The Art and Science of Perspective is a major multi-volume series examining visual and optical perspective across art, science, technology, vision, image-making and spatial representation.
Perspective is far more than a drawing method. It shapes how spatial reality is seen, represented, measured, transformed and understood across painting, architecture, optics, photography, cinema, cartography, scientific imaging, computer graphics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and many other fields.
The series brings together historical knowledge, technical principles, visual phenomena, theoretical concepts, classification systems and modern applications within a coherent interdisciplinary framework. The first two volumes provide both a wide-ranging introduction to the field and a comprehensive specialist reference.
Volume 1
NEW SECOND EDITION
The Past, Present and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective
A new understanding of what perspective is, how it operates and why it matters across the visual arts, sciences and technologies.
This wide-ranging volume traces, re-examines and extends the field of perspective from antiquity to the digital age. It explores natural and artificial perspective across art, optics, geometry, architecture, photography, cinema, computer graphics, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Through Perspective Category Theory, the book moves beyond traditional linear perspective to reveal the wider connections between vision, spatial reality, image-making, representation, art and science.
Written for artists, architects, photographers, filmmakers, designers, engineers, researchers, students and digital creators, this major interdisciplinary study illuminates the historical development, present applications and future possibilities of visual and optical perspective.
US$27.99
Large-format 8.5 × 11-inch paperback
270 pages, printed on white paper
Volume 2
NEW SECOND EDITION
Dictionary of Perspective
The first comprehensive dictionary and taxonomy devoted specifically to visual and optical perspective.
Containing more than 4,000 terms, approximately 1,200 types and forms of perspective, and more than 330,000 words, the Dictionary brings together terminology, theories, methods, instruments, classifications, visual phenomena and applications from across art, science and technology.
More than a conventional dictionary, it also functions as a concise encyclopaedia, taxonomy and theoretical map of the field.
US$34.99
Large-format 8.5 × 11-inch paperback
590 pages, printed on white paper
A one-of-a-kind reference for artists, architects, designers, photographers, filmmakers, educators, researchers, students, CGI specialists and visual thinkers.
More than five years in development, the Dictionary records established, uncommon, historical, conflicting, new and refined terminology while organising the wider field through Perspective Category Theory. It also identifies errors, clarifies disputed meanings and introduces new concepts, classifications and distinctions developed through more than thirty years of research.
What Makes the Dictionary Distinctive
- More than 4,000 terms and approximately 1,200 perspective types and forms
- More than 330,000 words across 590 large-format pages
- The first comprehensive dictionary and taxonomy of visual and optical perspective
- A specialist dictionary, concise encyclopaedia and theoretical map
- Extensive interdisciplinary coverage and cross-referencing
- More than 200 concepts, classifications and distinctions originated, named, refined or formalised by Alan Stuart Radley
- Coverage extending from historical art and geometry to photography, cinema, CGI, VR, AR and artificial-intelligence imaging
- Analysis of errors, inconsistencies and previously unexplained perspective phenomena
Volume 3
FORTHCOMING FIRST EDITION
Natural and Visual Perspective
A new account of how spatial reality gives rise to natural appearance—and how natural appearance becomes human visual experience.
Natural and Visual Perspective examines the optical, geometrical, retinal and perceptual processes through which spatial reality is seen. It connects natural space, light and viewpoint with the eye, retina, visual field and perceived world.
Through detailed theoretical diagrams and Perspective Category Theory, the book explores monocular and binocular vision, retinal image formation, vergence, disparity, stereopsis, natural scaling, visual lateral distortion, the sphere of vision, and geometrical and optical vanishing structures.
Forthcoming 2026
Volume 3 — First Edition
Expected Price: US$27.99
Large-format 8.5 × 11-inch paperback
Approximately 350 pages, printed on white paper
A Broader View of Perspective
Perspective is often associated mainly with Renaissance art and linear perspective. But linear perspective is only one part of a much wider field.
Visual and optical perspective include many systems and phenomena: curvilinear perspective, spherical perspective, cylindrical perspective, anamorphic perspective, aerial perspective, camera perspective, retinal perspective, simulated perspective, instrumental perspective, digital perspective, and many others.
The series explores these forms not as isolated curiosities, but as parts of a larger structure of visual knowledge. It asks how different perspective systems work, how they relate to one another, and how they shape the way space appears in images, instruments, screens, simulations, and visual experience.
Towards a Science of Perspective
A central aim of the series is to support the development of perspective science: a broad field concerned with how space is seen, represented, measured, transformed and understood.
This includes Perspective Category Theory, a classification framework for organising the many categories, forms, systems, principles, phenomena, instruments and applications of perspective. The long-term aim is to make perspective easier to study, teach, compare, apply and develop across disciplines.
Who the Series Is For
The series is written for artists, photographers, filmmakers, architects, designers, researchers, teachers, historians, students, CAD and CGI specialists, game designers, VR/AR developers, visual-effects professionals, AI image researchers and readers interested in the deeper structure of visual experience.
The First Three Volumes
The first three volumes of The Art and Science of Perspective provide complementary approaches to the field:
Volume 1 — The Past, Present and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective
A wide-ranging introduction to the history, theory, applications and future possibilities of perspective.
Volume 2 — Dictionary of Perspective
A comprehensive specialist dictionary and taxonomy containing more than 4,000 terms and approximately 1,200 perspective types and forms.
Volume 3 — Natural and Visual Perspective
A detailed investigation of how physical space becomes natural appearance and how natural appearance becomes human visual experience.
Together, the three books provide a foundational reference for understanding visual and optical perspective across art, geometry, optics, architecture, photography, imaging and visual perception.
Related Perspective Topics
Science of Perspective →
Perspective Theory →
Perspective Category Theory →
Natural Perspective →
Visual Perspective →
Optical Perspective →
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