Customer Reviews

The World of Ornament

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recently I have found myself drawn to graphics of all kinds. Being a huge fan of Tashen books and seeing this book on their website I decided to order it. Now at $200.00 this was quite a big purchase but this book is incredible. The color plates are beautiful and the information about the designs is very complete as well as interesting. This is a huge book! I think it must weigh in the neighborhood of 10 lbs. It is not a book to take to the beach for a little read. However, it is a book to get inspired by and it will inspire you no matter what your art medium is. This is a book that I will tresure for years to come and I am sure if you decide to invest in this book you will not be disapointed.

Then check out Dover Publication's "Full-Color Picture Sourcebook of Historic Ornament: All 120 Plates from "L'Ornement Polychrome" and "Racinet's Historic Ornament in Full Color" since Taschen's book is basically just an oversized version of these modestly priced books. Of course, you'll have to scan and manipulate photos yourself since the Dover versions don't come in any digital format.

This book is heavy. Literally it must weigh 20lbs. It is also heavy with amazing content and incredible beauty and erudite commentary. The DVD is worth purchase price alone giving so much royalty free content. Look for tons of wrapping paper featuring these images to appear in stationary shops.

I own a 1910 edition of Owen Jones' "Grammar of Ornament", the pattern book that the books reproduced in this book are inspired by. I also own the Dover reprint of the same book. I was concerned when I ordered this that the printing quality would be only a pale imitation of the original, like the Dover book is to the chromolithographs in my vintage copy of "Grammar of Ornament". I was thrilled when I started paging through this massive volume. The printing is fabulous and the plates are large and sharp. The only thing missing is the metallic gold accents on some pages, but that isn't a big deal.

This book is worth every penny of the cost. As others have said, it will certainly sell for much more in the collectors' market once the print run sells out. But I can't imagine anyone wanting to sell it. I've already spent hours poring over the hundreds of pages packed with beautiful and brilliantly composed and colored designs. I know I'll be spending countless more hours enjoying this book for the rest of my life.

Some things are a once in a lifetime opportunity... this book is one of them.

this book is incredible. It was brand new. I have been wanting this book for years and could not afford the $200.00 price tag and when I saw it for $54.00, I thought it was a mistake.So I acted on it immediately.
Best book I ever purchased and I have a lot of design books

This is one of the most beautiful books I know of. It is an absolute treasure trove of historical decorative patterns. This book is a must-have for any kind of designer. Enormous book, but well worth the weight and the price.

It is realy impressive book especially a size :) I would recomend anyone interested in history of ornaments. Realy beautyfull pictures. Disadvantage is the fact that time period of presented ornaments ends at 1877 (date of first edition of book) so the end of XIX and XX century is not included.

Andrew, Warsaw, Poland

This book is beautiful inside and out. I was so surprised, it's a HUGE book, quite literally. 500+ pages, yet the size of my pillow! I throughly enjoyed going through each and every page delighted with what I'm seeing.

It also comes with a DVD with all the images seen in the book. My only disappointment was that the images came in the same format as the book was set in- meaning some patterns were difficult to use. My hobby is to do graphic design, and sometimes I freelance, and sometimes I do it for fun. So this book was suppose to be amazing help for me, as the book and CD promised 'unrestricted use.' But again, a little difficult to extract all the patterns I would have wanted to use.

A simply beautiful book in all aspects of the word. Between the book and CD-Rom, worth every penny. Beautiful.