Reviews (4)

Greatest book ever
It took me 10 years but I finally own it. I fell in love with the pictures in this book in 7th grade art class.

Animals 1419 copyright free illustrations
This book is an excellent book for artists and art teachers to use for ideas. It is all in black and white which helps people see values that are so difficult for some to see. It has wonderful detail.

A wonderful resource!
This book is an awesome resource/refernece book for drawing almost any animal you wish to draw. It includes many images of animals in action, which helps as a reference when you don't have the option to see the animal in the flesh. Some images include the native scenery of more exotic creatures. I use it to help an idea in my head come to life on paper, for pen & ink, colored pencil, or printmaking designs. This book is my first source to draw an animal (if the option of a live model is not possible!) The illustrations have more depth and interest than a straight forward encyclopedia of animals, adding to a more creative treatment of subjects. Easily my most often used resource book.

Excelent Resource
I use this book as a reference as I sculpt. It has at least one picture of almost every animal that I need with only a few exeptions. It has fish, mamals, reptiles, birds... even a FEW dinosoars. I recomend it for any artist looking for a general animal reference. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Turn-of-the-Century Design: A Warped View
The remark that this book "traces this aesthetic revolution..and is a compleling guide through the founding years of Modernism" rings false after even a cursery examination. Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the great architectural geniuses of the period, is represented by a chair. Grueby Faience is given a reproduction, but Greene & Greene and Bernard Maybeck are not mentioned. Several of Otto Wagner's students are repesented, but he does not appear. Gaudi and Horta cannot be found. Josef Hoffmann, the great genius of Secessionism, is poorly represented and two of his most famous chairs are attributed to Kammerer. Tiffany appears to be a minor window designer. Etc. One suspects that the authors saved photos in a shoebox and threw this series together. This is a great idea that is unfortunately very slovenly assembled and ultimately serves to distort and flatten this inventive and extravegent period of architecture and art. Taschen and his authors should be ashamed of this endeavor.

REPRINTS FROM THE HIGHLY PRIZED DECORATIVE ART YEARBOOKS
TASCHEN's Decorative Art series spans the 20th century through the 1970s and carefully reproduces the best of Studio Magazine's Decorative Art yearbooks. Published annually from 1906 until 1980, the yearbook was dedicated to the latest currents in architecture, interiors, furniture, lighting, glassware, textiles, metalware, and ceramics, and remained on the cutting edge throughout its nearly eight-decade run. Since going out of print, the now hard-to-find yearbooks have been highly prized by collectors and dealers. Preserving the yearbooks' original page layouts, TASCHEN's Decorative Art books bring you an authentic experience of each decade's design trends and styles. The now complete six-volume set is an essential addition to the comprehensive design library and the devoted collector will want them all.

Decorative Art 1900 ~ 1910s - This volume highlights the aesthetic transition from the Victorian era to the modern age at a time when 'modern' was a genuinely new concept. Eschewing designs that displayed excessive ornamentation, this era of Decorative Art yearbooks showcased the work of progressive designers like Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charles Voysey, Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte. ... Read more

Book Description

An excellent resource for artists, designers, architects, craftspeople, or anyone interested in the decorative arts.

First published in 1856, The Grammar of Ornament remains a design classic. Its inspiration came from the pioneering architect and designer Owen Jones. His observations of decorative art on his extensive travels in Europe and the Near East were employed to improve the poor quality of Western design. His goal was to change the Victorian habit of mixing elements from a wide variety of sources and applying this mix indiscriminately to buildings, graphic design, and products. His resulting study is a comprehensive analysis of a remarkable collection of styles of ornamental design -- from Ancient Egypt and Greece to Imperial China and Renaissance Italy. With its sumptuous illustrations, its detailed survey of individual cultures, and its manifesto of "General Principles," it offered guidance to the designers of the future. In this new edition the designs are further illuminated by Iain Zaczek's perceptive commentaries. Hugely influential since its first publication, The Grammar of Ornament inspired great figures such as William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright. Contemporary designers, entertained by the archaic charm of Jones's descriptions, are struck by the book's enduring relevance and its soundness regarding the essential principles of good design. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

This CD is the best.
I have the thin booklet as a reference to the CD, which I purchased some years ago. If you do Webpage design this CD is a must have. Unlike other CDs of Grammar of Ornament this one has the images in EPSF, JPEG and PDF form. Others I've looked at only had PDF and that doesn't do me any good. I've used Fireworks from Macromedia's Studio MX Suite to make backgrounds and buttons for webpages made with Flash and Dreamweaver. If you can get your hands on this CD or any of the other CDs Direct Imagination has created, do it. I do think Grammar of Ornament is the best of all the ones Direct Imagination produced. Having the book for reference with it is handy, but if you can only get the CD alone, do it anyway. After a while you just know which plate has which graphic.

Pattern Paradise
This book was first published in 1856 and is a design classic! Owen Jones was born in 1809 and is a key figure in the history of British design. He was an architect and designer who taught in London during the 1850s.

He traveled in Europe and the Near East, were he helped to bring back ideas to improve the quality of Western design. This collection is a result of his comprehensive analysis of patterns. The sumptuous illustrations are presented in these sections:

Ornament of Savage Tribes

Egyptian Ornament
Assyrian and Persian Ornament
Greek Ornament
Pompeian Ornament
Roman Ornament
Byzantine Ornament
Arabian Ornament
Turkish Ornament
Moresque Ornament from the Alhambra
Persian Ornament
Indian Ornament
Hindoo Ornament
Chinese Ornament
Celtic Ornament
Mediaeval Ornament
Renaissance Ornament
Elizabethan Ornament
Italian Ornament
Leaves and Flowers from Nature

The original Preface to Owen Jones's original folio edition has been preserved and included. The general principles in the arrangement of form and color are listed so you can see which are advocated throughout this book.

If you are interested in reading about over 2,350 classic patterns (color engravings representing a vast range of ornamental styles), this is the book for you! More than likely, you will gravitate to one form of the other and concentrate your reading efforts on those sections.

The actual pictures are all numbered and the mediaeval section is especially beautiful.

Iain Zaczek has contributed to the commentaries in this work. He is an art historian and has written on a wide variety of subjects. He is also the author of The Essential William Morris, The essential Art Deco, and the Art of Illuminated Manuscripts.

A Gem
The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones is a highly regarded design classic, first published in 1856 and just as relevant today. The DK edition is a pleasure to examine (although you may need reading glasses to see the six-point type for some captions). The small format fits well in the hand and has a nice heft (504 pages at 1.3 inches thick). The paper is superb and the colored inks for the thousands of engravings brilliant and crisp. If you need a version that lays flat on your drawing table or a scanner bed, however, this one has some drawbacks. The images are very tight to the inner margins, and the glued binding difficult to keep open without breaking the back. That aside, the DK edition is beautiful and a great buy. ... Read more

Book Description

Ornament, the art of decorative patterning, includes some of the most spectacular creations of human imagination and skill. Although the fashion for unadorned form pushed ornament to the margins of Western taste in the twentieth century, an ornamental revival is now under way. This book introduces the global panorama of ornament and will be of value to crafts people, collectors, and students of art history. Trilling's approach is both visual and historical. With over 200 illustrations, he presents the dazzling variety of ornament so that the reader can appreciate both its inherent form and the role it has played in everything from the monumental architecture of Mycenaean Greece to the inlaid vessels of Zhou Dynasty China, from the bronze mirrors of Early Celtic Britain to the carved and woven ornament of the Indians of Alaska and British Columbia. The characteristics of individual styles are balanced against their evolution and interaction from the Paleolithic Age to the present day. Special attention is paid to patterns that migrate across large stretches of space and time, showing how ornament becomes a record of cultural interaction through trade, conquest, and the spread of religions. Finally, Trilling explores the fate of ornament since the beginning of modernism in the early twentieth century. Modernism actually nurtured a vibrant and original ornamental style of its own, one so different from traditional ornament that its true nature went virtually unrecognized. Ornament in the postmodern era is open to any number of possible innovations, combining the modernist legacy with forms and principles from the world of traditional ornament. 50 color and 175 b/w illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent introduction.
I have researched and used ornament from various cultures and time periods to incorporate it into my woodblock prints.This book is truly informative. It is a clear introduction on the use and history of ornament and an good explanation of why it partially disappeared in the 20th century (or mutated into abstraction). it also has many small but good color reproductions to illustrate some key points.
Also, I am trying to get in touch with Mr. Trilling, if anybody knows his e-mail or address. Thank you. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

must have
Arabic Geometrical Patterns are not so easy to find, not to mention understand their knowhows, this book clearly displays a very wide array of examples with simple step by step instructions displayed on the same platform, i was searching for a book like that, this book is quite enough, it is not for novice beginners though, you need to have some background in such subject as the text and discription for each chapter is very limited, and the book is totally black and white, so you have to figureout what color combinations are suitable. But the layout of the book makes reprouducing the wounderful examples easy.

Geometry made easy
This book has an extensive variety of geometric patterns that can be use by a Math teacher as well as an Art teacher. The designs are easy to reproduce. The display of the designs are big enough for students to try out and experiment. I greatly recommend it.

Geometrical Designs in Black and White
This book is full of different patterns for use by craftsmen. Unfortunately, it has no color illustrations, and no information about sources for these designs. It is more like a coloring book than a resource for designs. However, it does have guidelines within each design to show how the design was created, and I find that useful. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Lots of simple, PRETTY designs
This book was everything I hoped it would be. One thing, it is more of a 'magazine' type book, but still has fabulous pictures in it. I have used two of the beautiful, unique designs in this book as TATTOOS! It has fabulous ultra-feminine desigs that are much better than the run-of-the-mill tribal art or celtic art designs. I also use the designs for scrapbooking. At the price this is offered for, you can't beat it! ... Read more

Book Description

garden favorites rendered in black-and-white line illustrations will suggest numerous design and artistic uses to artists, designers, craftsmen, needleworkers. Amaryllis, anemone, begonia, cinquefoil, peony, snapdragon flow and weave, many forming borders and frames. All drawings copyright-free.
... Read more

Reviews (2)

A good garden floral design book
It pertains a good assortment of garden flowers and the drawing is graceful. Yet, the interpretation of the shading by scatter dots sometimes make the design look too busy.

Excellent source book
This book of black and white line drawings has a wealth of flower designs in several sizes and shows those flowers from several different angles. Most common American flowers are represented and the index makes a particular flower easy to locate. I have used it for pen and ink drawing, china painting, and embroidery designs but it would be equally useful to woodworkers or oil painters. The renditions are detailed enough to get a firm understanding of the flowers structure and the shading, while subtle, would be helpful to a new student who might have problems with light and shadow. It is one of the most used source books in my collection. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

Good intro to Celtic work
This contains quite a bit of basic Celtic patterns and art. However, I was somewhat disappointed: the knot work is not terribly intricate nor original. Also, the ink quality of each graphic is low... they already look like photocopies. The publisher could have taken a little bit more time and money to improve the images and remove the obviously granular appearance of each image.

There is value in the book though: it contains 4 different Celtic-style fonts (each containing solely the 26 letters), plus there is a good variety of bands, circles, and knots. In addition, each piece of art is spaced well apart so that one can easily photocopy and then cut out the patterns if so inclined. Both sides of each page are used for different pieces of art though, so I would not recommend cutting the original pages.

Due to the simplicity and low quality of each print, I feel that this book would be great only for a grade school art project or similar crafts. It simply does not have enough detailed Celtic art to be of use for works that require higher quality or detail.

159 Celtic Designs
This is a great book if you need some good clipart in a hurry.

Wonderful!
This book is an excellent clipart resource for those who have Celtic projects in mind. It has a variety of designs from smaller, comparatively simple knots, to intricate frame style knotwork borders, bands, zoomorphic designs, key patterns and spirals. There are also two complete Celtic knotwork alphabets, one uncial style alphabet, and another thats not really Celtic but very pretty nonetheless. I've used it already for several tattoos, and some graphics for my website as well. As with most of the Dover clipart books, there are very few Copyright restrictions, which is a great value at this price!

good for the beginner
This book gave specific examples about the intricate artwork of the celts. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

Exquisite and useful!
I love the fact that you can resize the designs. I've used several as the basis of embroidery patterns on cloaks and tunics. They would be great for everything from newsletters to tattoo designs. From borders to circles to neckpieces to animals, this is a great reference that you will use over and over.

THIS IS COOL
The designs in this book are awesome from the animals to the knots I even used one of them for a tatto, it's also great for flyers.

Great for computer applications!
This book comes with each design duplicated in a number of formats (gif, jpg, bmp and Mac formats as well!) on a cd rom, which makes this huge clipart collection perfect for graphic design on any computer. About 75% of the designs are animals, ranging from peacocks, a seahorse, to a duck, otter, pelican and fish; but there are also a few spirals, knotwork and key patterns. I have done a few tattoos and created a number of web graphics with the collection, and gotten alot of enjoyment and inspiration from them, and reccomend it to anyone looking for intricate Celtic art (especially zoomorphic desigs), that they can use freely, without worry of Copyright (because there is none, other than a limit on the # of images per publication). ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Excellent design source in COLOR!
This is part of the Dover pictorial archive collection, so the whole book is designs. The bit I like about this book is that the designs are in color, so you can see variations in light and dark colors, color combinations, colors receeding and coming forward, etc.

Some designs are done using just the tile shape, and some depend on designs painted onto the tiles. Some are very bold and simple designs and some are very flowery. Appears to be a good mix of designs from around the world and throughout time.

Well worth the price! ... Read more

Book Description

This excellent collection of historic decorative ornament contains over 3000 examples ranging from the cultures of the Greeks and Romans through the Victorians. Among the many different kinds of objects depicted are fine line drawings of chairs, thrones, crowns, heraldic emblems, altars, armor, architecture and scores of objects used in everyday life. 3002 black-and-white illustrations.
... Read more

Reviews (2)

Indispensable Ornamental Design Resource
Not only does this book contain a huge assortment of extremely clean and scannable examples of ornamental designs from different periods and cultures, but also provides diagrams and information you can use to create your own original designs in a given style. This may be the last book I buy (except newer copies of THIS book!) on ornamental design.

handbook of ornament
I have used this book for years for picture frame design. This book has a great general over look of ornament styles.The chapters are object types witch help in reasearch for design decisions.I seem to ware out a book about every 4 years.I recoment this book for design ornamentation problems. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Hundreds of beautifully rendered, copyright-free images painstakingly adapted from a host of design traditions: primitive tribal, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Byzantine, French Renaissance and more. Also, decorative motifs derived from metalwork, heraldic ornament, floral vignettes, letters, other elements. Invaluable sourcebook for artists, craftworkers and decorative arts enthusiasts.
... Read more

Reviews (2)

History in Design
This source book of 100 pages of design and motifs from around the world is complemented by 23 pages of descriptions of the elements in each of the "plates" which follow. These elements of design are explained, common and historical names for elements may be given, original colours used, origins of the designs included too. This extra detail gives the book its value, enriching the knowledge of the prospective user, rather than just providing a series of pretty pictures to be copied.

A useful classic
This is a good sourcebook for classic Renaissance style and some Greek style illustrations. Much of the Renaissance art is Greek inspired. Especially noted are the beautiful, and out of the ordinary depictions of Aphrodite. It is intersting to see the Old Pagan influence in these historically accurate depictions. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

good for the quick and dirty
a good basic mongage of Chinese designs, but they are pretty limited, and mostly standard. they seem almost 'clip art'. my advice would be to study Chinese art history, learn the motifs and themes, and the way they presented things, and then create your own. but for the quick and dirty approach, this book isn't bad.

a good window to understand Chinese culture
Desing is always good coponent in certain culture. this book provide you wonderful materials to get to know thedesign which just belong to CHina. ... Read more

Book Description

This exciting and versatile treasury of over 100 designs offers graphic artists many different types of Celtic motifs, both abstract and pictorial, all expertly adapted from authentic Celtic sources. The wide variety of sizes and shapes range from full- and half-page rectangles, triangles and circles to frames, borders, corners and medallions. 103 illustrations.
... Read more

Reviews (3)

Courtney is a guy!
Just an aside comment on the above review...Courtney Davis is actually a guy, not a gal. He's really nice and a very considerate person who loves his art, check it out if you get a chance!

so many uses!
These stencils are great! I have used them to decorate a cake, for glass etching and in my classroom for my students to make stationary. I am still finding uses for these wonderful stencils.

Designs by well known artist
If you haven't seen the Courtney Davis celtic tshirts you may not know who she is. If you have, you probably own several, and already know to get this book. You may even have some and not realize it, many examples of her work are sold at Celtic fairs. The designs in the book are clear and good, can be used (with a little work with scizzors, transfer pencils and plastic sheets) for either stencil, embroidery, a background for the paint-on stained glass decals, or scanned in for any purpose you would like.

It's definitely a book to buy if you are building your celtic crafts collection. ... Read more

Book Description

Over 300 finely detailed illustrations, selected from rare turn-of-the-century sources, provide striking examples of decorative ironwork designed to embellish balconies, gates, window grilles, staircases, doorways, other architectural features. A rich source of inspiration and elegant, copyright-free material for graphic artists, designers, craftworkers.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is just "clip-art", no words or photos
Not what I expected. Just as the title says, this is 670 illustrations. There is no text, no photos. Just illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (5)

A Wonderful Collection of Symbols
Dover Publications scores yet again! This book hits a home run with bases loaded for many reasons.

First, it is jam-packed with thousands of symbols, signs, marks, inscriptions and engravings. All are in black and white, and all are excellent quality.

Second, the book presents a fascinating range of symbols, organized by subject, including: Symbolic Gods and Dieties (included are Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek/Roman, Nordic and Aztec Gods), Astronomy and Astrology, Alchemy, Magic, Church and Religion, Heraldry, Japanese Crests, Cattle Brands, and a large section containing some of the distinctive marks of the medieval european craftsman/guild marks and signets.

Third, this is a surprisingly useful reference. For writers, historian, artists, and the incurably curious, here is a book that sets out, for example, all of the alchemical signs for the materials (gold, silver, etc) and alchemical processes, a host of Catholic and other ancient christian religious symbols, nice engravings of all the important Egyptian gods, etc etc.

Highly Recommended.

A thorough collection of symbols, signs, and signets...
This book has over 200 pages of various symbols, ranging from simple drawings to intricate designs. They are arranged in historical order, begin with various gods and end with hobo signs. Each chapter is preceded with a list of references (the signs are identified by number) and the symbols included are grouped like so:

Symbolic Gods & Deities; Astronomy & Astrology; Alchemy; Magic & Mystic; Church Religion; Heraldry; Monsters & Imaginary Figures; Japanese Crests; Marks & Signets; Watermarks; Printers Marks; Cattle Brands; and Hobo Signs.

There are over 1350 illustrations contained in this book, and all are crisply printed in black and white. Each section has a short blurb in front of it, but not an extensive history. This book would appeal to history lovers, graphic designers, and other symbol geeks. And for the price, it's worth buying.

No one-day checkout for me!
The books in the Dover Pictorial Archive series offer aninsurmountable number of clean black-and-white plates, usuallyfollowed by a caption detailing the original materials where the plates originated. Unfortunately, Symbols, Signs, and Signets doesn't have captions at the bottom of the page, instead making do with an page-by-page index at the beginning of each section. Otherwise, this volume includes symbols from quite literary all over - astrology, alchemy, religion, signatures, cattle marks, and many others. The book is excellent for hatching new interests, probably because most of the intriguing images have uninspired captions. A worthwhile purchase, if you are interested in this sort of thing. Quite cheap, too. END

Wonderful
I found this book in my local library under the "one day checkout" section. Appartantly it is one of the most popular books at the library. It is a pictoral treasury with over 1350 illustrations from many different cultures and time periods. A very nice book to own.

The real orogin of Price's symbol O(+->
This book is the real source of Prince's symbol O(+-> which he claims to have invented. Another case of stolen material becoming someone's intellectual property after enough confusion in the legal courts ... Read more

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Reviews (2)

Should have known better
I was very disapointed with this book. But I should have known, Dover Publications tends to produce shoddy material. I was not impressed with the quality of the art work. I expected to see clearer designs. It looked to me like they let a five year old trace some pictures from a history book.
All though it is from a different culture I would recomend Celtic Designs by Chris Down. The artwork is amazingly clear and very reproducable! If you see this book then you will know exactly why Viking Designs is such a let down!

Good Art and Well Sourced
This book was everything I wanted it to be. The artwork is clear Black and White linework, with notations on each page about where the design came from and what it was used on. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Historical Reproductions. ... Read more