The Magic of M. C. Escher - with 380 illustrations, 330 in colour

Thames and Hudson, London, 2006.

Hardcover. Presumed 1st Edition.

Book Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 

Synopsis: As beautiful and rigorous as an Escher work itself, this book is the classic study of a great maverick who so memorably linked the world of image making with geometry and paradox. Eschers works, from the great master prints to numerous drawings, are brilliantly arranged to form a cinematic journey of discovery that reveals the magical world of the artists mind, an uncharted realm lush with exotic conceptions and inventions.

Review: M.C. Escher, the artist who lived from 1898-1972, suffers from horrible over-exposure. Who hasn't seen the posters, postcards, t-shirts and coffee mugs, of such well-worn images as a hand drawing another hand or gothic buildings with never-ending staircases? The mass reproduction of these images has carved a firm place in our popular culture yet made the work dismissible as modern art. Beyond the familiar images, though, is an immense body of work.

The Magic of M.C. Escher covers in depth the graphic illustrations, woodcuts and lithographs of Escher's career. Escher has always attracted the attention of scientists, mathematicians and teenage boys everywhere. The popular 1980s game of Dungeons and Dragons seems to borrow heavily from the systematic yet mystical quality of Escher's drawing style. With his amazingly repetitive graphic illustration and unflinchingly control of size, shape and shading, Escher draws like a human computer. One can only wonder what he might have done with today's graphic tools.

The book itself is creatively put together, with fold-outs, seemingly endless images and a loving introduction by the director of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. The minimal text selections that appear throughout are quotes from Escher himself, many taken from letters to family members. The personal thoughts give candid insight into what he thought about his peers, his career and his work; "I really do feel these days like a kind of 'specialist', and I don't want to 'depend' on my speciality alone, but I also feel it to be my duty to devote myself to that as much as possible".

This remarkable book is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the astounding work of the man who could create two-dimensional origami with a pencil. 196 pages, images on every page. --JP Cohen