William Bouguereau [Tapa dura]

I held off writing a review because I did not have an actual copy in hand to warrant a completely fair assessment but with others experiencing the same problems with the glue used in the binding I figured it worthwhile to give some thought to those contemplating spending $300 to buy this set.

While I do not have a copy of my own, I did get the opportunity to thumb through one and in that particular specimen an entire block of pages had completely fallen apart from spine - even though the rest of the volume was brand new. At the time I thought this was a singular defect but now it (possibly?) appears to be endemic amongst the entire production run. I am curious how those 5 star reviewer's copies are holding up?

Aside from the questionable quality of the book's construction (which should never have been an issue for an item in this price range) I did not find anything special about the overall quality of the images either. Now, I can only pretend to grasp the difficultly in compiling a complete collection of Bouguereau's finished works - but for this reviewer's tastes - I thought this catalog contained far too many images that were either too small, in black and white, or contained colors that were off the mark (ie. too yellow/orange). I am told many catalog raisonnés suffer from this problem and one should be thankful to have the option of purchasing this book, but from the nauseatingly self-aggrandizing posts by the authors on Art Renewal Center you would think this was perhaps one of the greatest art history projects ever committed to paper. And if their investment piece hinting at the secondary market value of this book has any grain of truth in it, it is that a near-mint copy of this book with original binding will certainly carry a premium over all others.

This book is gorgeous but the materials used to bind it are cheap. I've looked through this book three or four times and the binding is already falling apart. Every time I open the front cover I can hear the glue cracking and tearing off the binding. Today I noticed a tear an inch long on the top right corner of the spine.

The book cover that is used is a black canvas textured paper. It's imitation to the black, canvas like cloth used in Singapore to bind the John Singer Sargent books or the two volume set of N.C. Wyeth. The Bouguereau book is heavy and with more than 500 pages the cover should be made with sturdier material that can withstand the size and weight.

This book is, for the most part, everything a Bouguereau admirer could have hoped for. In the few cases where images were less than perfect the fault was not the compiler's or the printer's. Many of these images are the only examples to be found. It is not difficult to believe this undertaking took decades to accomplish. This set should, by all rights, have received all of the 5 stars available, however, the production quality does not quite live up to the rest of the offering. The paper should have been heavier as many on the sheets, in the copy I purchased, already had small interior creases suggesting the lightest handling may cause damage. This is very annoying as it distracts from the pleasure of gazing at Bouguereau's magnificent work. The binding itself was not quite the quality one usually finds, and has come to expect, in books published by Antique Collectors Club. Volumes of this size and weight need VERY sturdy bindings. The slipcase could have been constructed a bit heavier as well. In addition to these criticisms the copy I received had a 5" scratch in the center of the slipcase directly on top of the affixed color image. Had I honestly believed another copy might be less problematic I would have returned this one. All that being said, I would again make this purchase as the contents of this collection are too breathtaking to be without. It is a shame that such a monumental effort should have been shortchanged in this fashion. With a little upgrade in materials there would not have been enough stars in the firmament to do it justice. Where's the pride?