Rien PoortvlietRecensioni

Cute book about gnomes. It's written in a non-fiction style that details everything you would want to know about gnomes, including physiology, culture, and other species related to or sometimes confused with gnomes. It also includes nine folk tales that have to do with gnomes. Overall, this is a fast read with beautiful illustrations, and the deluxe edition comes with 8 prints suitable for framing.

I think this book made gnomes fashionable for several years.

A gnomic masterpiece!

Not sure why this page doesn't list the author as Wil Huygen, but nevertheless, this book is delightfully whimsical and lovely.

I love this book it has interesting "facts" and gorgeous pictures. It is still great to read as an adult but as a child I could look at this book for hours.

For hundreds of years gnomes have watched, listened, advised, assisted and inspired us. Known for their wisdom, patience and kindness to small animals, gnomes have always been there as an essential part of nature. At times they have even been known to assist those in need, council those with difficulties and on occasion teach the unpleasant among us a hard lesson.

Elusive and cunning, these happy little men with their affinity for animals and knowledge of plant life run about the night on their secret duties, while at home the females are busy tending the children and completing domestic chores. Their sworn enemies, besides animals of prey, are trolls who are disliked for their foul odour and general badness; in turn trolls detest gnomes for their beguiling ways and quick feet.

Gnomes is a charming and comprehensive guide into the world of these amazing and astonishing little people. Known mostly for their full beards, rosy cheeks and nose rubbing ways, within these pages you will discover just what it is to be a gnome. Which according to any gnome would be his cap, for a gnome is just not a gnome without his pointy red cap. With physiology, remedies, courtship, legends, songs and personal accounts, Gnomes is a book for anyone with a inquisitive mind and an open heart.

Huygen and Poortvliet's book about the habits of gnomes is one of hte classics in the modern "non-fiction" fairytale canon, but I had no idea that they had expanded the book into a more narrative story. The tale of a gnome who gets captured by some evil trolls and is rescued by his wife in disguise is not a particularly unique or well-written story, but I absolutely adored the accompanying illustrations. From the luscious depiction of the furry fox that we start out with to the nighttime forest landscapes we are drawn into the intriguingly magical world of the gnomes. I kind of wish that we had just been given a book of imagery with captions, but I;ll take it regardless!

A história "Gnomos" foi escrita por Wil Huygen, é tão boa quanto as ilustrações de Rien Poortvliet. Nela você pode ler sobre o dia a dia dos Gnomos, hábitos, alimentação, saúde, casa e muito mais. As histórias são de ficção e fantasia, apesar disso, parecem bem reais, pois se baseiam no conhecimento popular sobre Gnomos, inventos e costumes da humanidade.

Read in 1979 - pre-Goodreads

Review 12.01.17

What can I say? It was THE book in the late 1970's to read. Or, rather, look at. And, being in Jr. High, I was just the right age to enjoy this.

Cute book about gnomes. It's written in a non-fiction style that details everything you would want to know about gnomes, including physiology, culture, and other species related to or sometimes confused with gnomes. It also includes nine folk tales that have to do with gnomes. Overall, this is a fast read with beautiful illustrations, and the deluxe edition comes with 8 prints suitable for framing.

someday i am going to make some man VERY HAPPY (when i tell him the secrets of the gnomes)

599

Che ricordi... lo sapevo a memoria, conoscevo tutte le abitudini, usi e costumi degli gnomi.
Mi ricorda tantissimo la mia infanzia, passavo un sacco di tempo a sfogliarlo e a costruire con la mente viaggi fantastici insieme agli gnomi.
Forse le grafiche oggi risulterebbero poco accattivanti, ma secondo me è un must have per i bambini!!!

I was sitting around nursing a cold with nothing to read. Crisis. I pulled my elderly copy of this off the bookcase and reread it today. Just totally charming, especially the illustrations. My only issue is that gnome women seem to have very boring lives.

I loved this book growing up. There was a copy on my parents' best friends' coffee table and I could never wait to visit them. I devoured the beautiful illustrations and eventually all the detailed descriptions as well. Will definitely get a copy once my children stop trying to rip up paper!

Underbara illustrationer och texter. Boken påskyndar julstämningen direkt.

Poortvliet is a naturalist and an artist, a bit like John James Audubon. That much is true, and good. And this coffee-table book does a good job of giving us some interesting details about some interesting wildlife, including information to distinguish related species between N. America & Europe, and to tell the difference between hares and rabbits. It's earthy and honest.

My problems with it are principally two:

The cursive font captioning each sketch was very difficult for me to read, and would also be, perhaps, for children (although I wouldn't recommend this to children younger than 8 unless they already know about animals' primary raison d'etre, perhaps because they live on a farm).

And the occasional anthropomorphism was troubling, especially when crows were referred to as evil." Um, they're smart, but I don't think they're smart enough to rub their wings and cackle "Today the rabbit hutch, tomorrow the world!"

"

Too odd for me to rate objectively. A mix of real science and fantasy, and a mysterious adventure, with even a bit of an appeal to logic, sorted out so there are bits to appeal to pre-reading tots, children, parents, and grandparents. Lovely illustrations of course. Suzanne the donkey is especially adorable. Absolutely a five-star read for some families, but somehow I just couldn't let go and enjoy it fully myself.

Intricate pictures with humourous views of people.

best book about gnomes

A book I've had since childhood, which always delighted me and let me believe a wider world of magical creatures could exist. I have since shared it with my son, and he was similarly enchanted.

I am a big fan of gnomes, the first gnome book "The Complete Gnomes" is a favorite of mine, and I have wanted to add the pop-up version for a long time. There is a good concise mixture of the vast gnome lore to be found in the original book, and the pop-ups really help to bring the wee folk to life. The illustrations are adorable, a mixture of realism and fantasy that is just right. My favorite movable is the spread of gnomes at play, on the swings and playing tug-of-war in the garden, wish I could join in the fun!

Gisteren voor een tientje op de Amsterdamsestraatweg braderie op de kop getikt. Blijft een prachtig werk, zo gedetailleerd en zulke mooie tekeningen.

The year 1566 was tough for the Dutch. It included a plague, a great freeze, floods, and drought, not to mention a Spanish invasion. Dutch artist Rien Poortviiet has created a gorgeous volume of paintings (Daily Life in Holland in the Year 1566 And the Story of My Ancestor's Treasure Chest, representing life as his research showed it to be during that year. He shows in Rembrandtesque detail what clothes people wore, how they got dressed, the misery of the poor, and numerous details of it daily life. For example, many cities had laws regulating the length of knives that could be worn -- perhaps society's first attempt at weapon control. (No doubt the Dutch Sharp Edge Association, also known as the Netherlands Rapier Association, protested vigorously.) The town would hang a wooden knife cut to the s proper length at the town gate so visitors could measure up.

Poortviiet revels in revealing the smallest details. He shows examples of engagement ring and the medallions that peasants their hats. Some were quite humorous; evidently the middle ages wasn't quite as scandalized by the scatological as we have become. Houses had no r house might be numbers, so your house might be the one three houses down from the red boot - the red boot being the sign of a local tanner, perhaps. Men going out for a beer would say, I'm going to pick up a circle," so naturally women getting together for needlework in the evening would have a "sewing circle."

Sanitation was unknown. Garbage and trash were thrown into the streets If a canal passed by the front of a house, it became the catchall of all the debris. Out houses were built over the canal, which was then used for rinsing dishes. It was, however, forbidden to burn deathbed straw within the city limits. Fire itself:: was a constant danger and the city strictly regulated the way houses could be built. Homes with tile or slate roofs were subsidized and, depending on the value of the house, the owner was required to have one or two leather pails on hand, One job of the fire chief was to make sure that there were open holes kept in the ice during the winter for fighting fires.

Traveling was dangerous. Wolves were common, as were robbers and cutthroats. Usually one could tell when approaching a city by the smell, and the sight of bodies hanging from trees. It was required that the condemned confess before being executed so torture was common and the devices used to extract confessions were ingeniously designed to be both beautiful and effective. They are rather vividly portrayed here. Executions were a form of entertainment and it was common for the entire family to attend. The town bailiffs income was derived from the number of criminals or malefactors he was able to torture or execute. (And we thought ticket quotas were bad!) Of course, it wasn't just criminals who got their dues, Anabaptists were also prime fodder for the rack and gallows.

In fact, 1566 was a year or great ferment in the church. The Reformation was beginning to take hold and the anti-idolaters were smashing church icons in a maddening attempt to vent their frustration against the government and the church. All this history is portrayed in hundreds of beautifully detailed paintings and sketches, each supplemented by short text. A magnificent volume.

Enchanting "encyclopedia".