The image above pictures an illustration from one of Erik Nitsche’s many history books. This one is specifically Volume 2 in The New Illustrated Science and Invention, written by Courtlandt Canby, depicting the history of ships and seafaring. During Erik Nitsche’s later career, he started his own book publishing company and made it a goal to produce history books that were “reader-friendly”. He worked tediously on every single one, cover to cover, individually creating the graphics so that they were engaging and easy to understand. Although he did not write the books himself, he supervised every aspect of their creation and published and packaged them all himself. Nitsche was generous with space and took much pride in creating volumes, so much so that he was much more focused on the presentation of the book rather than the cost and amount of materials he was using. The books themselves are not only excellent resources of information, but also beautiful pieces of art. Steven Heller states that, “The books worked together as a series and stood alone as well. The format tied them together, but each had integrity. Nothing was overdone; each book was a gem.” Book in near fine condition; dust jacket very good with slight edge wear and tanning to spine, inside front flap is price-clipped and creased.” 

Works cited:

First Edition, 1963, Hawthorn Books, Volume 2 in The New Illustrated Library of Science and Invention.