The Art Book: New Edition

The Art Book, New Edition, £39.95, Phaidon

Eighteen years ago, Phaidon published The Art Book. It quickly became a bestseller, and is now available in 20 languages.

The A-Z format, featuring a single page for each artist, was simple and compelling. It threw such opposites as Rodchenko and Rodin, Michelangelo and Millais together, so that all conventional art history classifications were discarded. This new edition has a cover image by Spanish graphic designer Javier Mariscal (above). The original artists (including Giovanni di Paolo, above) have been updated, and are presented alongside notable additions from the last 18 years, including Ai Weiwei and Stephen Shore. Each artist still has one page, with a single piece of work illustrated beside information about the artist and the featured work.