Form-T Books

Being a librarian in Mississippi I deeply appreciated Mr. Kean humorous view of life. I personally know several men for whom this is the first book they read since high school and that wasn't yesterday.
This is THE funniest book I've read in years.
It brings understanding to the male-female relationship. We women have wondered for years, "Why don't you just stop and ask?" Now we can know. That mournful groan we get when we ask our man to stop at the grocery store and pick up one simple little item has been explained.
This is a must read for anyone who needs a good laugh or wants an in-depth look at the workings of the male brain. S.K. Conner

H.T. Webster is my favorite cartoonist. The art and jokes are understated and yet excellent. Everyone who likes cartoons (or bridge, golf, fishing, the 30s and 40s) needs to own a copy of this book. It is super cheap (they must have made millions of copies). I only wish I could find another volume of his cartoons.

Chessmen for Collectors

Prospective buyers should be aware that 'Chessmen for Collectors' and 'The Illustrated Guide to World Chess Sets' are EXACTLY the same book by Dr. Victor Keats. Both copyrighted in 1985, 'Chessmen for Collectors' was published by B. T. Batsford, Ltd. (London) for distribution in the United Kingdom, while 'The Illustrated Guide to World Chess Sets' was published by St. Martin's Press (New York) for distribution in the United States. Other than slight design differences in the dust covers, the books are identical in every way: text, illustrations (photographs taken by Daniel Keats and Adrian Pope, 273 in black & white and 50 in color), and all other aspects of the two books are identical other than the dust jackets and the inside title pages.

(SYNOPSIS FROM THE INSIDE DUST JACKET)

"Chess is the most cosmopolitan and possibly the most ancient of games. Yet, from its origins in India to the present day, it has always proved to be much more than a pastime. Besides the inspiration the game has given to writers and artists throughout the world, chess sets reflect, through the work of craftsmen, changing styles in art, topical controversies, battles, propaganda and mythology. In short, beyond its practical use, every chess set represents both an historical record and a work of art.

Chess sets have always offered the craftsman an opportunity to display the qualit of his work on a small scale - whether in traditional or unusual materials. But it is an area of antiques that has been comparatively neglected. Both the would-be collector and the new collector has too often been deterred from beginning, or extending, his collection through the lack of reliable information. As a result, prices have laggged far behind the cost of similar types of antiques. While the book describes many early and rare sets, the main emphasis, therefore, falls on the last two centuries, from which period desirable examples can be obtained by the discerning collector for a relatively modest sum.

Country by country each chapter systematically charts the development of chess sets in chronological order, giving the collector an instant means of identification. The accompanying 50 colour and 270 black and white illustration give details of the diverse materials used - ivory, wood, porcelain, bronze - precise heights of pawns and pieces, their provenance and date. The text and illustrations together highlight the variation of style in English sets, Indian ivory sets, Spanish 'pulpit' chessmen and delicate French eighteenth-century sets, as well as unique works of art from all over the world. The whole amounts to a highly authoritative, wide-ranging reference work for the serious or casual chess collector who may benefit from a profitable investment as well as enjoy pleasure of owning and looking at beautiful works of art.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Victor Keats originally trained as a Quantity Surveyor, (whatever that is) and over twenty years ago became the curator of a chess collection. By careful judgement and diligent purchasing, he built it into one of the world's foremost collections. He has become one of the best known figures in this field of antiques. He counts among his friends fellow enthusiasts in many countries, particularly the United States of America. He has travelled extensively to study the world's main collections and museums containing major chess sets.

(END OF SYNOPSIS.)

Funny British spellings are his. Blatant typos are mine.
My one regret is that I could only post one picture, because some of these two-page color spreads will make your eyes pop out.

This is a beautiful book of ideas for animal lovers who dabble in clay. Ms Wren's creations capture beautifully the essence of cats, owls, birds, etc. It's a shame it's no more in print. I'd love to get my hands on it.

If you love satire, parodies or just a good belly-laugh, this book is for you. Dodosaurs - The Dinosaurs That Didn't Make It, is a gut-busting lampoon of the scientific and not-so-scientific gibberish that surrounds and permeates our fascination with things that went bump in the night a long time ago, mostly from falling down and breaking their collective necks.

From the tiny but deadly Tikyltikyltikyl to the terrifying Tryonasaurus Rex, these not so terrible lizards will have you quaking with laughter as you examine their oh-so-slow development and oh-so-merciful extinction.

Written in near comic-book style (exquisitely appropriate)this over-sized soft-cover volume is full of fascinating full-color illustrations, giving you an artists-eye view of the world of the Dodosaurs. How they came to be, how they lived and how they ever managed to survive as long as they did will make for hours of delightful reading, and may shed just a little light on some of the silliness of our own "advanced" civilization.

So, forget about the T-Rex's, the Raptors, the Brachiosaurs and all those other Saurs, and sit back with some really amazing critters, the wonderful Dodosaurs.

Good book. Includes the first 171 comics of 1985. More of it is used in Your on the Wrong Foot Again, Charlie Brown.

This is a delightful book of essays, of real Christmases in real families and the spirit of Christmas resonates clearly. My husband and I have enjoyed reading it to eachother bit by bit throughout December. We've even written our own letters to Santa! Thanks Dr. Plummer!

This book features the Peanuts gang in the mid-1970's. In the story which inspired the title, Peppermint Patty shares a desk with the slightly embarrased Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty nags poor old Chuck to death until Charlie Brown finally yells "Stop criticizing me!"- you tell her, Chuck! As for Peppermint Patty, she gets so upset her mood ring pops! Schroeder humors Lucy after she's asked 1 too many stupid questions ("Do you think Beethoven was a better musician than Elton John?") and graciously dons a pair of Elton's specs magnaminously given by you-know-who.

With each page it was funnier and funnier and I kept thinking to myself this is so true!! Everyone spends so much time being politically correct in the office-I love that the authors just put the reality out there. This is such a good laugh and as an added bonus-the office is a whole lot more entertaining!

When Dr. Reid was doing his doctoral dissertation, who would have thought that religious fanatics dreaming of bombing the world into paradise would again become current? While the specific mantic context of the text's particular end of days views leaves the violence to God, there is a nexus. We would be well advised to study Daniel and Edras and the context not only to understand the Christian fundys, but the "radical Islamists" as well. Dr. Reid's dissertation is well worth the effort to read through.