Swiss surrealist artist HR Giger (1940–2014) gained international fame in 1979 with his designs of fantastic creatures and chilling environments that terrified cinephiles in Ridley Scott's science fiction film Alien. Prior to these iconic creations that made him a celebrity and earned him an Oscar for visual effects, Giger was already highly esteemed in the international art world for his unique free painting style and industrial dreamscapes.

The edition HR Giger: The Oeuvre Before Alien 1961–1976, first published in 2007 and now available again in a new edition, is the only book that documents the artist's lesser-known, but no less impressive, early works. This luxurious volume, filled with illustrations, follows Giger's career from his training as an architect and industrial designer at the Zurich University of the Arts, through the development of his ink and oil technique, to his ultimate recognition as one of the leading artists of the school of fantastic realism. It includes many unpublished or rarely available early works and is accompanied by an essay by distinguished art historian Beat Stutzer, juxtaposing Giger's works with those of his predecessors such as Ensor, Fuseli, Goya, and Piranesi.

HR Giger: The Oeuvre Before Alien shines a light on the mind of a visual giant of artistic experimentation that preceded his time.