Tuesday, February 25, 2014

New Taschen Hieronymus Bosh. The Complete Works, edited by Stefan Fisher

Yesterday brought a big Amazon box with the just published Taschen title,   Hieronymus Bosch.  The Complete Works, edited by Stefan Fischer.  The packaging alone brought a smile to my soul.  The book, an oversize folio, 18" x 12.5" x 2.5" boxed in a wonderful cardboard briefcase preprinted with Bosch's masterpiece, The Garden of Earthly Delights.  Of course, try as I might, I accidentally tore the cardboard while opening the briefcase.  My collector's heart advises me to acquire a second copy and never play with it but my long-term sense is that I can live with just the book on my shelves and the cardboard briefcase is simply a packaging item that was made to be recycled and is not equal to a clam-shell box for storing the book!

I have paged through and am initially very impressed with the reproduction of the art.  The commentary will be a challenge to read, black backgrounds and light type are rarely a winning combination, but likely, worth the effort.  The collection of preparatory drawings is fascinating and I am thrilled to add this to my library.

An earlier title, Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights by Jacqueline Guillaud, Clarkson Potter (1989) remains a favorite of mine due to the paper stock, reproductions and the fact that rice paper is a great feature with this title. While out of print, a few copies appear on ABE, here with 1 a real steal the the rest with increasing prices.

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