The Best Of Norman Rockwell (Tom Rockwell)
(1988 - Courage Books)

Considered here on our List as the second-best Rockwell collection you can get, coming in behind Elizabeth Miles Montgomery's book, NORMAN ROCKWELL. 168 pages with 139 of them devoted to the art. 123 of those feature a single large reproduction, with only 29 repeats from the better book (four of them actually better presentations), leaving 84 new pieces to be seen. There is a large section displaying charcoal pieces or drawing preliminaries for some of his paintings. This collection gathers work together from his magazine covers, his illustrations and his advertising work. Quality-wise, my copy had reproductions that were finely-detailed, but I would mention the 'brightness' quotient seemed just a bit higher than ideal, giving many of the works a vaguely over-exposed feeling (especially if you are very familiar with the works). The book is a bit larger in size than others, 10.5-by-14 inches. The captioning seems adequate, with titles, medium, source and what use a piece was put to - certainly helpful on the pieces that were story illustrations. There seems to be different Rockwell collection of the same title from Bonanza Books, but note that later editions of the book being reviewed here carry the sub-title A CELEBRATION OF 100 YEARS