Shel Horowitz’s Monthly Frugal Fun Tip–February, 2008

Art Masterworks…for Pennies a Picture–Part 1

In October, I told you how to get art for your walls, inexpensively. Here’s another way to acquire art, even less expensively: and unlike the other stuff, these paintings, drawings, and sculptures have been vetted by scholars and museums over the past hundreds of years.

But this art doesn’t live on your walls; it lives in your bookshelves. And the cost is usually only pennies per picture if you buy used, dimes or quarters if you purchase new.

I’m talking about art books and nature books.

On my shelves, I’ve got a fat Picasso collection, thinner ones showcasing Michelangelo, Georgia O’Keefe, and Cezanne, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Treasures of King Tut, books of African, Mayan, and far eastern art. And beautiful nature books, including Audubon field guides, photos of Earth from space, place-specific art books covering locations as distant as the Canary Islands and as close as the mountain range right behind my own house. I’ve bought many similar books as gifts over the years. Despite retail prices of up to $70, most of these cost me between zero and $20 apiece, and almost all were under $30.

How to Buy Good Ones.
Art books are something I wouldn’t buy mail-order or online–because the quality of the reproduction makes a big difference in the quality of the book. If the color is true, if the photography and layout are good, you’ll take these books out and look them over, and get much pleasure. If the art or reproduction is crappy, or if the pictures are too small on the page, those books will just sit there, gathering dust.

Next Month: Part Two: Where to Locate These Books Affordably

Get lots more Frugal Fun ideas in Shel’s 280-page e-book, The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant’s Pocketbook. Available for just $8.50, only through Shel’s sites. Preview: http://www.frugalfun.com/pphtoc.html

Order: http://www.frugalmarketing.com/shop.html

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