MC Escher book covers

1963. Art: Other World (1947).

MC Escher’s prints have been touring the UK this year: a few months ago they were in Scotland, this month they can be seen at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. The renewed attention prompted the BBC to produce a documentary, The Art of the Impossible: MC Escher and Me, in collaboration with Professor Roger Penrose. One of the programme researchers saw my earlier post about the use of Escher’s work on album covers, and asked if I wanted to appear on camera talking about this, something I politely refused to do. I’m happy to hold forth from a keyboard, however, so here’s a post about some of the books that have used Esher’s work to decorate their covers. Most of these are fiction but there must be many more non-fiction titles—especially in the fields of science and mathematics—that borrow Escher’s prints.

The first edition of Calvino’s comic stories from 1965.

Art: Relativity (1953).

Not a book but editor Michael Moorcock has claimed that this was the first UK magazine to print any of Escher’s work.

1970. Art: Stars (1948).

From 1971, Pauwels & Bergier’s celebrated collection of Forteana, weird fiction, occultism and historical speculation, The Morning of the Magicians. See this post for more covers.

1971. Art: Tetrahedral Planetoid (1954).

1976. Art: Day and Night (1938).

1996. Art: Circle Limit IV (1960).

1998. Art: Three Spheres I (1945).

2002.

From 2003, a variation on Rind (1955). See below.

2004. Art: Other World (1947).

A series of Borges reprints by Penguin makes good use of Escher’s work, Borges and Calvino having many affinities with the artist’s mental games. A shame, then, that these editions use the translations I like the least.