Harold Lloyd (1893–1971)

The 2 stars are for the value as a coffee table book with some well printed colour photos of models in various states of undress.

As a stereography-related book, it is awful. There is no other word for it. The anaglyph printing is so badly aligned that probably 75% of the 3D images are blurry and lack definition (and any 3D effect in some cases). They do a terrible disservice to Lloyd himself, who was a fine photographer. They would have done far far better to have the colour slides aligned show more to "side by side" format, as so many of the London Stereoscopic Company books are, with a suitable viewer. They would have been far more accurately representative of Lloyd's original stereo images. These are utterly dreadful. So much so, I wouldn't recommend it for even the most completist 3D book collector. A real shame as the other book of his (non nude) photos is far far better.

This is not a cheap book to acquire either. Fortunately mine was in far worse shape than described when I bought it, so I was able to return it. I won't be buying a replacement copy. show less

Harold Lloyd sure enjoyed his retirement.

And I enjoyed this book, but not as much as hoped for. I associate Hollywood with actors and actresses, so presumed the nudes would all be actresses, and that I'd be familiar with at least some. Turns out only one or two are film stars, whom I'm unfamiliar with, and the rest are models.

Also, having read this for free on the Internet Archive's Open Library, I didn't get access to the 3D glasses included with the physical copy. This meant some photos show more were hard to appreciate because they styled for 3D viewing only, so to the naked eye they're blurry. The majority are not like this, though, so don't let this put you off checking out an online copy if you're thinking of doing so.

Aside from the photos, the author (Harold's granddaughter) includes some biographical details of Harold, plus details about him relating to the photos and what went on behind the camera. We also find out what some of the models thought of Harold. He comes across as positive in every account. I can forgive the author's bias seeing as she's writing about her grandfather, and because I'm a huge fan of Harold Lloyd the genius comedy actor.

The only real criticism I have is that it's not been professionally proofread (or maybe it has but the proofreader was distracted by the nudes). It's not properly punctuated at times, especially when it comes to apostrophes. The 1940s, 1950s, the '60s, etc., are plural, so don't need an apostrophe before the 's'.

Marilyn Monroe appears in the book but not in the nude.

Considering the countless number of photos Harold took, this collection could've been a lot larger. show less

Bought this but my copy was a bit damaged so fortunately I sent it back and got my money back. Dreadful implementation - anaglyphs, created from the stereo realist kodachrome slides, is never a good idea - quality suffers badly and some of these are printed so badly they're not even in 3D; just blurry pictures. Awful. And not a patch on the first collection of Harold Lloyd stereos "3D Hollywood" which is far better and recreates the stereo images correctly as side by side colour images.

I don't know as this book needs more of a review than it gives itself with its title. You cannot deny the power and wonder of 3 dimensional nude photos.

I got this book in an amazing coup at a white elephant gift party. I think that it changed hands in nearly every round.