WARNING: amazon seems to have merged (a little TOO conveniently) reviews for two DIFFERENT BOOKS. Some reviews listed here refer to "Joel-Peter Witkin (Phaidon 55s)" by Eugenia Parry (Paperback - January 5, 2001) - with pinkish border around a photograph on the cover. But this book seems to be out of print.
My review refers to a 2007 Photology series book (all b&W cover with the image of a head and lillies). They are not the same book, or even two editions of the same book.
For those who hope this will give them a review of, and some insight into, Witkin's work, this will be a disappointment. Yes, the reproductions are of very good quality, but at the book's size, most of the fascinating DETAIL of major pieces is lost. I remember seeing a Witkin exhibit at the Reina Sofia in Madrid years ago (that included many pieces reproduced here), and part of the fascination with those images comes from studying the large images up close. While I realize that to talk about "size" in reference to photographs is somewhat strange, the book does not list the actual sizes at which those images were printed for their original, exhibit presentation - this is important, since based on the repros in the book, most people will have no idea that there were originally very large prints. The book also includes only a few close-up / detail plates, and as far as I can tell, none at the actual print size. Alas, ALL the commentary there is, is a 6 page (very small pages, with very large print) general intro.
PLEASE NOTE that, misleadingly, one of the reviews listed on this page refers to a different, now out-of-print book: there is NO commentary on individual images in this book. The very general, brief intro is ALL there is.