It was the 1950s in postwar America, and paperback books were the hot new product in the publishing industry. Of course, to stand out from the crowd and sell, one needed a gimmick. Into this newly exuberant market came a publishing house named Ace Books, with the seductive promise of two books for the price of one. It also had the eye-catching premise of two separate covers, joined at the spine like Siamese twins. Finished with one book? Flip the paperback over and begin again with a new novel, complete with its own package. It was something completely different -- and it sold! "Double Trouble" tours the short yet popular era of the Ace Mystery Doubles, and includes both author-title and title indexes for easy reference.

Styrene novelties were the toy of choice during the late thirties and forties in the United States. Even World War II did not dampen the American public's love affair with these inexpensive colorful objects. The war ended but the romance continued, with all sorts of styrene plastics--candy containers, banks, party favors, holiday decorations, baby toys, stocking stuffers, partyware, and kitchen decorations. The list marches on. This fun book is about those plastic novelties that flourished at the end of the Art Deco era. Charlene Pinkerton gives collectors and dealers plenty to see, in a photo-packed book of more than 600 color prints, a price guide, and enough information on these wonderful collectibles to satisfy everyone!

Extensively illustrated, this is the first accessible publication on the history of tapestry in over two decades. Woven with dazzling images from history, mythology and the natural world, and breath-taking in their craftsmanship, tapestries were among the most valuable and high-status works of art available in Europe from the medieval period to the end of the eighteenth century. Over 600 historic examples hang in National Trust properties in England and Wales - the largest collection in the UK. This beautifully illustrated study by tapestry expert Helen Wyld, in association with the National Trust, offers new insights into these works, from the complex themes embedded in their imagery, to long-forgotten practices of sacred significance and ritual use. The range of historical, mythological and pastoral themes that recur across the centuries is explored, while the importance of the 'revival' of tapestry from the late nineteenth century is considered in detail for the first time. Although focussed on the National Trust's collection, this book offers a fresh perspective on the history of tapestry across Europe. Both the tapestry specialist and the keen art-history enthusiast can find a wealth of information here about woven wall hangings and furnishings, including methods of production, purchase and distribution, evolving techniques and technologies, the changing trends of subject matter across time, and how tapestries have been collected, used and displayed in British country houses across the centuries.

Includes overlay and suspension lamps, lanterns, smoke shades and bells, and gas and electric lighting devices.

Tiaras have always inspired a great fascination and the most beautiful and influential women have been painted, photographed and admired whilst wearing them. Even in the 21st century they are still worn and continue to inspire special poise, elegance and sophistication. This lavishly illustrated book includes exclusive photographs, many repro duced for the first time, of a variety of Royal tiaras together with those of French and Russian Imperial provenance, including four stunning tiaras designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria. Geoffrey Munn has also been granted privileged access to the archives of many famous jewellers, including Boucheron, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels and Faberge, for his research. The regal images of some of the most prestigious jewels in the world will captivate the reader and ensure turning the page to the next enticing image becomes irresistible. Many of these mes merising tiaras also have great historical signifi cance and their provenance is fully explained here. Among the con temporary pieces referred to are tiaras belonging to Jamie Lee Curtis, Vivienne Westwood, Elton John and Madonna, that were made by Galliano, Slim Barratt and Versace. The scholarly text, which incorporates more than 400 illustrations, includes chapters on tiaras as crown jewels, Russian style tiaras, tiaras as works of art and the relationship between the tiara and the costume ball. Tiaras - A History of Splendour is a magnificent work that will enthral all those interested in fashion and style, jewellery, European history and Royalty. "... beautifully written and magnificently produced... for anyone interested in social history, it's as good a read as you are likely to have this year." Daily Telegraph "A truly majestic book" Antiques Info "... elegantly melds social history, fashion criticism and an appreciation of the jeweler's art." Town & Country

Sit back, light up, and enjoy. Newly in vogue, people are rediscovering a relaxing pastime enjoyed for centuries. This book is a compendium of cigar related "stuff," from the old cigars in their original wrappers still ready to smoke to the fine humidors that have kept them fresh for decades. Here is the breadth of advertising, ashtrays, matchsafes, cigar boxes, dispensers, and holders that have adorned homes and shops for 100 years and more. This book follows the successful Antique Cigar Cutters and Lighters by the same co-authors, who herein present more than 500 items in clear, full-color photographs, with informative captions and a current price guide. This book is custom designed for cigar aficionados and those who appreciate antique advertising. It is a welcome addition to the literature of tobacciana.

Model engineering is generally considered to be a man thing, as men in sheds everywhere don overalls and shape metal into models. But arguably the world's greatest model engineer, Cherry Hill, is, in fact, a woman. And the word 'models' hardly does justice to what she produces. For the past several decades Cherry has created scaled-down versions of traction engines - and not just run-of-the-mill types, but elaborate Victorian flights of fancy. Extensive research and meticulous design are the secrets of her success. She has created almost twenty models over the sixty-year period since her father gave her an old lathe from the workshop of his agricultural machinery business. One of the most impressive aspects of Cherry's work is that all her engines are fully working and what comes out of her workshops in Worcestershire and Florida is perfection, both in terms of design and craftsmanship. Every last part, even tiny chain links, is made in the workshop from metal stock. No parts are bought in. Once completed, all her models are given away: early ones to friends and family and later ones to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Each model typically occupies 7,000 hours' work, and Cherry's staggering efforts have been rewarded with the highest honours, including nine gold medals and an MBE from the Queen for Services to Model Engineering. Here, for the first time, the fruits of her illustrious career are displayed in all their intricate glory for your inspiration and enjoyment.

Anchor-Hocking Glass Company's popular Fire-King (R) dinnerware and cookware were part of nearly every American home from the 1940s to the 1970s. Over 2000 pieces of this highly collectible household glassware are illustrated in color, and current prices are given. Included are the popular Jadite and opaque blue lines, as well as the eagerly collected ivory, fired-on colors, and transparent lines. This book contains numerous rarities, never before shown, as well as common Fire-King (R) that has been part of everyday life for over 50 years. The pieces are beautifully photographed and each has a careful description. This colorful new book is an important edition to the Fire-King literature, and will be cherished by collectors everywhere.

Enjoy an incredible collection of 128 images showing the fleeting, effervescent beauty of young geisha apprentices captured over a century ago. This keepsake, fan-shaped book captures a moment now lost to history, when Japanese girls were indentured as young as 6. Dressed like dolls, they were paraded through parties and celebrated for their beauty, charm, and innocence, all the while learning the music, dance, conversational, and gaming skills expected in a master of their craft. Here is a wonderful opportunity to see these girls in the glory of their colorful regalia, posing before a newly introduced invention, the camera. This treasury of hand-tinted postcard and real-photo images is a unique book you will treasure forever.

If you like true stories about real people, are intrigued by serendipity, curious about curiosities, or maybe you are a collector yourself, then this book is for you.

The collecting and researching of any collectable is an intense and pleasurable pastime. The author’s passion for more than half a century has been for collecting handwritten, original letters, antique documents, manuscripts, old share certificates, fire insurance policies, photographs and maps.

The writers of these words on paper include kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, admirals and generals, actors and authors, judges and prisoners, philosophers, statesmen, scientists, and sportsmen. Some were famous, some infamous, some important, others less so. Many you will know about; with others, only their names may be familiar. There’s Admiral Nelson, and the Duke of Wellington; there are queens Elizabeth I and II and kings George III, IV and VI; presidents Eisenhower, Kruger, and Mandela are here; prime ministers Botha, Hertzog and Smuts; explorers Scott and Shackleton. There’s Faraday and De la Rey, and many more, including two controversial giants of history – Napoleon and Rhodes.

The chapters need not be read in any set order, although there is an underlying thread linking them to the life of the author that enabled this eclectic collection to evolve in the way it did.

More than 700 striking photographs and a detailed text about Zippo cigarette lighters, their history and current values, as well as the Viet Nam War comprise this important new book. It provides not only photographs of authentic and counterfeit Zippos and the factory's own art work, but also a concise outline of the War, lists of U.S. and Vietnamese ship and boat names that did duty in Viet Nam, definitions of naval abbreviations, South Vietnamese waterways and geographic names, Allied in-country units, and a comprehensive dictionary translating important Vietnamese military terms so that old Zippo lighters can be interpreted today. Singularly, this book holds tremendous appeal to an extremely broad audience. Lighter collectors will see a wide variety of rare and common Zippos. Photographers and artists interested in the Viet Nam War and its images will see powerful action photos. Viet Nam War and general military collectors and historians will find factual information organized in a quickly accessible form. Political historians and Sixties and Seventies collectors will find ideas and objects to delight their interests. All will want this unique and striking book for their libraries.

The Salem Witch trials were one of the darkest chapters in American history. With absorbing historical narrative and 300 photographs, Pamela E. Apkarian-Russell recounts three hundred years of a city's past, from the trials themselves through the 1890s, when Daniel Low produced the first souvenir spoon, to years of memorabilia and collectibles. The historic sites in Salem are documented through their many changes. These tourist meccas are visited by tens of thousands of people each year, whose purchases have helped to create a photo album of printed images and a treasure trove of silver and china souvenirs showing both witches and the historic sites. Separate chapters in this book illustrate the witchcraft theme as depicted on jewelry, silverware, cups and saucers, assorted chinaware, bottled goods, and a host of other interesting items.

That there was an influx of silver dirhams from the Muslim world into eastern and northern Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries is well known, as is the fact that the largest concentration of hoards is on the Baltic island of Gotland. Recent discoveries have shown that dirhams were reaching the British Isles, too. What brought the dirhams to northern Europe in such large numbers? The fur trade has been proposed as one driver for transactions, but the slave trade offers another - complementary - explanation. This volume does not offer a comprehensive delineation of the hoard finds, or a full answer to the question of what brought the silver north. But it highlights the trade in slaves as driving exchanges on a trans-continental scale. By their very nature, the nexuses were complex, mutable and unclear even to contemporaries, and they have eluded modern scholarship. Contributions to this volume shed light on processes and key places: the mints of Central Asia; the chronology of the inflows of dirhams to Rus and northern Europe; the reasons why silver was deposited in the ground and why so much ended up on Gotland; the functioning of networks - perhaps comparable to the twenty-first-century drug trade; slave-trading in the British Isles; and the stimulus and additional networks that the Vikings brought into play. This combination of general surveys, presentations of fresh evidence and regional case studies sets Gotland and the early medieval slave trade in a firmer framework than has been available before.

Analysis of a group of images of kingship and queenship from Anglo-Saxon England explores the implications of their focus on books, authorship and learning. Between the reign of Alfred in the late ninth century and the arrival of the Normans in 1066, a unique set of images of kingship and queenship was developed in Anglo-Saxon England, images of leadership that centred on books, authorship and learning rather than thrones, sword and sceptres. Focusing on the cultural and historical contexts in which these images were produced, this book explores the reasons for their development, and their meaning and functionwithin both England and early medieval Europe. It explains how and why they differ from their Byzantine and Continental counterparts, and what they reveal about Anglo-Saxon attitudes towards history and gender, as well as the qualities that were thought to constitute a good ruler. It is argued that this series of portraits, never before studied as a corpus, creates a visual genealogy equivalent to the textual genealogies and regnal lists that are so mucha feature of late Anglo-Saxon culture. As such they are an important part of the way in which the kings and queens of early medieval England created both their history and their kingdom. CATHERINE E. KARKOV is Professorof Art History at the University of Leeds.

Originally written in 1905, this volume examines the coins of Japan, especially appealing because of a subtle and impersonal charm which pervades their inscriptions and the sentiments which they set forth. They are written in characters which are a manifest surviva of the picture writing of early man. He wrote, that is to say, scored or scratched, various outline sketches of his doings and the more intimate facts of his surroundings, on bone, clay or other material.

Figural shoes are a delightful, long-collected art form, which especially flourished in Victorian times and after World War II. This ground-breaking book, the first authoritative work on shoes made of porcelain and pottery, illustrates over 1,200 from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They are accompanied by hundreds of marks and carefully drawn scale sketches showing in-mold detail and relative dimensions. Identified manufacturers include Royal Worcester, Coalport, Spode, Meissen, Goss, Heubach, Conta & Boehme, von Schierholz, Dedham, Morimura (Nippon), Schafer & Vater, and the most comprehensive group of Royal Bayreuth shoes ever published. There is also a large section on French faience from such factories as Henriot, the elusive Alcide Chaumeil, Moreau, Porquier, Verlingue, Longwy, and the several Fourmaintraux families. In addition, most of the unmarked porcelain shoes have been traced to German factories, many revealed here for the first time. Current values are included for all. The extensively researched text includes an alphabetical list of manufacturers, designers, decorators, and importers, with locations, years of operations, and product lines. Simplified, practical explanations on manufacturing processes are included, as are pointers for identifying and dating unmarked shoes, recognizing fakes, and assessing values. Shoe and figural collectors and all who appreciate fine porcelain and pottery will find this an essential reference and a visual delight.

Ice skating has a rich heritage with traditions spanning the centuries and the globe. Here is a concise history of skating, from the first bone skates to the early 1900s, and a guide to antique ice skates for collectors and historians alike. It will enable the reader to identify the various skate types, styles, designs, approximate ages, countries of origin, and rarity. More than 250 photographs, lavishly illustrated artwork, and original patent designs present skates from countries such as Holland, England, Germany, and America. A chapter on skaters' lanterns is also included. A general price guide will aid in evaluating a collection. This book will pique the interests of collectors and dealers in several fields, including antique ice skates, lanterns, miniatures, and tools. It will also be welcomed by wood and metal workers, carvers, and hockey, figure, and speed skating fans alike. All and all it is a delightful book.

Communications between amateur radio (AKA ham radio) operators and citizen band stations have been crowding the world's electromagnetic spectrum since its invention in the early 20th century. Millions of operators formed what could be almost be described as an early internet - projecting their voices, ideas, and humanity around the earth's surface using various techniques and frequencies to bounce their waves around the earth's surface, off of the ionosphere, and even the moon. Any communication network needs a way of identifying individuals. A QSL card is a written confirmation of prior communication between two amateur radio or citizens band stations-postcard sized and mailed between users. Do You Confirm Receipt of My Transmission is derived from the Q code. A Q code message can stand for a statement or a question (when the code is followed by a question mark). In this case, 'QSL?' (note the question mark) means "Do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" while 'QSL' (without a question mark) means "I confirm receipt of your transmission." Just like today's internet avatars, operators had their own style and often projected their personality using their QSL cards. Collecting cards was popular, and a source of pride to operators. Published by Brooklyn-based design imprint, Standards Manual, Do You Confirm Receipt of My Transmission is a visual history of these cards, spanning from approximately 1960-1990. Over 190 cards are included, front and back, with high resolution details. The collection forms a visual history of early global communication - something we now take for granted but was once a marvel. Today, there are over 3 million licensed radio operators worldwide.

Dazzling in their bold use of color and wide range of designs, Art Nouveau tiles are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. These international tile designs encompassed striking decorative elements to be used in residences and public buildings. High fired, these tiles retain their original color and beauty despite over one hundred years of use. This book, designed for both the beginning collector and the long time lover of tiles, includes full color examples of over 600 designs. A very useful and beautiful collectors' guide, it provides information about many major tile manufacturers. It is arranged by company and design and contains a guide to market prices, as well as suggestions and tips for tile collectors. Filling a gap in the tile books currently available, this volume provides both the largest collection of single Art Nouveau images published to date, and a concise introduction to the field of tiles. A bibliography contains research sources for more detailed study and information regarding organizations devoted to tile preservation and collection. This is the perfect choice for any lover of ceramic surfaces and those who appreciate and enjoy color and design. It will undoubtedly be instrumental in not only introducing many to the beauty of Art Nouveau design, but also expanding their interest in collecting this amazing art form.

In 1934 Alcoa introduced a revolutionary new line of aluminum alloy giftware and domestic items designed by American pioneer industrial designer Lurelle Guild. Called Kensington Ware, these relatively expensive, slick, machine-age objects were in an unmistakenly Art Deco style with cast brass accents. They represent an important American contribution to modern design and decorative arts. The Kensington plant ceased production around 1970, and collectors have recently been scooping up these compelling objects in the antique and collectible markets. This is the first book to tell the Kensington story and identify, value, and illustrate the aluminum in 375 color, vintage, and black-and-white illustrations. It is a must for anyone interested in aluminum, Art Deco, and the machine-age in America.