Customer Reviews

Historic Designs and Patterns in Color from Arabic and Italian Sources (Pictorial Archives)

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This book is a source for visual designers, architects, and interior decorators. It is a reproduction of the plates of a larger theoretical opus Hessemer published around 1840, collecting interesting mostly geometric designs from Italy and Egypt. This has no text at all after the publishers note explaining this, and a list of the plates and their sources, followed by 120 pages of color plates, many with multiple designs. The reproductions of the old plates have lost something through the generations, and aren't particularly accurate regarding the details being presented. When you actually go to Italy and see these things, the reds will pop your eyes out. Docked a star because it's pretty dull here. A clever people would scan the images and alter the colors both to match their needs and to approach the correct clarity and intensity.

The publisher claims some restrictions on rights to reproduce the designs: "You may use the designs and illustrations for graphics and crafts applications, free and without special permission, provided that you include no more than ten in the same publication or project", and, "reproduction of any illustration by any of the graphic service [...] is prohibited." You'd think anything published in 1840 would be Public Domain by now.

We may use the 4th down on plate 96 (parts of the mosaic bands on the Duomo of Florence) in our entry hall.

The only problem that I have with these books is that so many of them are partially compiled from one another. If you have very few of these books, this is a great source of inspiration with many varied color images. If you have a more vast library I think that this book does not offer anything drastically new.