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Book Review: McCallums Thousands….

In the continuing book spree, I thought I would share these books by Graham Leslie McCallum, which may become as indispensable as my favorite Flinders Petrie book. W.M. Flinders Petrie, nearly a century ago, compiled 3000+ images and designs from the ancient world. Reproduced at low price by Dover, this book is my favorite source for design inspiration, from ancient Sumeria and Babylon to the medeival period, it is a treasure trove of design . Truly, what is old is new again. Check it out at amazon, here.

Not too long ago, someone told me about one of McCallum’s books. A quick surf on Amazon (my on-line “books in print”!), revealed not one but THREE of these gems:

Pattern Motifs
4000 Animal, Bird and Fish Motifs
4000 Flower and Plant Motifs

The books are softcover, and easily 1.5 inches thick, about 9 inches square-ish. Arranged in roughly chronological order, you can pick designs from the ancient world through Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Here are the three books opened up to sample pages:

Although the designs are listed on the back cover as copyright free, the inside does stipulate they are for personal use. At a mere US$12.21 each, in the US you can get free shipping (via the slow service and mailing option anyway) if you order all three. So of course I had to do just that! At the end of each book is an index so, for example, you can look up “rose” and have it send you to the appropriate page in whichever time-period.

4 Responses to “Book Review: McCallums Thousands….”

  1. Karoda Says:

    I have the flower and plant one…I’ll have to add the other 2 to my wish list because the one I have I love to peruse too.

  2. PaMdora Says:

    Thanks for the book list, I’ve added it to my wish list. I love books like this, but can’t see to get people to buy them for me!

  3. joyce Says:

    Those books look very useful. They remind me of some of the Chinese art books I have.

  4. Deborah Says:

    You really are building quite a library!