My friend gave me this little book of Degas plates. It's lovely. It was published in 1956 in Paris (the descriptions of his art are in English).

The first 10 pages or so are a synopsis of Degas' work, with a few small pictures of some of his sketches. Then there are 15 plates of his works, in full color (when applicable).

Anyway, I just have it sitting in a drawer, though the pictures are very pretty. I was thinking of taking the pictures out and maybe framing them or putting them in some kind of collage so that I can actually SEE them. I doubt the book is worth very much at all, and I feel like the pictures are being wasted in my desk drawer.

Does anyone else have any ideas of what I could do with them? Or do you disagree and think they should stay in book-form?

Thanks!

Ellen

Before you do anything to the book, first do a Google search and see if they are worth anything. I'm sure you would hate to take the book apart and find out it's worth something. Then if you find out it isn't, maybe you can take it to an art place that does framing and have them framed and have them cut them out so they don't get ruined. They are beautiful!

It's not worth much at all. I found many copies for sale on ebay and other sites.

It's not worth much at all. I found many copies for sale on ebay and other sites.

My tendency in this case would be to frame them somehow in similar frames. Perhaps head to your local arts and crafts store (Michaels or something like it) to see if they have inexpensive frames approximately the size you are looking for. You can then cut them from the book, find appropriate matting, and have them framed to maintain their current condition. I think plenty of stores will have multiple small-frames joined together in some way: like framed collages.