World of Art is a long established series of art books from the publisher Thames & Hudson, now comprising over 150 titles.
Perhaps the most classic book in the series is A Concise History of Painting: From Giotto to Cézanne by Michael Levey (of the National Gallery in London), originally published in 1962 (ISBN 0-500-20024-6). This gives an authoritative introduction to European art history from the early use of perspective in Italy to the start of modern art at the beginning of the 20th century.
Other authors inclde: John Boardman, Herbert Read, Edward Lucie-Smith, Philip Rawson, David Talbot Rice, Peter and Linda Murray, Germain Bazin, and Griselda Pollock.