Collectors Press's Fantasy & Horror collections
Fantasy Of The 20th Century - An Illustrated History
Horror Of The 20th Century - An Illustrated History
(2000 / 2001 - Collectors Press)

The books here are ranked with the best presentation at the top and the least so down at the bottom.

Fantasy Of The 20th Century - An Illustrated History (2001) (by Randy Brocker) At 10-by-13 inches, this colorful tome is a bit unwieldy and then having 256 pages makes it almost twice as heavy as would be ideal. 203 of those pages are dominated by the art, 74 of those each spotlighting a single featured reproduction, while the rest each gather together multiple images. The majority of the rest of the book are the text pages detailing major swatches of the fantasy genre (nearly 30 other pages are the two-page vague art-excerpt chapter openers). The chapters are: Better Living Through Fantasy, 1001 Delights, Lost Worlds-Lost Races, The Pulp Alchemists, Complete Enchanters, A Good Story Is Worth Reprinting, With This Ring . . ., Have Sword-Will Travel, Seeing Is Believing-The Cinema Of The Fantastic, Dear Mr. Fantasy, Faierie 'Cross The Mersey, The Road Goes Ever On, and Beyond The Field I Know. Most of the art pieces are reproductions of the covers from many books, paperbacks, comics, pulps and other magazines, though there is that chapter on 'fantastic' films (and their movie posters) as well. Almost everything is captioned with the title of the publication or movie, along with when it came out and the artist's name and usually a factoid or anecdote. I'd observe that while true the book certainly doesn't seem crammed, many of the non-cluttered featured reproductions just seem smaller than they need to be, especially in light of how large the pages are (they were just frequently *very* generous with the negative space). The artists getting featured 'well-presented' pages are: Tom Beecham, Rudolph Belarski, Earle Bergey, Hannes Bok (3), Margaret Brundage*, Edd Cartier**, Renato Casaro, Harry Clarke, Richard Clifton-Dey, Lee Conrey, Hookway Cowles, Kinuko Y. Craft, Frank Craig, Ned Dameron, Les Edwards, Bob Eggleton, Ed Emshwiller**, Stephen E. Fabian, Virgil Finlay (3), H.J. Ford, Frank Frazetta (2)*, Jack Gaughan*, Edmond Good, James Gurney, Greg & Tim Hildebrandt (2)***, Frank Hoban, John Howe, Robert Gibson Jones (2), Tom Jung, Charles Keegan, Ken Kelly, Bob Larkin, Alan Lee, Carl Lundgren, Jean Malclez, Harold McCauley, Manuel Orazi, Frank Papé, Willy Pogany (2), Alfred Renz, Everett Shinn, Ron Smethurst, J. Allen St. John (2), Jim Steranko, Jon Sullivan, Darrell K. Sweet**, Geoff Taylor, J.R.R. Tolkien, Boris Vallejo*, Ron Walotsky, Michael Whelan*, N.C. Wyeth, and UNKNOWN ARTIST (10). (Note that this book is one of the three pulled together to compose ART OF IMAGINATION from the same publisher.)

* - Note that all of the 'well-presented' pieces here by Brundage, Frazatta, Gaughan, Whelan, and Vallejo can all additionally be found so in their own collections on The List.

** - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Cartier, Emshwiller, Fabian, Kelly, Larkin, St. John, Sweet, and Walotsky, cannot additionally be found so in their own collections on The List.

*** - Note that in regards to the 'well-presented' pieces here by The Brothers Hildebrandt, one, but not all, can additionally be found in their collections on The List.

Horror Of The 20th Century - An Illustrated History (2000) (by Robert Weinberg) Just like its siblings, at 10-by-13 inches, this colorful tome is also a bit unwieldy and then having 256 pages makes it almost twice as heavy as would be ideal. 190 of those pages are dominated by the art, 65 of those featuring a single reproduction, while the rest each gather together multiple images. A majority of the rest of the book is the text pages detailing major swatches of the horror genre (nearly 20 other pages are the two-page vague art-excerpt chapter openers). The chapters are: Dark Roots, Antiquarian Ghosts, Horror Comes To Hollywood, Horror On A Budget, New Outlets, Comics Horrify, Famous Monsters, The Horror Boom, The Downward Spiral, and Horror Today. Most of the art pieces are reproductions of the covers from many books, paperbacks, comics, pulps and other magazines, though there are two significant sections on the horror film 'booms' (and their movie posters) as well. Almost everything is captioned with the title of the publication or movie, along with when it came out and the artist's name and usually a factoid or anecdote. (On that note, I have to express some lack of confidence in the thoroughness of that endeavor, seeing how in at least three instances, I see the artist registered as "unknown" with the artist's clear signature in the image (!) - Not to mention that pulp icon John Howitt is repeatedly referenced as 'Howett'). I'd observe that while true the book certainly doesn't seem crammed, many of the non-cluttered featured reproductions just seem smaller than they need to be, especially in light of how large the pages are (they were just frequently *very* generous with the negative space). The artists getting featured 'well-presented' on a page are: Jon Arfstrom, G. Baldry, Hannes Bok, Steve Brennan, Sol Brodsky, Andrew Brosnatch, Bob Brown, Howard V. Brown (2), Margaret Brundage*, George Bush, Cagney, Rosalind Caldecott, Tom Campbell, Frederick Cantor, André Castaigne, Harry Clarke, Ned Dameron, Virgil Finlay, Frank Frazetta*, Goya, Albin Grau, Arthur Hawkins, Greg Hildebrandt*, John Newton Howitt (4), Richard Lamb, Eliphas Levi, Rick Lieder, McGinn, Mitzura, Marie Moreno, Gray Morrow, Earn Norem, J.K. Potter, Graham Potts, Steel Savage, R.W. Smethurst, Austin Osman Spare, Lawrence Sterne Stevens, Derek A. Stowe (D.A. Stowe), A.R. Tilburne, Boris Vallejo**, Douglas Walters, Wally Wood (3), Stanislaw Zagorski, and UNKNOWN (13). (Note that this book is one of the three pulled together to compose ART OF IMAGINATION from the same publisher.)

* - Note that Frazetta's, Brundage's & Hildebrandt's 'well-presented' pieces here are also found so in their own collections on The List. (With that said, Hildebrandt's Dracula cover is far larger here.)

** - Note that Vallejo's 'well-presented' piece here cannot be found so in his own collections on The List.

Related Books

Art Of Imagination