OUT LOOKS : BOOK ON ARTIFACTS IS TRULY `MAGIC'.

Byline: Brett Pauly Daily News Staff Writer

A hiker's dream is to stumble onto something left over from the ancients - a piece of art or an artifact - so moving it harkens distant images of tribal chiefs and spiritual ceremonies.

Unfortunately, such finds are becoming increasingly rare as development, pollution and vandalism encroaches on and scars the primitive works.

Some of the finest examples of petroglyphs and rock paintings from the American Southwest are now well preserved in ``On the Edge of Magic'' (Chronicle Books; $13.95), a stunning collection of photographs by Salvatore Mancini.

The Italian-born shutterbug who now hails from Providence, R.I., traveled by foot over miles of uncertain terrain and used the crude directions of local residents in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico to find clandestine artworks dating back as far as 4000 B.C.

A millennia-old series of simple lines, dots and circles create a pair of birds, and, between them, a transitional form of a man as descended from his feathery brethren. A shaman with a duck on his noggin is also thought to symbolize human flight. Navajo horses on sandstone seem to be caught in powerful motion.

Mancini enhanced the mystique with eerie lighting, snapping his shots at night using lamps, matches and long exposures in which the designs were traced by flashlight.

Perhaps most remarkable of all, he chose a 35mm camera and not a larger format many professionals prefer so that he could walk greater distances to stand where the artists stood and, in some small way, attempt to relive their experiences.

Rousing excerpts from American Indian songs and mythology complement the black-and-white snapshots, and captions at the end of the 96 pages chronicle the photos in good detail. Our rating: four stars.

In the typically complete fashion demanded by its publisher, ``75 Hikes in California's Lassen Park & Mount Shasta Regions'' (The Mountaineers; $14.95) leaves out little the reader needs to know about trekking through the state's northern volcanic terrain.

The formula is all here: length, hiking time, elevation gain, difficulty, maps, permit requirements and text by Chico author and political scientist John R. Soares that is brief but packed with description.

Within the 206 pages you will learn where the Ajumawi Indians constructed rock fish traps in the spring-fed waters of lower Ja She Creek north of the town of McArthur to round up Lat he - Sacramento sucker fish - when they spawned each spring.

And that blue, black and interior live oaks are the predominate trees on the open, grassy slopes of lower Mill Creek Canyon in the Ishi Wilderness east of Red Bluff.

Engaging photographs and easy-to-read maps inspire hikers to gear up for trips through basalt flows and lava caves. Our rating: three and -1/2 stars.

From the author of the 1971 million-selling ``Anybody's Bike Book'' comes an updated version that applies to road bikes, cruisers and mountain bikes. And we wouldn't be surprised if it does well, as well.

``Cuthbertson's All-in-One Bike Repair Manual'' (Ten Speed Press; $11.95) is a homespun answer to most two-wheeling problems that can be solved on the road or in the garage.

The laid-back but often dry appeal of Santa Cruz author Tom Cuthbertson that oozes from chapters on brakes, frames, forks, chains and power trains goes hand in hand with the campy yet clever illustrations of Rick Morrall.

Don't leave home without these 228 critical pages in your saddlebag. Our rating: three stars.

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Photo: High marks were given to each of these books, whosesubject matter includes hiking and bicycle care.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News