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These are the third and fourth books (a set) that I'm adding to the READING CORNER, and these are my favorite books of all that I have; these two are the ones I'd rescue first if the house was on fire. These are paperbacks but of good quality paper, being Dover books. They are large for paperbacks (9" X 12"). - Jean
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3rd and 4th books: Added July 19, 2006SUBJECT: DRAWINGS OF REMBRANDT
Drawings of Rembrandt I have the edition first published by Dover Publications in 1965, which "contains all the drawings from Original Drawings by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, edited by F. Lippmann, C. Hofstede de Groot, and others, first published in four series from 1888 to 1911....The Introduction, Commentary on the Plates, Biographical Notes, Key to Abbreviations and Bibliography, Lists of Plates, Concordances, and Indexes are entirely new, having been prepared especially for this Dover edition by Seymour Slive." There are no ISBN Nos. in my copies of these books; the Library of Congress Catalog Card No. is 65-12555 You can find Volumes I and II still for sale as new books on the Dover Publications site. Here is the page for Volume I, and Here is the page for Volume II. Each volume has the same price: $26.95. I just checked (July 19, 2006) and this afternoon there are various sellers at half.ebay.com selling one or both of these volumes (they're usually used or else worn a little and have been sitting around a long time...but they're cheap!) -- There is just one seller today that has both of the volumes in their stock, actually, and the both together are being sold for $15 as far as I can figure out. MY COMMENTS ON THIS BOOK It's not easy to describe how I feel about these books, as they mean so much to me. Can you believe that I just saw the price that I paid for them when they were new, and it was $3 each! :-( I know, that puts me back in the Stone Age, but that does also tell you how long-lasting these books are. The illustrations all still look as beautiful as they did when I first saw them, after all these years, and I have looked through every page of both books many, many times. It is very moving to me to be able to leaf through these books and sink into that time and that place and see what Rembrandt himself was looking at as he was drawing, and imagine what he was thinking about. It seems that the drawings register feelings and sensitivities of the artist like a seismograph. It is such a treat to be able to see the people he saw, and the landscapes, and to really know what most interested him. My favorites are the landscapes. I'm sure that these drawings communicate more than words could have if he'd written diaries and letters that were handed down. How lucky we are that these have lasted so long and that almost everyone is able to see them. There is commentary under every drawing that gives the date or approximate date, the materials used, the location if known (if it's a landscape) and so on. The drawings not only seem to speak from the past to us today, telling us about people and the physical surroundings in a certain era and a certain place, but also they're simply wonderful drawings! There is much to learn about composition from them, too...they're an endless source of inspiration to me in many ways and I recommend them highly to anyone who loves drawings. - Jean
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