Many books in my collection books have art by more than one illustrator - Spectrum being an excellent example.

Since 1994, Arnie and Cathy Fenner have published an annual collection called Spectrum - The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. If you're a fan of modern fantasy and sf art, this is a wonderful sampler of what's best in the field each year. It is the result of a juried show in which submitted work is evaluated by a panel of judges. Bud Plant has been on the panel for several years, so you know that they recruit the very best. Medals are awarded and hundreds of the best pieces are then compiled into the annual book. Rick Berry was on the cover of Spectrum 2 (at right), and inside you could find Charles Vess along with Leo and Diane Dillon, Frank Frazetta, Marshall Arisman, Simon Bisley, James Gurney, and quite literally hundreds of others. The variety of material presented makes these annuals an inexpensive way to see your favorites and to learn about artists you didn't know. The current issue is always available from Bud's Art Books and they often have a couple of prior issues as well.

The Society of Illustrators annual was the model for Spectrum. Since 1959, the SofI has released an Illustrators annual with the results of their yearly juried show (I just received my copy of Illustrators 42 which I got from Bud's Art Books). The variety of work in these books is staggering and the quality is always top notch. I'm often treated to new work by many of my friends and past customer, like Joe Rubinstein, Peter de Seve, and Leo and Diane Dillon for example. Pick a year in which you have a liking for art styles and view page after page of examples from your favorites and make some new ones. I have a complete run of these annuals and they are a great source of information for these biographies.

Another fascinating staple of multi-artist publications were the "Gift Book". These were books created usually in Britain to raise money for charities, most often in wartime. For example, Princess Mary's Gift Book was published sometime during WWI and the proceeds were for 'The Queen's "Work for Women" Fund'. Authors like J.M. Barrie, A. Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider Haggard were represented along with original work from Russell Flint, E.J. Detmold, Arthur Rackham (below right) and Edmund Dulac. These were tipped-in color plates and there was work by Rackham and many others in the text.

I have a question that has puzzled me for decades. Why don't most British books have copyright dates? Does anyone know? Not even some of the ANNUALS give a publication date. I've never understood this and it has certainly hindered the cause of bibliography over the years. Any insights?

Other entries in this category include Princess Elizabeth's Gift Book (you might have heard of her, she's the one who graduated to "Queen"), The Queen's Book of the Red Cross (in time to sponsor another benefit book in 1939), King Albert's Book, and The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Gift Book. The eclectic contents of these books don't seem to fit comfortably into any other niche on my shelves. But (various) describes them nicely.

Earlier still, around the turn of the century, many of the famous magazines of the time would 'recycle' some of their published illustrations into elaborate and quite large presentation volumes aimed at the Christmas gift buyers. P.F. Collier in 1908 released Thirty Favorite Paintings, with large images, some few in color, by the famous illustrators whose work appeared in their magazine: Harrison Fisher, Frederic Remington, Maxfield Parrish, A.B. Frost, Gibson, Leyendecker, Stilwell, Keller, etc. Also in 1908, Judge published "Yours Truly" and One Hundred Other Original Drawings with b&w paintings and drawings by J.M. Flagg, Penrhyn Stanlaws, Frank Snapp, Charles Sarka and other lesser luminaries. Both of these books were about 11½" x 16".

In 1906, Life presented The Social Comedy. Scribner's may have started the trend back in 1898 with Pictures From Scribner's which featured Gibson, Frost, Castaigne, Vierge, Abbey, Pyle, Wenzell and others.

Frank Schoonover in Scribners Vol. XLI (1907)	Ervine Metzl in Fortune Vol. IV No.1 (1932)	Barry Windsor-Smith in Ariel Vol. 3 (1978)

If this is the area of illustration in which you're interested, there's no better or more economical means of learning about it than to view the original magazines where these illustrators first displayed their work. I collect these source magazines, usually in bound volumes. Images from The Century, Scribners, Harpers, St. Nicholas, The Studio, Punch and others often show up in the pages of The Vadeboncoeur Collection of ImageS magazine.

Then there are the "Art of" books: The Art of Dungeons and Dragons, The Art of Playboy, The Art of Rock, etc. and books devoted to a group of artists: titles like Dream Makers, The Flights of Icarus, or like Jones, Wrightson, Kaluta and Windsor-Smith in The Studio or books devoted to a specific genre like science fiction and/or fantasy art. Many wonderful collections exist, often featuring many more artists than I could possible list. Take, for instance, one of my science fiction favorites, Tomorrow and Beyond which presents "Masterpieces of Science Fiction Art" like the Richard Powers image at left. It has over 300 color images from over 70 different illustrators.

If you'd like to learn about other artists, click