Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork : Anvilfire Book Review:

Cover of 2nd Edition

Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork
Tools, Techniques, Inspiration
Second Edition

Dona Z. Meilach

Soft Bound, 312 pages including bibliography and index ISBN 0-7643-0790-8

More pictures than I can count.
(750 pictures and illustrations, including 60 NEW color photographs)

Review by Jim "PawPaw" Wilson, pawpaw@netunlimited.net

In order to write book reviews certain things are necessary.

One must be able to read.
One must be able to write, at least coherently, if not well.
One must be willing to accept the occasional free book.
One must have enough ego to think that ones opinions are worth listening to.

I love to read.
I can usually write a coherent sentence.
I NEVER turn down free books.
I've been accused of having more than my fair share of both opinions AND ego.(grin)

That said, every now and then I run across something that makes me say,
"I wish I had said that!". Consider:

"The ironworkers are rediscovering what generations of smiths knew long ago -- that iron has remarkable properties. It is a metal which can be drawn out, formed, machined, cast, laminated, hammered, inlaid, etched, punched, split, rolled, bent, chased, spun, welded, riveted, collared, and more. The plasticity of hot iron invites spontaneity ... a kind of direct action among man, fire, hammer, and metal."

I wish I had said that.

I've never read the first edition of this book. In a way I'm glad. My impressions of the first edition might have colored my impression of the second. As it is, I'm free to be awed! And I am.

This book is worth more than it's price. The pictures and illustrations are worth the cost of the book. Ms. Meilach's word craftsmanship is worth the price of the book. Put them together and it's worth twice the price.

Paw Paw

The Guru's Review of Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork

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