Japanese Design (Dover Pictura) [Paperback]

Dover (Author), Dover Clip Art Editors (Author), Dover Pictura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2006

Superb collection of authentic Japanese art and design reproduced directly from rare and costly sources includes birds, florals, animals, fish, crests, geometric designs, and patterns. An invaluable resource for professional and amateur artists and craftspeople. Over 260 color and black-and-white illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (April 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486996972
• ISBN-13: 978-0486996974
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,172,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful imagery and coloring, February 7, 2008

By 

Mama Red "Shopper" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Design (Dover Pictura) (Paperback)

I just over paid for this book at Barnes and Noble, but after looking at it fully, I'm tempted to just keep it, instead of returning and buying here on Amazon, because i'm that satisfied with it as a source of inspiration. I have a much older Japanese clip art book that is simply blk and white illustrations. This addition is a good addition to the blk/white because it offers not only design possibilities, but color options as well. As a designer and artist, I'd give this the thumb's up. The stock paper used has a quality feel to it as well, which is welcome after the cheapy feeling paper used in the older Dover clip art books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No Bibliographic Information, March 2, 2010

By 

Wing Fat - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Japanese Design (Dover Pictura) (Paperback)

This is one of Dover's premium "Pictura" design books, meaning it's on the high end both in price and presentation. The book itself is beautifully printed and the graphics on the CD-ROM are higher quality than Dover's "standard" books. However, I was disappointed to find that there is no bibliographic information whatsoever. Granted, most of the items are simply patterns or snippets of artwork, but there are many full woodblock prints and pen-and-ink paintings and it's disappointing they don't tell you who the artist is or the date/period the artwork came from. Ironically Dover's lesser books (like the woodblock prints book) do contain this information; I don't know why they didn't include it here.

Because of the lack of bibliographic information this book is probably more appropriate for scrapbookers. However, unless you need a lot of Japanese-themed artwork, the book's premium price should make the casual scrapbooker think twice.

If you are creating a scrapbook of a vacation in Japan and are looking for lots of high-quality patterns and graphics, this would be a good resource. For art students or fans of Japanese artwork who care about the information behind the image, you should look elsewhere.

7 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not very traditional, September 15, 2007

By 

M. Walsh - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japanese Design (Dover Pictura) (Paperback)

This book includes very few traditional or vibrant images. Most are dull or uninteresting.