cover image Snowdomes

Snowdomes

Nancy McMichael. Abbeville Press, $27.5 (95pp) ISBN 978-1-55859-036-6

Encapsulated worlds that, inverted, are swept up in tiny blizzards, snowdomes are popular collectibles. In a text replete with corny snow puns, tongue-in-cheek chapter headings and lighthearted comments, McMichael, a collector of snowdomes, cursorily takes us through the history of these baubles from their beginnings in 19th-century France, and points out popular motifs: vacation spots, Santa Claus and Christmas scenes, cartoon characters and animals. The provenance of the snowdomes depicted here is generally left vague and their dimensions are not given. The photography and design are slipshod: some of the pictures of grouped snowdomes are blurred; the toys are placed against distracting backgrounds; there are no detail shots or full-page individual images. Still, the memories evoked and the sentiments expressed by these objects make this compilation amusing and charming. (Nov.)