Manton's book is out

[A Y]

Manton's book, "The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style" (by Nicholas Antongiavanni) is out. I picked up my copy at Borders and read a few pages over lunch. It looks very promising so far, and I was struck by how much Neopolitan clothing is really structured for shorter people!

--Andre

 

[Get Smart]

all text or are there any photos/illustrations?

 

[JLibourel]

They told me at my local Barnes & Noble they'd be in tomorrow (Tuesday, May 23). I reserved one of the five copies they had on order. I think I'll wear my green blazer when I go to buy just because Manton doesn't like 'em!

 

[Concordia]

Originally Posted by JLibourel

They told me at my local Barnes & Noble they'd be in tomorrow (Tuesday, May 23). I reserved one of the five copies they had on order. I think I'll wear my green blazer when I go to buy just because Manton doesn't like 'em!

You've been holding out on us. I had no idea that you were so good at golf!

 

[A Y]

Quickly flipping through the book, it's mostly text. There are whimsical cartoon illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.

--Andre

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by Andre Yew

Quickly flipping through the book, it's mostly text. There are whimsical cartoon illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.

--Andre

that's too bad. I'm sure the text is fantastic and full of great info, but a book about suits/clothes without a plethora of pics is like having the lyric sheet but not the record. sort of.

 

[mr. magoo]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

that's too bad. I'm sure the text is fantastic and full of great info, but a book about suits/clothes without a plethora of pics is like having the lyric sheet but not the record. sort of.

Doesn't that depend on how good the writing is? I haven't read it so don't know, but literature is full of books describing visual subjects without the aid of pictures. Good writing draws a better picture, in fact.

 

[chorse123]

And many good writers see pictures as something like an affront to their work, as if the words by themselves would suffice.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

that's too bad. I'm sure the text is fantastic and full of great info, but a book about suits/clothes without a plethora of pics is like having the lyric sheet but not the record. sort of.

I would agree with that

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by chorse123

And many good writers see pictures as something like an affront to their work, as if the words by themselves would suffice.

I don't think that was Manton's case though. If I remember correctly, he actually wanted to include many illustrations but his publisher did not allow that. Probably because of the additional cost?

 

[Jovan]

Manton said himself he would have preferred full colour illustrations.

EDIT: Ah, okay, gdl203 said it seconds before I did.

 

[chorse123]

Originally Posted by gdl203

I don't think that was Manton's case though. If I remember correctly, he actually wanted to include many illustrations but his publisher did not allow that. Probably because of the additional cost?

Ah yes, I remember that. It is very very expensive to include color illustrations and b&w pictures on plain stock often look muddy. Even with drawings, someone has to pay the artist....

 

[Bradford]

Just received an e-mail from Amazon that my copy has shipped.

They predict I will have it on Thursday.

 

[skalogre]

Woohoo, mine just shipped from Amazon. I wonder if Manton already has the illustrations that would have gone with the book, he could maybe put them up on a website somewhere

 

[Alias]

I read it all. It's very, very good, even though it gets a bit wordy here and there (but since he was imitating Machiavelli I suppose that was the point.) If Dressing the Man is your Style 101 then consider The Suit to be Style 400.

The book does a wonderful job describing the proper dandy. There are some self-styled "dandies" out there who would do very well to read this book and correct their misguided attempts at elegance.

Oh, and there's a part about black suits.