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It seems like there are two editions for The Book of Alien. The first edition sports a white cover and is published in 1978. The other edition with the black cover is published by Titan Books in 2004.

Mine's the 1978 edition and there's a printing error in this book. A section of pages are printed upside down.

Other than that issue, this is a pretty decent art book for the amazing Alien movie. It contains the concept art for the spaceships, interiors, space suits and comes with a few photos taken during production. There are some really interesting production stories like how they used offal fresh from the slaughterhouse for that iconic scene where — spoiler alert! — the alien burst through the chest. The bulk of this 112-page book are on the pictures.

The contributing artists are Ron Cobb, Chriss Foss and H.R. Giger. Giger designed the alien while the other two focused on the Nostromo spaceship and set designs. Cobb would design rooms and details that were meant to look functional, and in many cases were functional. Actors got to hit real buttons and something would happen. Moebius, on a very brief stint, designed the spacesuits which were used in the movie.

Overall, this is a very interesting book on the making of Alien with production art. It should delight Alien fans.

The Book of Alien - 01