overview revolutions publishing retailing reading technologies illustration going digital journals bodies

illustration Books, like the web, are more than mere repositories for typography. This page highlights some writing about the integration of text and image in Western and other societies.  Some pointers to the use of images in conveying information, such as Edward Tufte's masterful Envisioning Information and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, are found in our Design guide. There's a broader examination in images page of our profile on communications revolutions.  We'll be adding to this page in coming weeks.      Studies  David Bland's  A History of Book Illustration: The Illuminated Manuscript & Illustrated Book (Berkeley, Uni of California Press 69) and The Illustration of Books (London, Faber 62) are useful introductions, as is John Harthan's panoramic The History of the Illustrated Book: The Western Tradition (London, Thames & Hudson 97). Vito Brenni's Book Illustration & Decoration: A Guide To Research (Westport, Greenwood 80) is invaluable. Adrian Wilson's concise The Design of Books (San Francisco, Chronicle 93) looks at the bigger picture. John Lewis' The 20th Century Book: Its Illustration & Design (New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold 84) is a short but well-illustrated introduction to trends in book design - particularly among fine presses - and illustration last century.  Gordon Ray's The Illustrator & The Book In England from 1790 to 1914 (New York, Dover 92) complements his Art of the French Illustrated Book 1700-1914 (Ithaca, Cornell Uni Press 88) and Martin Hardie's English Coloured Books (Totowa, Rowman & Littlefield 73). Edward Hodnett's Five Centuries of English Book Illustration (Aldershot, Scolar Press 88) has a narrower focus. Ruari McLean's Victorian Book Design & Colour Printing (Berkeley, Uni of California Press 72) is an intelligent study of the intersection between technologies, high culture and markets. Philip Hofer's Baroque Book Illustration (Cambridge, Harvard Uni Press 51) has a similar value. Robert Hegel's superb Reading Illustrated Fiction In Late Imperial China (Stanford, Stanford Uni Press 98) is an outstanding study of publishing, technology and readership. William Ivins' superb Prints & Visual Communication (Cambridge: Harvard Uni Press 53) and Peter Marzio's The Democratic Art: Chromolithography, 1840-1900: Pictures for a 19th-Century America (Boston, Godine 79) are seminal works. Among surveys of particular genres we recommend -      natural science  The Animal Illustrated, 1550-1900 (New York, Abrams 91) by Joseph Kastner & Miriam Gross - a sumptuous collection of b&w and colour plates from zoological books in the collection of the New York Public Library. Their The Animal Illustrated, 1550-1900 (New York, Abrams 89) is also outstanding. For those seeking a more comprehensive study, alas not as beautiful, try Natural Science Books in English 1600-1900 (New York, Praeger 72) by David Knight, author of Zoological Illustration: An Essay Towards A History of Printed Zoological Pictures. Ann Blum's Picturing Nature: American 19th Century Zoological Illustration (Princeton, Princeton Uni Press 93) is a narrower academic study.  Gavin Bridson's Plant, Animal & Anatomical Illustration in Art & Science: A Bibliographical Guide from the 16th Century to the Present Day (St Paul's Bibliographies, Winchester 90) is a comprehensive bibliographical tool. Charles O'Malley's marvellous Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514-1564 (Berkeley, Uni of California Press 64) is an exemplary introduction to illustrating the human animal, notable for its convincing argument that the plates in Vesalius' book were more influential over the next five generations than the author's brave but problematical text. The Fabric of the Body: European Traditions of Anatomical Illustration (New York, Oxford Uni Press 92) is an outstanding study by Keith Roberts & JD Tomlinson.      art  The World Backwards: Russian Futurist Books 1912-16 (London, British Library 78) by Susan Compton is a more academic study of the explosion of creativity as the ancien regime went under and a worthy complement to When Russia Learned To Read: Literacy & Popular Literature, 1861-1917 (Princeton, Princeton Uni Press 85), a landmark study by Jeffrey Brooks of genre, readership, publishing and bookselling.  Renee Hubert's Surrealism & the Book (Berkeley, Uni of California Press 88) and Walter Strachan's The Artist & the Book In France (London, Peter Owen 69) cover the livres d'artiste of last century. Otto Benesch's Artistic & Intellectual Trends From Rubens To Daumier As Shown In Book Illustration (Cambridge, Harvard Uni Press 69) offers another perspective. Thomas Boase's Giorgio Vasari: The Man & the Book (Princeton, Princeton Uni Press 79) provides an impeccable introduction to the art historian as propagandist.      childrens literature  Those wishing to explore the history of children's literature are referred to the five volume Masterworks of Children's Literature (London/New York, Allen Lane/Stonehill 83) under the general editorship of Jonathan Cott.  Maurice Sendak's sparkling Caldecott & Co: Notes on Books & Pictures (Reinhardt, London 89) offers unique commentary on the life and work of his peers by perhaps the leading children's illustrator of our time. For Sendak himself we recommend Selma Lanes' sumptuous The Art of Maurice Sendak (New York, Abrams 80). Explore From Mother Goose To Dr Seuss: Children's Book Covers 1880-1960 (New York, Chronicle 99) by Harold Darling and Myth, Magic & Mystery: 100 Years of American Children's Book Illustration (Toronto, Roberts Rinehart 97) by Michael Heran for the illustrations rather than the text. Frank Eyre's British Children's Books in the 20th Century (London, Longman 71) and the briefer A History of Children's Book Illustration (London, Murray 88) by Joyce Whalley & Tessa Chester. Susan Meyer's A Treasury of Great Children's Book Illustrators (New York, Abradale 87) combines an intelligent text with superb illustrations as she explores publishing and the lives of Dulac, Wyeth, Lear, Potter, Caldecott and others. Evgeny Steiner's Stories for Little Comrades: Revolutionary Artists & The Making of Early Soviet Children's Books (Seattle, Uni of Washington Press 99) is suggestive.      architecture  The five volume series dealing with works in the Millard Collection offers an excellent introduction to architectural illustration from the fifteenth to last century. They include French Books: 16th through 19th Centuries (New York, Braziller 99) by Dora Wiebenson, British Books: 17th through 19th Centuries (New York, Braziller 99) by Robin Middleton & Nicholas Savage, and Northern European Books Books: 16th to Early 19th Centuries (New York, Braziller 99) by Harry Mallgrave.      next page  (going digital)