The Story of Art: Luxury Edition

Amazing as a gift great book

Do not buy this book. Buy, instead, the 16th edition reprinted on 2016 or, for that matter, any other edition of this book including the wonderful pocket edition.I sent my copy back to Amazon for a full refund.Phaidon produces some of the best art titles on the market and their new Phaidon classics collection reigns supreme among art publications in this century as far as I am concerned. Therefore, it is surprising to see how they could get it so wrong with Gombrich's much beloved classic. I will list here several reasons why it is better to buy the 16th edition hardcover, 2016 printing ( or any other edition ) than this so called "luxury edition":2016 edition - photos of art work are of better quality and are, in general, larger than in the luxury edition2016 edition - It is truer to Gombrich's work and has , at the end of each chapter, an illustration of an artist at work. Those illustrations are not present here.2016 edition- It has fold outs of two or three pages where you can better appreciate artworks such as Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus". The photo showing this painting in the luxury edition is a double spread and thanks to that you can barely see its most important figure, Venus, which gives title to the painting! The double spread is a disaster.2016 edition - It is printed on a nice off white paper. It is physically easier to read than the so luxury edition, printed on a shiny white paper.And guess what? The 2016 edition on hardcover costs a few pounds less than the so called "luxury edition".The only negative thing about the 2016 edition is the choice of fonts for the text on the DJ's flaps. To use a thin black font against a grey and , on the top of that, textured background lacks ordinary quickness and keenness of mind...You just can't read the text.Now, to be fair, there is one reason why it might be better to buy the luxury edition than any other edition:If you have a car and lost your warning triangle then the bright, shiny orange cover of the luxury edition will do the job of the warning triangle.P.S About the photos1 The so called luxury edition on the top, with its case. The 16th edition on hardcover ( ISBN 9780714633552) is the one on the bottom.2 The 16th edition and the luxury edition together. Look at the gigantic difference in quality: A three pages fold out and a double spread which manages to hide the most important figure in the painting, the one that gives to the painting its very tittle: Venus. The idiocy of this double spread in particular is phenomenal. I can't believe that an experienced professional is responsible for the abominable double spread of the "Birth of Venus". It is likely that the responsible is someone young who doesn't care much about books. He or she looked at the double spread on the Phaidon's computer screen and saw nothing wrong with it, not realising that the book was not going to "live" in the computer. Unfortunately, many young people see the world through their computers only and end up being blind to the analog world.3 The three pages fold out from the 16th edition4 The double spread from the luxury edition5 Another example of fold out versus double spread. Which one do you prefer? The fold out where you can clearly see the whole of Christ in the centre of the painting or the double spread where you can see just bits of the main figure in the painting? Which one would you call "luxury" ?6 Picture from the 16th edition . Look at the lamp on the top right.7. Picture from the "luxury edition". Look at the lamp. Check the difference in resolution and how you can see more of it on the picture from the 16th edition. Besides having, for the most of it, larger plates , pictures from the 16th edition also have better resolution.Sometimes the plates from the luxury edition are larger than the ones from the 16th edition and sometimes they are in colour whilst the same reproduction from the 16th edition is in black and white. But most plates from the 16th edition are larger or the same size you will find on the book being reviewed here. All illustrations from the 16th edition have more resolution and show more details from the artworks than the illustration on the luxury edition.8 Artist at work. You have this in the 16th edition. Not in the luxury edition as the photo shows.9 Artist at workI tried to post more photos but they didn't go on air. I guess there is a limit of photos that I can upload.I believe that Gombrich's is the best book on art history ever. Gombrich's writing is an absolute beauty. The printing technology today is fantastic. Phaidon could have done something really memorable and impressive. But they chose the road to mediocrity.

Really good

Quality edition to this long standing classic.Hardback in slip case.Paper is good quality matt finish.Plenty of illustrations - some are a little on the small size but the larger ones are well produced.Gombrich covers a lot of ground and is therefore not so in depth as some art history books. It does however make for a great introduction and overview of art.Would make a great gift.Overall I am very happy with this edition.

part of the slipcase was injured.

Phaidon has eliminated a major narrative line from this 'luxury' edition of The Story of Art. At the end of each chapter, in the earlier editions, there was an illustration showing an artist at work. This humanized the history of art, emphasizing the importance of the individual creator as against the quasi-mystical entity known as 'Art'. It emphasized the opening line of the narrative "There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists." Instead, this 'luxury' edition contributes to the contemporary work of art's currency as a commodity. I would strongly recommend the purchase of second-hand copies of earlier editions of the book. Not only do they preserve the narrative line, they also make the book accessible to its originally intended audience.