World-Famous Paintings

I received this book today and I am very happy with it. The book itself is old whIch is what I wanted and expected but in very good condition for its age. The paintings are printed and glued on the original page so they are pretty clear and although I would have prefered if they were as big as the page this is not a big deal. There are 4 paintings missing from the book but I am very satisfied with the book so that is not a big issue for me. That will add to the story that this is an old book indeed. The cover looks very old but surprisingly in very good condition so that will make it a perfect candidate for table book for my living room. I love it!!!!

When I was about 12, at least 37 years ago, I first checked out "World Famous Paintings" from the Great Falls, Montana, public library. Since I had no opportunity to buy a copy, I kept checking it out again and again. It was already old, but there were other books in the art section that were older. The color illustrations were printed on clay-coated paper and glued onto the pages at the top border, making them a temptation to thieves. The rest of the book is on much cheaper, pulpier stock, but the paper has held up well on every copy I've seen.When it was new, it must have been an expensive book, made to adorn the coffee tables of the rich. Don't look for much biographical or historical material; Rockwell Kent prefers to write something romantic or poetic (often literally; sometimes the only comment on a painting is an excerpt from a poem). Surprisingly, considering it's written by an artist, there isn't much technical commentary here, either.When I got older, I saw several copies in used book stores. Few of them had the original dust jacket, which tended to be torn and frayed with decades of handling. It's no loss; the white cover is much more elegant and tasteful anyway. It never cost very much, but I held out until I found a copy with a well-preserved dust jacket for $10.The most interesting thing about this book is the color photos, some of which are undoubtedly the first published ones for their respective paintings. Here, and nowhere else I know, can you find a color photo of Leonardo's "Last Supper" as it appeared before its postwar cleaning, and here you can see a beautiful color photo of Velasquez' "Rokeby Venus" before a brutal cleaning stripped away her flesh tones.Kent's prose can be sentimental and fatuous, but he obviously loved great art. And if you do, too, you want to own a copy of this fascinating and surprisingly inexpensive book.

This book is a beautiful piece of work. My parents had this book and I spent many wonderful hours enjoying the pictures in it. This book has been in my family for at least fifty years. My brother has that copy. I was fortunate enough to get an exact duplicate of it for myself. I feel as if an old friend returned to me.

All the illustrations were in black and white and were printed very dark. It was hard to see the paintings at all.

I read the reviews before I bought the book. As expected, the pictures are glued on, and it makes this book very unique. Also as experience by others, one of the page was missing, and in place of it is a note from the person who tore the page!!! Despite of this, all the other pictures are securely glued -no additional missing pictures or pages. What is unexpected there was an extra picture which does not look like it belongs to the book was in the book.This is a very old book, and I did not expected it is so big. I really enjoy this book.

Beautiful potraits and the book was in excellent condition even though it was a used book.

The book was in good shape for its age, but three of the plates (paintings) were missing, the Mona Lisa was one.

Excellent book! It was in Great Condition! Thank You!