Art and Arcana - A Visual History of D&D

Perhaps in an effort to recapture lost youth, but perhaps simply because I have always loved it, Dungeons & Dragons has been a part of my life again over the past 5 years or so. Part of that has been to read some books on the history of the role playing game hobby (specifically D&D), watch some YouTube videos by Tim Kask, Frank Mentzer and others who were involved in the formative days of D&D, etc...

So it was with a good deal of interest that I saw that someone was going to be publishing a book on the visual (art) history of D&D. Co-authors included Michael Witwer (author of Empire of Imagination, a biography of sorts on Gary Gygax) and Jon Peterson (author of Playing at the World, the definitive history of D&D). I have, and have read, both of those books, and loved both of them.

Buying Art & Arcana was a no-brainer. And not to be regretted.

An Amazing Book...

This is a big thick coffee table sized book of terrific production values. It covers the development of D&D from a visual and artistic point of view. It has early art, later updates, and a study of the development of the art and iconography of D&D through the various editions, dating from c.1975 through the current day.

It's an informative and instructive work of obvious love by the authors, and has triggered many a "memory lane" moment for me. My history with D&D is the very first "white box" edition of ~1976 (?) (which I thankfully still own) through AD&D (1st edition) with a little Second Edition, but then with a 25 year hiatus between ~1990 and 2014 (5th edition). I recognize the "earliest days" art, and the modern stuff, but not the 2+ decades of intermediate development. Fascinating stuff.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in D&D and/or fantasy art in general, especially at the Amazon discounted price...