Since the middle ages, Western Europeans have practised alchemy, a primitive form of chemistry, in the great hope of transforming base metal into gold. In the early 18th century, a second great secret puzzled Western Europe's early scientists: how to make porcelain. Recently arrived from the Orient, porcelain quickly became a symbol of power, prestige and good taste. In The Arcanum, Janet Gleeson presents an entertaining and informative account of the invention of European porcelain and the founding of the Meissen Porcelain Manufacture outside Dresden, Germany. Her narrative focuses on three individuals: alchemist Johann Frederick Böttger inadvertently discovered the arcanum, or secret formula, for making porcelain; Johan Gregor Herold, an ambitious artist, developed colours and patterns of unparalleled brilliance at the newly established Meissen Porcelain Manufacture; Johann Joachim Kaendler, a virtuoso sculptor, used the Meissen porcelain to invent a new art form. Interwoven with the story of Augustus the Strong, the greedy and ambitious king of the Kingdom of Saxony, who held Böttger captive until he discovered the formula, Gleeson's tale reads easily and maintains a high level of suspense and intrigue throughout. --Bertina Loeffler, Amazon.com

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

All that glitters..., 06 Jun 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The golden salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years - a journey well worth taking.

Goldsmith, murderer..., 13 May 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The gold salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers, endowing the English Cellini with balls big enough to please any goldsmith. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years, and the journey is well worth taking.

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

All that glitters..., 06 Jun 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The golden salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years - a journey well worth taking.

Goldsmith, murderer..., 13 May 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The gold salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers, endowing the English Cellini with balls big enough to please any goldsmith. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years, and the journey is well worth taking.

A great sculptor's work beautifully presented, 22 Dec 2006
The photographs in this book are suberb, with several of Bernini's greatest works photographed from a number of unusual and illuminating angles. His main works are shown full page, a number of them in colour, and there is an exhaustive catalogue at the back showing all of his work with informative information on each. Consequently Rudolf Wittkower has produced a book that not only looks good as a coffee table browse but which contains much detailed information of enormous interest to anyone interested in this great sculptor's work at any level.

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

All that glitters..., 06 Jun 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The golden salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years - a journey well worth taking.

Goldsmith, murderer..., 13 May 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The gold salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers, endowing the English Cellini with balls big enough to please any goldsmith. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years, and the journey is well worth taking.

A great sculptor's work beautifully presented, 22 Dec 2006
The photographs in this book are suberb, with several of Bernini's greatest works photographed from a number of unusual and illuminating angles. His main works are shown full page, a number of them in colour, and there is an exhaustive catalogue at the back showing all of his work with informative information on each. Consequently Rudolf Wittkower has produced a book that not only looks good as a coffee table browse but which contains much detailed information of enormous interest to anyone interested in this great sculptor's work at any level.

fotographer of men and love, 27 Jun 2006
I found this book in Amazon connected to the work of Weegee, another of the great photographers in the 30's of the XX century. She was comissioned by the Goverment to make the real situation of the country known, and achieved it. And that with a personal disadvantage (she had a lame leg), a divorce etc etc.

I knew Lange's work, but didn't know it belonged to her, much less that it was done by a woman when being a woman, a photographer and an morover, an ambulant photographer was an act of sheer madness and revolutionary zeal.

Lange's work, simply mirroring the actual facts of the Great Depresion in the USA, particulary of the poor displaced farmers, is a monument to photography, both technically and as a personal and political compromise with the poor and excluded. One wonders how she could take those photographs of poor, miserable, dirty people and still take some of the beauty in their simple faces, the children, the smiles of carefree kids.

Lange makes her point known: people are poor, they are suffering and deserve help; but without degrading them, with utter respect for them as people and human beings.

The photographs are superb: the light, the selection of characters, the perspective... that black and white of the early XX century pictures. But besides, it is a song to human dignity.

No wonder she is now among the greatest social photographers of all times. One wonders why nobody is making now her kind of job.

THE PEOPLE`S PHOTOGRAPHER, 31 Dec 2005
I bought this biography about Dorothea Lange, because I wanted to know more about the person behind the emblematic picture Migrant Mother from 1936. Written by the daughter of one of Dorothea Lange`s closest friend, this book tells the story of a remarkable woman, who - in spite of lack of formal education and much adversity - became a famous photographer exhibiting in the Museum of Modern Art shortly before she died in 1965.

Born in 1895, and of German stock, Dorothea Lange was determined to become a photographer from an early age. After having learnt the tools of the trade, she set up her own studio in San Francisco, but later turned her interest to the streets outside - to the hungry homeless, many of them middle class people, fallen on hard times due to The Great Depression.

As a photographer hired by the Emergency Relief Administration, her task became to document the migration of people across the USA desperately looking for work. Later she photographed the impoverished sharecroppers of the South and the victims of the anti-Japanese hysteria - a hysteria that led to the internment of more than 100000 people of Japanese descent in camps in the deserts of California, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming during World War II. Dorothea Lange is also known for her documentation of the worker`s life in the shipbuilding industry - which boomed due to the same war.

Elizabeth Partridge writes about Dorothea Lange with empathy, but also with restraint.This makes the account personal, but not private. The book is richly illustrated with black-and-white photos.

Excellent both as a narrative and a collection of images, 06 Feb 2002
As I'm doing a City & Guilds course part of which I needed to look at the work of Dorethea Lange this book provides not only an introduction to her images but to the personality behind the camera. It's a good read as well as a collection of fabulous pictures.

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

All that glitters..., 06 Jun 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The golden salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years - a journey well worth taking.

Goldsmith, murderer..., 13 May 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The gold salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers, endowing the English Cellini with balls big enough to please any goldsmith. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years, and the journey is well worth taking.

A great sculptor's work beautifully presented, 22 Dec 2006
The photographs in this book are suberb, with several of Bernini's greatest works photographed from a number of unusual and illuminating angles. His main works are shown full page, a number of them in colour, and there is an exhaustive catalogue at the back showing all of his work with informative information on each. Consequently Rudolf Wittkower has produced a book that not only looks good as a coffee table browse but which contains much detailed information of enormous interest to anyone interested in this great sculptor's work at any level.

fotographer of men and love, 27 Jun 2006
I found this book in Amazon connected to the work of Weegee, another of the great photographers in the 30's of the XX century. She was comissioned by the Goverment to make the real situation of the country known, and achieved it. And that with a personal disadvantage (she had a lame leg), a divorce etc etc.

I knew Lange's work, but didn't know it belonged to her, much less that it was done by a woman when being a woman, a photographer and an morover, an ambulant photographer was an act of sheer madness and revolutionary zeal.

Lange's work, simply mirroring the actual facts of the Great Depresion in the USA, particulary of the poor displaced farmers, is a monument to photography, both technically and as a personal and political compromise with the poor and excluded. One wonders how she could take those photographs of poor, miserable, dirty people and still take some of the beauty in their simple faces, the children, the smiles of carefree kids.

Lange makes her point known: people are poor, they are suffering and deserve help; but without degrading them, with utter respect for them as people and human beings.

The photographs are superb: the light, the selection of characters, the perspective... that black and white of the early XX century pictures. But besides, it is a song to human dignity.

No wonder she is now among the greatest social photographers of all times. One wonders why nobody is making now her kind of job.

THE PEOPLE`S PHOTOGRAPHER, 31 Dec 2005
I bought this biography about Dorothea Lange, because I wanted to know more about the person behind the emblematic picture Migrant Mother from 1936. Written by the daughter of one of Dorothea Lange`s closest friend, this book tells the story of a remarkable woman, who - in spite of lack of formal education and much adversity - became a famous photographer exhibiting in the Museum of Modern Art shortly before she died in 1965.

Born in 1895, and of German stock, Dorothea Lange was determined to become a photographer from an early age. After having learnt the tools of the trade, she set up her own studio in San Francisco, but later turned her interest to the streets outside - to the hungry homeless, many of them middle class people, fallen on hard times due to The Great Depression.

As a photographer hired by the Emergency Relief Administration, her task became to document the migration of people across the USA desperately looking for work. Later she photographed the impoverished sharecroppers of the South and the victims of the anti-Japanese hysteria - a hysteria that led to the internment of more than 100000 people of Japanese descent in camps in the deserts of California, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming during World War II. Dorothea Lange is also known for her documentation of the worker`s life in the shipbuilding industry - which boomed due to the same war.

Elizabeth Partridge writes about Dorothea Lange with empathy, but also with restraint.This makes the account personal, but not private. The book is richly illustrated with black-and-white photos.

Excellent both as a narrative and a collection of images, 06 Feb 2002
As I'm doing a City & Guilds course part of which I needed to look at the work of Dorethea Lange this book provides not only an introduction to her images but to the personality behind the camera. It's a good read as well as a collection of fabulous pictures.

fantastic for research, 11 Sep 2001
I am studying GSCE 3 dimensional art and decided to do a project on barbara hepworths work, so i thought the best way to do this would be to purchse a book about her and her work. This book was VERY usefull to me for this certain task and provided me with the much needed information about this fantastic original artist.

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

All that glitters..., 06 Jun 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The golden salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years - a journey well worth taking.

Goldsmith, murderer..., 13 May 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The gold salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers, endowing the English Cellini with balls big enough to please any goldsmith. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years, and the journey is well worth taking.

A great sculptor's work beautifully presented, 22 Dec 2006
The photographs in this book are suberb, with several of Bernini's greatest works photographed from a number of unusual and illuminating angles. His main works are shown full page, a number of them in colour, and there is an exhaustive catalogue at the back showing all of his work with informative information on each. Consequently Rudolf Wittkower has produced a book that not only looks good as a coffee table browse but which contains much detailed information of enormous interest to anyone interested in this great sculptor's work at any level.

fotographer of men and love, 27 Jun 2006
I found this book in Amazon connected to the work of Weegee, another of the great photographers in the 30's of the XX century. She was comissioned by the Goverment to make the real situation of the country known, and achieved it. And that with a personal disadvantage (she had a lame leg), a divorce etc etc.

I knew Lange's work, but didn't know it belonged to her, much less that it was done by a woman when being a woman, a photographer and an morover, an ambulant photographer was an act of sheer madness and revolutionary zeal.

Lange's work, simply mirroring the actual facts of the Great Depresion in the USA, particulary of the poor displaced farmers, is a monument to photography, both technically and as a personal and political compromise with the poor and excluded. One wonders how she could take those photographs of poor, miserable, dirty people and still take some of the beauty in their simple faces, the children, the smiles of carefree kids.

Lange makes her point known: people are poor, they are suffering and deserve help; but without degrading them, with utter respect for them as people and human beings.

The photographs are superb: the light, the selection of characters, the perspective... that black and white of the early XX century pictures. But besides, it is a song to human dignity.

No wonder she is now among the greatest social photographers of all times. One wonders why nobody is making now her kind of job.

THE PEOPLE`S PHOTOGRAPHER, 31 Dec 2005
I bought this biography about Dorothea Lange, because I wanted to know more about the person behind the emblematic picture Migrant Mother from 1936. Written by the daughter of one of Dorothea Lange`s closest friend, this book tells the story of a remarkable woman, who - in spite of lack of formal education and much adversity - became a famous photographer exhibiting in the Museum of Modern Art shortly before she died in 1965.

Born in 1895, and of German stock, Dorothea Lange was determined to become a photographer from an early age. After having learnt the tools of the trade, she set up her own studio in San Francisco, but later turned her interest to the streets outside - to the hungry homeless, many of them middle class people, fallen on hard times due to The Great Depression.

As a photographer hired by the Emergency Relief Administration, her task became to document the migration of people across the USA desperately looking for work. Later she photographed the impoverished sharecroppers of the South and the victims of the anti-Japanese hysteria - a hysteria that led to the internment of more than 100000 people of Japanese descent in camps in the deserts of California, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming during World War II. Dorothea Lange is also known for her documentation of the worker`s life in the shipbuilding industry - which boomed due to the same war.

Elizabeth Partridge writes about Dorothea Lange with empathy, but also with restraint.This makes the account personal, but not private. The book is richly illustrated with black-and-white photos.

Excellent both as a narrative and a collection of images, 06 Feb 2002
As I'm doing a City & Guilds course part of which I needed to look at the work of Dorethea Lange this book provides not only an introduction to her images but to the personality behind the camera. It's a good read as well as a collection of fabulous pictures.

fantastic for research, 11 Sep 2001
I am studying GSCE 3 dimensional art and decided to do a project on barbara hepworths work, so i thought the best way to do this would be to purchse a book about her and her work. This book was VERY usefull to me for this certain task and provided me with the much needed information about this fantastic original artist.

Great book on Carrara, Italy, 30 Jun 2006
For anyone interested in learing about Michelangelo, the history of marble quarrying, and Carrara itself, this is a great text. The life and techniques of the quarry workers is also well covered.

History at its best, 29 Oct 2007
This is truly a very good book: informative, exciting, well-researched, well-written, you name it! I'm sure that it may seem odd to apply adjectives such as 'exciting' or 'fascinating' to a book on the invention of European porcelain (porcelain?!) if you weren't even remotely interested in the subject before (I would have thought so myself too) but as soon as I began to read this book it had me in its grip until the very last page.

This is at least as good as any fictional thriller, and if you've enjoyed 'Longitude' by Dava Sobel you'll love this one too.

excellent but the pace flags a bit towards the end, 17 Jul 2007
Like the other reviewers here, I think this is an excellent read, particualrly on a subject which doesn't exactly leap out at you as one which can possibly be thrilling! Gleason does a superb job of building a sense of the excitement of porcelain and its exotic image in the C18th which leads to all the skullduggery of this book. She is brilliant on Bottger, the man who first discovered the scret of porcelain, but I felt that towards the end of the book her pace started to flag. This might have been because the earlier chapters were set very closely in the German court and the castle that became the Meissen factory, whereas the later parts of the story were driven by wars and politics and so inevitably the canvas widened. That, for me, took away some of the focus and claustrophobia of the story which was part of what made it so atmospheric. That is a small quibble, though: overall this is a rivetting read.

Informative thriller!, 09 May 2007
Can an academic history of the birth of porcelain in Europe be an enjoyable read for a newcomer to the subject? This little book proves without doubt that it can be successfully achieved! The author has written a "page turner" which brings to life the story in its historical setting and surely provides a launch pad for further reading in depth. Highly recommended as a gentle and accessible introduction to the world of antique porcelain.

Outstanding - educational and gripping too, 14 Aug 2003
Janet Gleeson has written a corking book. Outstanding research, coupled with a very non-academic eye for a good story has resulted in this superb tale.

I bought this book on the strength of my (admittedly dubious) logic of 'It's such a stupid subject to write about, it MUST be good!'. And this is also the main example I use of my technique working!

Full of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, intrigue, etc.etc.etc, this is also a fascinating insight into the lives of the aristocracy in 18th century Germany (and of the less fortunate too). Janet Glesson picks up on the significance of the famous 'recipe' for porcelain and explains it with an easy style.

It's one of those rare books - as easy and engrossing to read as a good novel, but superbly enlightening with it.

Buy it - you won't regret it.

An outstanding work of research, 09 Oct 2001
Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spell-binding tour of eighteen century Saxony as she breath-takingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revaled from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers. Read this and enjoy the tutorial for the labour of love that it is.

All that glitters..., 06 Jun 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The golden salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years - a journey well worth taking.

Goldsmith, murderer..., 13 May 2003
Goldsmith, sculptor, bombardier, murderer, prisoner and exile, Benvenuto Cellini’s life reads like a renaissance adventure. Yet it is also an artist’s declaration of faith in his work, as well as an almost inadvertent portrait of these unruly times - 16th century Florence, Rome and Paris – when life was brief, cruel and beautiful.

The book is unfinished, Cellini almost stops mid-sentence, yet he and his works continue to fascinate. The gold salt-cellar shown on the cover (worth $50 million) was stolen in May 2003.

Bull’s translation swaggers, endowing the English Cellini with balls big enough to please any goldsmith. And with a glint in his eye, Cellini still beckons us into his world after some five hundred years, and the journey is well worth taking.

A great sculptor's work beautifully presented, 22 Dec 2006
The photographs in this book are suberb, with several of Bernini's greatest works photographed from a number of unusual and illuminating angles. His main works are shown full page, a number of them in colour, and there is an exhaustive catalogue at the back showing all of his work with informative information on each. Consequently Rudolf Wittkower has produced a book that not only looks good as a coffee table browse but which contains much detailed information of enormous interest to anyone interested in this great sculptor's work at any level.

fotographer of men and love, 27 Jun 2006
I found this book in Amazon connected to the work of Weegee, another of the great photographers in the 30's of the XX century. She was comissioned by the Goverment to make the real situation of the country known, and achieved it. And that with a personal disadvantage (she had a lame leg), a divorce etc etc.

I knew Lange's work, but didn't know it belonged to her, much less that it was done by a woman when being a woman, a photographer and an morover, an ambulant photographer was an act of sheer madness and revolutionary zeal.

Lange's work, simply mirroring the actual facts of the Great Depresion in the USA, particulary of the poor displaced farmers, is a monument to photography, both technically and as a personal and political compromise with the poor and excluded. One wonders how she could take those photographs of poor, miserable, dirty people and still take some of the beauty in their simple faces, the children, the smiles of carefree kids.

Lange makes her point known: people are poor, they are suffering and deserve help; but without degrading them, with utter respect for them as people and human beings.

The photographs are superb: the light, the selection of characters, the perspective... that black and white of the early XX century pictures. But besides, it is a song to human dignity.

No wonder she is now among the greatest social photographers of all times. One wonders why nobody is making now her kind of job.

THE PEOPLE`S PHOTOGRAPHER, 31 Dec 2005
I bought this biography about Dorothea Lange, because I wanted to know more about the person behind the emblematic picture Migrant Mother from 1936. Written by the daughter of one of Dorothea Lange`s closest friend, this book tells the story of a remarkable woman, who - in spite of lack of formal education and much adversity - became a famous photographer exhibiting in the Museum of Modern Art shortly before she died in 1965.

Born in 1895, and of German stock, Dorothea Lange was determined to become a photographer from an early age. After having learnt the tools of the trade, she set up her own studio in San Francisco, but later turned her interest to the streets outside - to the hungry homeless, many of them middle class people, fallen on hard times due to The Great Depression.

As a photographer hired by the Emergency Relief Administration, her task became to document the migration of people across the USA desperately looking for work. Later she photographed the impoverished sharecroppers of the South and the victims of the anti-Japanese hysteria - a hysteria that led to the internment of more than 100000 people of Japanese descent in camps in the deserts of California, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming during World War II. Dorothea Lange is also known for her documentation of the worker`s life in the shipbuilding industry - which boomed due to the same war.

Elizabeth Partridge writes about Dorothea Lange with empathy, but also with restraint.This makes the account personal, but not private. The book is richly illustrated with black-and-white photos.

Excellent both as a narrative and a collection of images, 06 Feb 2002
As I'm doing a City & Guilds course part of which I needed to look at the work of Dorethea Lange this book provides not only an introduction to her images but to the personality behind the camera. It's a good read as well as a collection of fabulous pictures.

fantastic for research, 11 Sep 2001
I am studying GSCE 3 dimensional art and decided to do a project on barbara hepworths work, so i thought the best way to do this would be to purchse a book about her and her work. This book was VERY usefull to me for this certain task and provided me with the much needed information about this fantastic original artist.

Great book on Carrara, Italy, 30 Jun 2006
For anyone interested in learing about Michelangelo, the history of marble quarrying, and Carrara itself, this is a great text. The life and techniques of the quarry workers is also well covered.

Beautiful, 27 May 2005
What a beautiful book ! In it, Gustav Klimt's loyal and sharp-eyed cat observes the great Viennese painter at work and play. The observations are tender, sometimes dry, and rather deep, getting the reader to reflect on how being an artist can be hard work and rejection as well as joy. The illustrations by Octavia Monaco are gorgeous, and suggestive of Klimt's own work.The vibrant colours, the swirls and flowers and fabrics, even the gold paint-they are all here.

This is "offically" a children's book, and I'm sure most children will love it, but it could also make a wonderful gift for an adult. If you love Klimt, do add it to your collection.. If you don't know much about this artist and his work, this book will serve as a perfect appetizer as well as being very lovely and great fun in its own right.