Antiques Collectibles category: 2714 books

From prehistory to the mid-20th century, this informative book describes and illustrates the development of Western dress. The text — enhanced by nearly 500 illustrations — appears in outline form, permitting easy cross-referencing of material. Details of distinctive features for each era include...

“The Mary Brooks Picken Method Of Modern Dressmaking” is a complete guide to tailoring, originally written with the amateur in mind. With simple, step-by-step instructions and helpful illustrations and photographs, this classic handbook will be of considerable utility to modern readers with an...

In this beautifully illustrated book, three experts examine the history, production and uses of textiles in Balinese society. Many fine pieces are presented, their raw materials and methods of weaving and dyeing are described, and the complex symbolism and ritual functions of each are explained in detail.

Textiles provide a visual history of a country's culture and crafting traditions in a way few other things can accomplish. In Textiles of Southeast Asia, Dr. Robyn Maxwell provides the definitive work on Southeast Asian textiles. Traditional textiles are one of the most widely collected and...

Toys, people! Who doesn't love toys? They make you smile, give you something to squeeze and hug, and can even sit on the couch and watch TV with you. But could the toy be a couch, or an old-fashioned television? Is that too weird? Not if the toy is mochimochi, the super-cute and strange knitted toys...

'Risk Assessment for Object Conservation' reflects Dr Jonathan Ashley-Smith's personal interests and views in areas including materials science, the ethics of restoration, the costs of conservation and the philosophy of museums. This valuable book explains the mechanisms of deterioration of...

With beautiful full-color Batik cloths and extensive historical and cultural commentary, Batik: From the Courts of Java and Sumatra is a fundamental work in the field of Indonesian art and culture. Batik occupies a special position in Indonesia. The extraordinary photographs of cloths and prints...

Superb examples of the ironworker's art — elaborately wrought designs for gates, fences, finials, banisters, window grilles, signs, marquees, cathedral screens, and a host of other architectural and decorative appointments, from Gothic style to Art Nouveau — meticulously rendered in fine black-and-white drawings reprinted from rare European and American books and periodicals.

This handsome archive depicts richly detailed armor and weaponry dating from the early ninth century to the mid-1700s. Adapted from decorative ornamentation on burial monuments and manuscripts, hundreds of finely executed images depict authentic shields, swords, crossbows, helmets, and ornate suits of body armor for knights and their steeds. 100 black-and-white plates.

This antiquarian book contains a detailed treatise on English heraldry, with information on its history, development, and popularity. Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of the army;...

In paintings as pretty as the porcelain they depict, this gift book celebrates one of the finest teacup collections in the world: the 300-piece archive of the Clark Art Institute, which dates back to the eighteenth century and represents coveted designs of the day from Europe and China. Artist Molly...

Women's fashions during the second half of the nineteenth century offered a delightful display of styles reflecting English, French, and American tastes. This comprehensive treasury of more than 900 crisp black-and-white illustrations ― arranged chronologically and dated by year ― provides a rich...

This book presents more than 2,000 illustrations of shoes, hats, and fashion accessories reproduced directly from now rare periodicals and catalogs from the 1850s to 1940. It comprises an invaluable pictorial survey for the fashion historian, designer, and enthusiast, as well as a practical source...

This fascinating Japanese photography book features over 140 images taken between 1853 and 1905 by the most important local and foreign photographers then working in Japan. Almost one-fourth of the images are hand colored, superb examples of a rich art form long since vanished. The Japan of...