Book Review: Animalia & Fantasia: The Magical Worlds & Fantastic Creatures of Professor Anton Seder

Animalia & Fantasia: The Magical Worlds & Fantastic Creatures of Professor Anton Seder is yet another incredible book from publisher Century Guild.

This is a huge 10" x 13.25" hardcover with 232 pages. At the time of review , the limited edition hardcover is USD 130 and the limited slipcase edition is USD 195.

The hardcover has this faux leather texture in striking magenta colour. The cover art has shiny gold ink design together with selected artworks to give you an idea of what to expect inside. Edges of the pages are also shiny in gold. The binding looks good and pages can open flat. The overall design and look of the cover actually reminds me of some of Harry Potter books I've reviewed. And with the title, you may even mistake Anton Seder for one of the professors teaching at Hogwarts.

This book was written by Thomas Negovan, the same author that wrote the amazing book Le Pater: Alphonse Mucha's Symbolist Masterpiece and the Lineage of Mysticism years ago. This must have been a difficult book to write because the author mentioned the lack of any academic information relating Anton Seder when he first started researching on the artist. And now we have this thick book on Anton Seder that has more information compared to the Wikipedia page.

Anton Seder was an Art Nouveau designer, art professor and Director of the Kunstgewerbeschule (Arts and Crafts School) in Strasbourg. This book covers his career from 1886 to 1903, the art movement during his time, the influence he created and the artworks he has created. Reading this book is like traveling back in time to find out what Anton was doing.

The artworks featured are incredible. Each piece has a mix of design, detail and beauty. And this was during the 1890 - 1910 period when Art Nouveau flourished. About a quarter of the book has the Art Nouveau stuff, and half of the book is on the animals and creature art.

This guy has been into fantasy art more than a hundred years ago. The designs look great and worthy of being featured in video games. Some of the drawings are so detailed that they demand your attention. This this page with the lobsters and crabs that just makes you want to look at each lobster and crab one by one. The way he draws animals is precise and elegant. You have to respect the technique. This guy is on top of his game. His line art is so good it makes you think about who he learned that from. And the pages of bird drawings are sublime.

All the artworks were reproduced in high resolution and sharpness it makes me wonder how are the artworks even scanned? Kudos to the author for putting this book together for it is an incredible feat.

This is an exquisite artbook for those into Art Nouveau, animal or creature art and history of art.

5 out of 5 stars. This will be one of the best artbooks for 2025.

This book is available at
https://centuryguild.net/products/animalia-fantasia