Infinite World of MC Esch:

This book is essentially a printing of 184 of M.C. Escher's most well known pieces, combined with a 16 pg scholarly overview by J. L. Lochner. I've always been a fan of Escher's art (as is true of many people with a somewhat scientific bent) - I enjoy the way he plays with the perceptions of the viewer ... with conflicting nuances of perspective, texture, color, outline, light, shadow, as well as with his studies of how to use the finite to evoke the infinite. In any case, this book was an opportunity to dive more deeply into the artist's varied works - not just his well know pieces, but also many of his lesser known ones. The author's introduction is very capable and illuminating (if a bit short) - taking the reader on a journey across the artist's career (including both his pre 1937 period in which he focused mainly on the Italian and Spanish countryside; and his post 1937 period, in which he focused increasingly on studies in perspective, metamorphosis, and the infinite), and illuminating aspects that many viewers miss out on ... such as the artist's incredible talent for spatial precision and fine etchmanship (most of Escher's works are carved, rather than drawn - something that's easy to miss out on if you've only seen pictures of the works, rather than the originals themselves). All in all, I found this book to be a very adequate, if unspectacular, introductory overview of Escher's works.

Hardcover Totals to 270 pages if count illustrations (300 with 8 in full color) 59 - is the text pages

A several-page introduction by Locher, then an essay by Escher, and then 184 illustrations (one, two, or three to a page), eight in color, the rest black & white. Some you've seen in popular reproductions. The rest flesh out what Escher was all about.