador Dali!)

Unfortunately, the popularity of Symonds' translation overshadowed a richly documented fourth translation, with extensive commentary, by Robert H. Hobart Cust, published in 1910 (as "The Life of ... "); I remember consulting its notes in a library reserve copy, but have no impression of its quality as a translation. (I also have no idea why Dover never picked it up for reprinting, when they offered a translation of the Treatises.) According to the Bondanellas, Cust's version is still, for most purposes, *the* scholarly edition, in any language (Italian included), although more often used than cited.

Since 1956, editions of Symonds have had to compete with George Bull's translation, for the Penguin Classics, as "The Autobiography," which also was the basis of a Folio Society illustrated edition of 1970. Bull's version seems to be regarded as more accurate than Symonds'. Some (myself included) prefer Symonds' prose style; I have adapted much of this review from my notes comparing these two versions. (In revising, I have drawn heavily on the Bondanella's documentation, using their spellings and dates for other translators and editions.) Unhappily, like most Penguin editions of its vintage, it lacked notes or an index; a limited bibliography was supplied in some later printings. It was not until 1999 that the Penguin Classics edition was reissued in a revised version, with extensive notes and a detailed index. There are slight changes in pagination between the two editions of the Penguin translation, but it is my impression that Bull's translation was supplemented, rather than extensively revised. The Penguin edition may or may not be in print as you read this; anyone ordering a used copy should be aware of the difference. (The last page of the original version is 397, of the revised is 496.) For the notes and index, I prefer the 1999 edition to any form of the Symonds translation currently available. And now there is a third choice.

The Bondanella translation is based on the latest critical editions of the Italian text, and, quite explicitly, on Cust's documentation and explication. I am delighted with the result. The translation is more to my taste than that of Bull, or even Symonds. The Introduction and Chronology are clear, and the Select Bibliography is an invitation to further reading. The index is extremely useful. The annotations are tightly integrated with the text, and concisely explain allusions, identify people, supply facts, and answer many questions. (There are, inevitably, a very few points I would question: shouldn't the note on "unicorn's horn" on page 408 have mentioned that it may have been a narwhal tusk?) They even briefly discuss some problems with Cellini's breezy Italian (composed at the same time other Florentines were writing the first "official" grammars of the language), pointing out alternative understandings. A first-rate addition to the World's Classics list.

I was in Florence recently, when my eyes came across this book. I'am no expert in art, history or biography, but this was a great read. I chuckled often as Cellini vividly portrayed the many adventures of his life. The one amazing thing about this book is, how real Cellini becomes. You feel his many pains and triumphs. Cellini is very normal and flawed, which make him more endearing. I love the guy and wish he were alive today, cause he's the type of guy you'd enjoy a beer with. Buy this book. For everyone.

I love every one of the "My Very Favorite Art Books". I have some as featured books in my classroom and my students love to look at them and practice the drawing techniques in their free time. These books are wonderful!

All of the "I love to..." books are fabulous. Buy them all! You wont be disappointed!

This book speaks for itself

I have found Nicola Upson's book on the sculptures of Helaine Blumenfeld one of the most remarkable art/coffee table creations I have ever come across. Why? Because it is such an incredible combination of first rate photographs, highly intelligent and well-written text, and superbly crafted marble and bronze sculptures by an artist who obviously can think as well as sculpt. (The jacket says she was a professor of philosophy & that may explain why she is so verbally fluent.) What amazes me is that this book has not received a prize for the best art book of the year? (Maybe it has and I have not found it?)"

Maayan Becker-Reshef.

Searching for a read-aloud book that you might share with your children, you would score a consensus winner with this compendium of rich, highly captivating tales. The two selections from Jack London, "In Yeddo Bay" and "To Repel Boarders" were springboards for our youngsters beyond this book and on to "The Call of The Wild" and "White Fang." Similarly, short fables from Louisa May Alcott and Lewis Carroll opened our ears to continue with more famous, longer works by those authors. Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and Mowgli's Brothers", "Tommy and the Meadowmice" by Thornton W. Burgess, "Juggerjook" by L. Frank Baum, creater of Oz, and "The Voyage of the Northern Light" by John Townsend Trowbridge each held my kids' attention as we read them aloud at dinner or at bedtime. The inestimable Mark Twain weighs in with a novella "Tom Sawyer Abroad" that is a perfect followup to a summertime reading of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." There is plenty of selection here for everyone to be happy. Give your kids the gift of colorful, imaginative literature...then read it aloud with them.

If Mr. Buckley's politics or his pomposity is a bother, worry not about it here...he pens a pithy pre-amble, and among the classics also includes a modern-day computer adventure entitled "The Temptation of Wilfred Malachey." Just plain fun!

Compiled and edited by William F. Buckiley, Jr., the Treasury Of Classic Children's Literature is an anthology of enduring stories for young folk, painstakingly selected and compiled by William F. Buckley, Jr. for their lasting appeal across the generations. Works by Jack London, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Thorton W. Burgess, Palmer Cox, and others, are embellished with black-and-white illustrations in this timeless and memorable anthology which is a welcome and recommended addition to school and community library Children's Literature anthology collections.