Visions of Heaven and Hell; Clive Barker; Inscribed w/ drawing; Rizzoli (2005); 1st/1st; VG(no dj); Oversize 4to(9.1x1x12.2”); Not Ex-Library, Not a Reproduction, Not Print on Demand; Hb- Black cloth w/stamped gold + red lettering, multi-colored pastedown on front(no apparent edgewear) w/blind-stamped frame, black cloth slightly faded/scuffed, slight edgewear/bumping; Spine-stamped gold w/red lettering(slightly worn) +blind-stamped magical symbols, ever so slightly sprung (as happens w/gentle reading); 352pps- Flat, clean, no underlining or marking.

The world of Clive Barker, one of the most versatile author/artists in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre, is filled with images that, regardless of thematic content, extract a strong response no matter what that response may be. Nowhere is that more apparent in ‘Visions of Heaven and Hell’ a compilation of his paintings and drawings from his monstrous collection. The 300 images(over 250 full color plates)in the book are divided into thematic sections each forwarded by Barker with an anecdote or explanation. His artistic styles range from simple pen-and-ink drawings to near-abstract scribbles to hyper-rendered surrealism to fantastic landscapes bursting with color. The oil paintings are where he really shines, not just accepting color, but embracing it, with a hyperactive style that incorporates impossibly thick layers of oil, sometimes with thin lines scraped out with a steak knife, all using such a broad palette of colors that one's eyes practically go into overload just looking at them. Included are roughly 300 pieces ranging from the youthfully whimsical (a portly man w/a snail for a hat), to the beautifully dark (an arsonist cloaked in flames), to the bleakly humorous (a man resting his bandaged hands around either side of a bladed penis), to the horrifically erotic (a man laps the blood out of his lover's gaping chest wound). -From Carl Lyon: Monsters at Play