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GtrsRGr8 · 01-17-2016, 08:33 PM

UPDATE: See at the end of this post.

I ran across the website of this organization called Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (doaks.org), located in the Washington, D.C. area. Seems that they specialize in Byzantine and MesoAmerican studies.

They offer some free pdf ebooks. This one seemed more "accessible" than most of the other ones. And what few ratings that I could find for the book are very high. So, I'm posting it.

Title: Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute.
Format: Pdf.
Author(s): Natalia B. Teteriatnikov.
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Pages: 78.
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: Not rated at Amazon; 4.25 (4) at GoodReads.
Price: $0.00.
Lowest Price at Amazon if available there: $644.97 (New paperback).
Book Description (from Dumbarton Oaks):
Drawing on material in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, this catalogue records two periods of work that uncovered the mosaics of Hagia Sophia, hidden by whitewash and plaster for 400 years. The photographs and drawings record the procedures used in the restoration and the results of these projects carried out in 1848–49 by the architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati and later in 1931–49 by the Byzantine Institute.
Comments:
URL: http://www.doaks.org/resources/publi...hia/sophia.pdf.

* No, the $644.97 is not a misprint nor my idea of a joke. That is the lowest price for this book, a new paperback copy, at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Mosaics-Hagia-...dp/0884022641/). Thinking that that might be a fluke, I checked a (physical) book mega search engine, Bookfinder.com. They showed many copies being available, but the lowest price that they showed was Amazon's. Apparently Amazon does not offer the book in their digital Kindle mobi format; if they did, it would probably be substantially cheaper than the physical book.

UPDATE: Two items. First, I learned that the book is out-of-print. That would account for some part of the high price of physical copies (no doubt, the new one that Amazon offers (by a third party) is a leftover in a bookseller's inventory). Second, I noticed that all of the photos inside the book were in black-and-white. I assumed that that was how it was originally printed, but I notice that Dumbarton states, concerning another ebook that they offer for free, that the color illustrations in it are given in black-and-white only. I suspect that they did it with this book also. If that is the case, when you download the book you will want to "use Smooth Text option in Acrobat Reader preferences for best results in displaying images."

01-17-2016, 08:33 PM	#65
GtrsRGr8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,334 Karma: 27815322 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Southeastern U.S., ya'll Device: Kindle; Kindle (10.1.1) for PC; Kindle Cloud Reader	FREE Pdf Book on the Hagia Sophia--Lowest Priced Copy at Amazon $644.97! * UPDATE: See at the end of this post. I ran across the website of this organization called Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (doaks.org), located in the Washington, D.C. area. Seems that they specialize in Byzantine and MesoAmerican studies. They offer some free pdf ebooks. This one seemed more "accessible" than most of the other ones. And what few ratings that I could find for the book are very high. So, I'm posting it. Title: *Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute. Format:* Pdf. Author(s): Natalia B. Teteriatnikov. Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Pages: 78. Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: Not rated at Amazon; 4.25 (4) at GoodReads. Price: *$0.00. Lowest Price at Amazon if available there:* $644.97 (New paperback). Book Description (from Dumbarton Oaks): Drawing on material in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, this catalogue records two periods of work that uncovered the mosaics of Hagia Sophia, hidden by whitewash and plaster for 400 years. The photographs and drawings record the procedures used in the restoration and the results of these projects carried out in 1848–49 by the architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati and later in 1931–49 by the Byzantine Institute. Comments: URL: http://www.doaks.org/resources/publi...hia/sophia.pdf. * No, the $644.97 is not a misprint nor my idea of a joke. That is the lowest price for this book, a new paperback copy, at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Mosaics-Hagia-...dp/0884022641/). Thinking that that might be a fluke, I checked a (physical) book mega search engine, Bookfinder.com. They showed many copies being available, but the lowest price that they showed was Amazon's. Apparently Amazon does not offer the book in their digital Kindle mobi format; if they did, it would probably be substantially cheaper than the physical book. UPDATE: Two items. First, I learned that the book is out-of-print. That would account for some part of the high price of physical copies (no doubt, the new one that Amazon offers (by a third party) is a leftover in a bookseller's inventory). Second, I noticed that all of the photos inside the book were in black-and-white. I assumed that that was how it was originally printed, but I notice that Dumbarton states, concerning another ebook that they offer for free, that the color illustrations in it are given in black-and-white only. I suspect that they did it with this book also. If that is the case, when you download the book you will want to "use Smooth Text option in Acrobat Reader preferences for best results in displaying images." Last edited by GtrsRGr8; 01-18-2016 at 02:19 AM.