Customer Reviews

Tiara

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

 

 

I ordered this book and within 3 days I was in my chair buried in the stories of gorgeous jewelled tiaras. I bought the author's other book "Ancestral Jewels" and read it several times a year. It is a "jewel" of a book and I loved the personal stories of the tiara owners. The author is discreet about provenance of some of the tiaras. This is NOT just a coffee table book. You HAVE to read the stories behind the pieces.

As I am a big fan of Diana Scarisbrick's "Ancestral Jewels," I was excited to see "Tiara." Although she does a masterful job giving the reader a miniature history of the tiara (especially in its different European forms), I must admit to disappointment at the layout of the book. Dozens upon dozens of photographs of women wearing their tiaras are literally about 1" square (sometimes less, sometimes ever so slightly more). There is so much white space surrounding these photographs that I have to wonder if perhaps there was a misunderstanding among author, editor, and designer.

The latter half of the book fares better, with full-page color photographs of sumptuous tiaras. Scarisbrick shows us mourning tiaras (often constructed of iron, though just as lacy and lovely as their platinum and gold counterparts), brushed gold tiaras, and tairas which break down into sundry bracelets, necklaces, brooches, and stomachers. It's especially fun to see the different tiaras worn for the coronations of King George of England in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth of England in 1953. There is even a photo of Rose Kennedy, whose husband Joe was America's Ambassador to England in the years leading up to World War II. Mrs. Kennedy is pictured in a satin evening gown, wearing a tiara borrowed from a sympathetic English noble friend. An excerpt from her 1974 autobiography notes that when she wore the tiara to court " . . . my children were quite impressed!" One can only imagine.

The range and artistry of the designs is really quite breathtaking. It's just too bad that more care wasn't taken to enlarge the photographs of the women wearing their tiaras, as there's so much interesting interplay of fashion and tradition there.

Tiara's are facinating pieces of jewellery. They sit on the head like a halo and bring to life the myths of royalty, aristocracy and an apparent lifestyle of unlimited money.

This book presents a stunning array of Tiara's with many photos that you would be hard pressed to find in any other book.

Having said that, it is the photos which let this book down, not the text which is very interesting in it's self. Each Tiara is photographed in colour, but they appear to have been cut out from their photographed background and superimposed on the book's creme page background. This gives the Tiara's a feeling of slight unreality and flattens them out taking away their 3D reality.

There is also a facinating array of photos of people actually wearing these Tiaras, and it would be worth buying the book for that alone, except the majority of these pictures are produced at thumbnail size or stamp and you need a magnifiying glass to see them well. A shame as it wastes amazing photo research, and does not enable me to see well photos I otherwise would have been astonished to see.

Having said all this, if you have any interest in Tiara's or jewellery history this book is a must, but beware of it's shortcomings. An exhibition cataloge it must have been stunning to see this array "in the flesh".

In the first 50 pages of this book and then periodically throughout its remaining pages, the photos of the women wearing these tiaras are about the size of a postage stamp, surrounded by large blank white areas. Talk about eye strain... A waste of paper and space. Later in the book some of the tiaras have their descriptions on the page opposite their photos, again, with a large area of white space surrounding the text. All this empty white space could have been used for LARGER PHOTOS. Some other descriptions for 4 consecutive tiaras are on the pages following the photos. Very unorganized, and poorly planned. It would have been SO much better to be able to see how these creations looked on people. Many of the larger photos of the tiaras are lovely, however, a number of them look like a "cut and paste job". Nice to see the jewels, however I think this book is just so-so.

I love the larger photos in this book but the small ones are the size of a postage stamp. They are interesting old prints and photos but it hurts my eyes to study more than a few at a time. The book is wonderful and worth the price, well researched and keeps your interest.

Wow! Other reviewers were not kidding about the postage stamp sized photos. The pages above that say "Look Inside" with 3 photos across, actually show some of the LARGER photos. Many of the other photos actually are, literally, the size of a postage stamp. What were the editor's thinking? I've been holding off buying this one because of those descriptions, but finally gave in, as many of the other photos are full page. I bought this used for less than the cover price, and I think it's worth it for that price. However, if you can only buy one tiara book, pick one of the Geoffrey Munn books. The photographs are much better in his.

I read the previous reviews and I think that although I agree that the pictures could have been bigger in the first half of the book, the text and the glorious pictures of the second half more than make up for that.
Perhaps the author could come out with another edition and provide bigger photographs, but the author's research and writing is top level.
I adore the stories and histories of these wonderful crowns and tiaras. Any woman who has grown up with fairy tales and day dreams of being a royal wearer of one of these priceless jewels will adore this book. I have enjoyed it over and over and it never fails to give me much pleasure in the history, lore and lure of crowns.

beware pricing for this book Tiara. it's dust cover price is $24.95, published in 2000, yet NEW prices are quoted at $199.00!. it has not appreciated 800% in ten years. most of the photos of the tiaras when worn are so small and in b&w that detail is impossible to experience; no carat weights, little user history. it could have been SO MUCH BETTER.

I bought this book because I collect books on jewelry and because I wanted to learn more about platinum. I found the book to be both a treasure filled with informative history about platinum and gorgeous pictures of Cartier jewelery. It is a great addition to any collector's library as a resource or as a beautiful coffee table book.

This is a most attractive volume sumptuously illustrated and beautifully laid out. The text is considered and informative. The printing and general feel of the book is in keeping with it's noble subject and would be a first class addition to the coffee table of any true lover of beautiful things. I can only await the author's next project with baited breath.