The Art of Rock

The Art of Rock Paul D. Grushkin (Abbeville Press, $10.95) Abbeville Press overshot its mark in making a downsize edition of this rock-poster collection, which debuted as an expensive coffee-table tome in 1986. The ornate psychedelia of the '60s is indecipherable in this small format, and vertical credits identifying horizontal pictures only compound the eye strain. Still, this is a meaty collection of memorabilia from Elvis to X, most of which appeared in San Francisco, where concert-poster art flowered freely in the '60s. It makes you nostalgic for rock's precorporate years, when handbill dicta like ''may the baby Jesus shut your mouth and open your mind'' actually mobilized fans. B+ -Margot Mifflin