This is the first all-color book devoted to collecting the toy soldiers and figures that were sold in the Five-and-Dime stores. Over 650 photographs, showing in excess of three thousand toy figures, are arranged in thematic style and cover military and non-military toys. Complete with price guide, terminology, index, and over 60 manufacturers products. Thematic/category chapters make it easy for experienced and new collectors to easily locate figures.
“Amazing . . . A must-have must-read bible for lovers of toy history and in particular toy soldiers. Absolutely glorious!” —Books Monthly Humans have made and collected toy soldiers from time immemorial. They amuse and comfort us, awaken our curiosity, turn aggressiveness into creativity. In The History of Toy Soldiers, Luigi Toiati, himself an avid collector and manufacturer of toy soldiers, conveys and shares the pleasure of collecting and playing with them. Far from a dry encyclopedia, it leads the reader through the fascinating evolution of the toy soldier from ancient times to the early twenty-first century. The author, as a sociologist with an interest in semiotics (the study of signs), offers truly original insights into why different types of toy soldiers were born in a given period and country, or why in a given size and material. The author’s writing is packed with factual detail about the different types of toy (and model) soldiers and their manufacturers, but also with anecdotes, nostalgia, wit and his enduring passion for the subject. Six hundred beautiful color photographs, many depicting the author’s own collection, complete this delightful book. “Toiati creatively delivers exhaustive details, captivating anecdotes and a sense of nostalgia that exudes the fundamental childhood joy of playing with toy soldiers combined with adult collectors’ wonderment at their charms.” —Toy Soldier & Model Figure “A book that will enter the annals of Toy Soldier collections as one of the best and most complete books on this topic.” —IPMS/USA “A great journey of exploration.” —Miniature Wargaming
Contains a short history of toy soldiers and a view of the current collecting scene. The author goes on to discuss topics like paintwork, clues to dating production, and finally building and organizing a collection. The author includes illustrations of his own acquisitions.
This serves as an update of the author's successful Collecting Toy Soldiers (Collins, 1987; pbk edition, New Cavendish, 1991). In it James Opie gives the collector the benefit of thirty years' experience as the world's leading authority on traditional toy soldiers (as opposed to model soldiers used in wargaming etc) and a lifetime as a collector himself.
This delightfully unusual book by H. G. Wells is a comprehensive guide to Little War, a game invented by Wells for "boys from twelve to one hundred and fifty years old and for that more intelligent sort of girls who like boys' games and books". A fascinating look at a bygone era, when boys were boys, and most girls (except the more intelligent ones) were girls. With a history of Little War, detailed instructions to playing it, a description of an exemplary game, extensions and amplifications to the game, and a final challenge by the author to his young readers. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
This is the first full-colour history of the world-famous toy soldiers to chart the whole story of their development from Victorian table toy to 21st Century collectable. Prior to 1893 the family toy business of the Britain family was struggling as the toy industry was dominated by German manufacturers and importers. Then came the fateful decision first to import, then to design and manufacture, toy soldiers, an area the German firms were particularly strong in. Britains Toy Soldiers were born and soon their boxes stamped with the slogan 'Best Quality English Make' were being eagerly opened by little boys across Britain and then around the world. The rest, as they say is history and it is all captured here by James Opie, the world's leading expert on the subject, as he lovingly traces the varying fortunes of arguably the most famous British toy company. Illustrated with lavish colour photographs, many of them featuring items from the author's own collection, the book includes feature sections such as collectors' favourites and prices, high-value and famous sets, artistic highlights, quirks and mysteries. It is without doubt the most authoritative book on the subject and will be welcomed by the thousands of devoted collectors world wide as well as many more with fond memories of childhood battles with these beautiful toys.
In 1973 Britains introduced their New Toy Soldier line of gloss-painted metal figures. It has been highly successful and continues to the present day. This new book focuses on the traditional 54mm figures, illustrating nearly the complete range in nearly 1,100 photographs. Over 3,200 figures are shown with a strong emphasis on military items: British Ceremonial troops, American Civil War, Indian Army and Delhi Durbar, World War I, Knights, Zulu War, Rorkes Drift, Limited Editions, W Britains Collectors Club Membership products, Britains Centenary and Millennium issues. The book also features non-military sections on Home Farm and Circus. Special issues by the Britains Company and figures exclusive to Harrods' and Hamleys' department stores all are included. Each toy is identified in the text and captions, with a comprehensive index of all gloss-painted figures produced during the period covered. The book contains a valuation guide to each set or individual item. This reference book is the definitive work on the new Britains line.
“A serious chronicle of war and a sympathetic—even moving—portrayal of the soldier’s hopeless stoicism. " — New York Times First published to little notice in 1977, Hitler Moves East is now widely regarded as a groundbreaking classic of modern photography. In this elegant, large-format limited edition, David Levinthal and Garry Trudeau’s seminal book is finally being presented at a scale that does full justice to their haunting vision of war. As the New York Times pointed out ten years after publication, “Levinthal’s war pictures are radically new," and indeed they were. Using cheap, molded plastic toy soldiers and tanks, art school classmates Trudeau and Levinthal conceived a fascinating new narrative form, a “paper movie,” at once deeply evocative and unabashedly fake. Combining selected archival materials with photographs of 1/35-scale toys placed in meticulously constructed miniature settings, the two artists conjured up an astonishing reimagining of World War II’s most epic campaign—the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Traveling precariously between fantasy and reality, Levinthal and Trudeau produced a work now recognized as both a sublime graphic manifesto and a powerful documentary of men at war. David Levinthal and Garry Trudeau began their collaboration on Hitler Moves East shortly after both had graduated from the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1973. Levinthal has since published numerous book of photographs, including Modern Romance, The Wild West, and Mein Kampf. Trudeau is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the long-running comic strip Doonesbury.
