The World Of M.C. Escher / The Infinite World Of M.C. Escher
                                             (1971/1984 - Harry N. Abrams / Abradale Press)  

     This book was originally produced in Amsterdam in 1971, but almost concurrently appeared in English in the United States from the Harry N. Abrams publishers.  There are two significantly different editions.  The better art-book of the two is the one carrying the CONCISE EDITION moniker (with the 'flying fish' cover), which was later re-covered & re-titled THE INFINITE WORLD OF ESCHER.  It is the smaller choice, but then clearly more focused, by percentage, on the art.  Of the volume's 151 pages, 132 present the art (with 112 of them featuring large reproductions). Each work is captioned with the title, creation-year, format, size (also in metric) and the artist's designation.  A small handful of pages in both editions are presented in color.

            The large edition carries "The Other World" piece on the cover and adds 112 more pages.  Most of the new pages are more sketches & studies, black-&-white versions of the color works and 3 additional essays, but it has to be considered more comprehensive, by definition, because it does provide some more of the early, more straightforward pieces including the lesser-known similar kind of works and many earlier drawings & woodcuts of the Italian and Spanish countrysides, where Escher variously resided.  As hinted at above, the thicker package becomes slightly larger than we consider optimal, and makes non-art materials too much of that package to keep its score up.

other Abrams releases

  Secret Identity - The Fetish Art Of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster

  Worlds Beyond Time - Sci-Fi Art Of The 1970s

  Abrams' Norman Rockwell books

  Erotic Comics  vols.1 & 2

SEND US A COMMENT (goes via e-mail - all info kept anonymous, but comment itself may be shared . . .)