Customer Reviews

Handbook of Ornament (Dover Pictorial Archive)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

This book has been in print since 1888! Yes, it's that good! It's a bound version of an earlier work that was a folio. Forty years ago, my art teacher showed me his copy. I went out and got one. It's still on the shelves, but price has risen. It a collection of drawings from many sources: Cathedrals, Estates, Chateau, public buildings, museums and their contents! All collected before the Franco-Prussian war. Many things that no longer exist in this world. If you wish to depict life in the dark ages, the renaissance, Atlantis, Troy, the enlightenment, Hyboria, Byzantium, Rome, Carthage, etc., YOU NEED THIS BOOK!!!

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.

Originally published in 1888, this book is the real deal. Honestly, this book renders so many others I have on the shelf useless. It goes through EVERYTHING ornamental from furniture, to alphabets, to architecture, to tracery, plain design, cutlery, and everything else you can think of. At first, I scoffed when I got this book because it covered such a wide range of ornamentation. I mean, what book have you ever seen that does a GOOD job covering a range? Then, when I got into it, I realized that it DOES go into detail in each section. Having 3000 images makes this possible, but what I like too, is there is a substantial amount of text explainig where the design comes from.

I think its nearly impossible to find a book this rich in resources for less than $20 USD.

This is an indispensable resource for the novice or serious designer/painter. Some designs are very small, and others are so ornate that they would be difficult to reproduce without spending considerable time and effort. However, I found most to be easy to scan, print on a transparency, and enlarge with an overhead projector. The section called "bands" has beautiful designs that could be handpainted or made into border stencils. Chapters include geometric designs, natural forms such as foliage, fruit and flowers, mythical creatures, individual ornaments, capitals and bases for columns, decorative panels, vases, several lettering styles, and much more.

The content of this book is incredible. Perfect for a designer like me to learn how to make my own ornamental designs. But it also has an incredible array of line drawings of detailing found from around the world. The focus is on variety of styles rather than too many that look very similar. Realistic lions alongside flat stylized ones with wings etc.
My first impression though was that it is too small!!! If I had picked this book up at a store I would have put it back and looked for a bigger alternative. I have forgotten to check the size on a few of my purchases and been disappointed.
This book is also out of copyright... So it can be found online Archived as a PDF ..
Buy this if you want a permanent hard copy. I always prefer a hard copy for general reference books anyway... Just make it bigger!

This book is a terrific reference. It presents copious examples along with very thorough identification for sources. It allows me to quickly pick a style that fits the need and also provides enough information to allow me to dig a little deeper and investigate a particular style through other reference material. Just perfect for what I need and wonderful for my uses.