Customer Reviews

Collector's Encyclopedia of Russel Wright (Collector's Encyclopedia of Russell Wright)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am so happy to have gotten this book. I knew little-to-nothing about Wright,and Ann Kerr's book lays out all kinds of information about the man, the artist, and his art. I haven't had much of a problem without an index, as she has all the information chaptered out, and it is all easy to access. The accompanying photos are excellent and there are many. She also explains any areas which may be ambiguous, such as color, size and shape anomalies. Due to getting this book, I often know more about the pieces I find than the dealers do, as she tries to fit in every piece of information that she has, on every aspect of the collectible items. I love this book!

I just started collecting Russel Wright dishes, and was looking for a definitive reference guide to help key out the pieces I had. I thought this book had a lot of helpful information about determining pattern and manfacturing locations, but I was a bit disappointed overall. Though the cover of the book features only pottery, the book itself has examples of all that Russel Wright created in his long, prolific career-- all the way down to the radios and lamps. It would be great for the diehard RW fan, but I wished it just focussed on the pottery.

We've been collecting RW since 1998, and have hundreds of hard to find and many one of a kind pieces.

Pros:
-Some new photos.
-The most comprehensive author of Russel Wright, covering all designs from all eras, including furniture and plastic
-Detailed price guides
-History and chronology of lines based on extensive research

Cons:
-Due to wide scope of the book, it is fairly easy to find incorrect information on pieces, prices, and other data.
-Truncated some interesting information from 2nd edition, including photos of very rare items that we collect

Neutral:
-Moved prices to back (for easier reference?).

Bottom line: 2 stars for accuracy, 4 stars for breadth, 3 stars for depth. Thus the average rating. If you seriously collect RW and do not have either the 2nd or 3rd edition of this book, you should buy this as without doubt this is certainly better than other RW books (and we have several others), but again not necessarily a must have for those with the 2nd edition.

Packed with information, this book is cumbersome to use since it doesn't have an index.

Mrs. Kerr was scrupulous in her research and all information with the possible exception of now outdated pricing is correct in every respect. There are no other books that cover Wright's designs and design career in such breadth and depth as those written by Mrs. Kerr. A dear and well respected friend of his remaining family prior to her death, Mrs. Kerr was privileged to be able to offer her readers unique insight into Mr. Wright's personal and professional life. Wright's place in American Industrial Design was cutting edge in his time and his work has found a following in new generations of collectors. Mrs. Kerr was instrumental in re-introducing Wright's work to the modern collecting world with her gift of keen scholarship and research as well as her great love and respect for this man and his inspired design aesthetic. She was and remains the preeminent authority on Russel Wright and her books belong in every serious collector's library.