On March 31, 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote his publisher Johann Friedrich Cotta that he did not want the forthcoming volume of his play Faustto be accompanied by images lest “they limit the imagination of the reader.” Of course, this did not dissuade subsequent artists from illustrating the classic tale of a man who makes a pact with the devil. The contemporary artist Anton Würth, however, has approached the challenge in a new way, using Goethe’s quote as the inspiration for his artist’s book. The spreads alternate between two different types of imagery. Half feature a spare coupling of numbers on the center of each page; the digits reference verses 5144 through 5157 from Faust. The other half are elegant, engraved lines, abstract designs drawn from Würth’s own imagination.