THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF METAL TOYS – An All-Color Guide to the Art of Collecting International Playthings, by Gordon Gardiner and Alistair Morris, Harmony Books, NY, 1984. 
Lavishly illustrated in color, this early out-of-print book provides a pictorial survey of over one thousand tin and cast iron toys with identifying captions.  “Metal toys of all types and makes are illustrated: Trains, [Lionel, Marx, Hornby, Dublo Dinky, Marklin, etc.],  ships [Marklin, Fleischmann, Arnold, Bing, Carette, etc.], aircraft [Nomura, Empire, Fleischmann, Jep, Cardini, etc.], cars [Corgi, Dinky, Tootsietoys, Matchbox, etc.] and trucks; Novelty toys-ranging from cast-iron money boxes to clockwork mice; Military toys [Britains, etc.] – soldiers, sailors, pilots and their weapons, equipment and vehicles; Wild West figures, animals, zoo and circus figures; Toys from all the master toymakers: Corgi, Dinky, Marx, Matchbox, Bassett-Lowke and more.  Each toy is fully described with clear text and a caption giving an estimate, on a simple and internationally applicable scale, of each item’s degree of rarity and its comparative value, for collectors and the curious.  [This text] gives us both a stroll down memory lane and a guide to collecting these fascinating objects.” 
The photography in this book is magnificent; the captions are in-depth; and the narrative is concisely rich.  Information is also provided on metal toy manufacturers and their trademarks.  This scarce text would make a fine addition to the permanent reference library of the collector, dealer, or historian of antique metal toys.
Heavy / oversize 8.8” x 12” hardback with dust cover in very good condition.  208 pages.
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