$40 and over
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Illustrated by Salvador Dali. 150 pages in folio. Maecenas Press-Random House. $375. Questioned about his stature as a painter, Salvador Dali once remarked, "I consider myself a very mediocre painter [but] I'm a better painter than my contemporaries." John Tenniel isn't a contemporary, but the original illustrator of Alice still seems best. Although Dali's Mock Turtle is stupendous, most of the twelve lavish color illustrations and one original color etching are more evocative of Dali than Alice.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Translated by Thomas G. Bergin, with illustrations by Leonard Baskin. 867 pages. 3 vols. Grossman. $75. A Dante scholar and professor of Romance languages at Yale offers a translation that tries to stay faithful to Dante's poetic rhythms but wisely avoids any attempt to match his terza rima rhyme scheme. As in many translations of classics, there are disquieting changes in well-known lines. Gary's familiar 1814 "All hope abandon, ye who enter here," for instance, becomes "Bid hope farewell, all ye who enter here." It may be more reflective, but it is less ominous and powerful. Leonard Baskin's murky, impressionistic black-and-white line drawings and washes fail to evoke Dante's sulphurous and radiant visions. They will have a hard time displacing the memory of Gustave Doré's illustrations.
Old Testament Miniatures. Introduction by Sydney C. Cockerel!; Preface by John Plummer. 209 paqes. Braziller. $50. Stunning facsimile reproductions of medieval miniatures that illustrate the Creation, as well as the subsequent doings of Adam, Eve, the serpent, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Saul, David and Goliath, with as much lively detail as a supercomic strip and as much eloquent beauty as most Adorations of the Virgin. The book of the year at practically any price.
American Painting: From its Beginnings to the Armory Show by Jules David Prown; The Twentieth Century by Barbara Rose. 269 pages. 2 vols. Skira. $50. How and why American art developed from West and Copley through Homer and Ryder to Pollock, De Kooning and Warhol. With anecdotes about each painter, these companion volumes provide a wieldy and informative analysis of art technique in relation to the nation's history.
The Complete Work of Raphael. 649 pages. Reynal & Company. $45. The year's blockbuster (a 12-lb. book) shows and tells everything about the painter, architect and sonneteer who personifies the High Renaissance search for ideal beauty and harmony. Always overshadowed by the matchless genius and crotchety vitality of Michelangelo, Raphael in this volume exhibits unexpected depths of power and humanity.
Vincent Van Gogh by Marc Edo Tralbaut. 350 pages. Viking. $40. The tortured impressionist painter is so well known that to present him to the public again, one critic has observed, would be like presenting Christ to Christians. Nevertheless this is a splendid job. Calling upon more than 50 years of devoted research, the Belgian art scholar Marc Edo Tralbaut has put together the most satisfying study of Van Gogh's life and works yet.
$25 to $40