The best kind of catalogue raisonne, in my opinion, isn't just a meticulously researched accurate archive of information. It is also a great stand alone art book. This Skira publication on the posters of Roy Lichtenstein certainly fits that, ahem, bill. For, this folio-sized publication printed and bound in Italy with excellent production values does an outstanding job of reproducting Lichtenstein's poster oevre. Although it is not the very best quality I have ever had the pleasure of owning, this book does come pretty close, on the metaphorical food chain it comes somewhere between the Brown Bear and the Salmon, Black Bear, say. In any event, you are unlikely to be disappointed by the full color, faithful to the art reproductions in this book but the slight lack of sharpness in print production values lowers my rating by at least 1/2 star.
Additionally, the editors did a fine job on their introduction for it is informative, easily read and entertaining; no small feat when writing the preface to a catalogue raisonne.
Finally, this book, produced for an exhibition held by perhaps the world's foremost museum of poster art, the Museum for Art and Industry in Hamburg, Germany does a very interesting thing with its catalogue. For, it not only records and reproduces all of the Posters produced by or under the auspices of Roy Lichtenstein in part one of the raisonne, it goes further by cataloging the extensive perhaps complete collection of Lichtenstein reproductions issued by museums, galleries and other organizations with Lichtenstein's permission but without his artistic input or collaboration. This has the effect of at least doubling the amount of known 'poster' art that may be attributed to Lichtenstein.
The editors provide plate size, state information and edition size where available in the raisonne section with relevant notes when applicable. Another nice feature of the book is that Lichtenstein's posters are reproduced in stand alone one and two-page layouts with the relevant raisonne information following. The second part of the catalogue places the archival information along side small reproductions of the reproductions.
Overall, this is a highly desirable book that you should definitely add to your collection.