The 20th Century Book : Its Illustration & Design

Van Nostrand , New York, second edition, 1984. Cloth, large 4to, 291 x 216 mm,. 271 pp, over 460 illustrations (36 in colour). This is a revised and updated version of a classic and beautiful book first published in 1967. The 20th Century Book is written and designed for readers who care about books, for book collectors and lovers of good illustration, for typographers, designers, illustrators, publishers and printers. Over 460 magnificent and wide-ranging illustrations, of which 28 are in full color, supplement the knowledgeable and lively text. John Lewis describes the changes and developments which have taken place in book design and illustration in Europe and the USA since the last years of the nineteenth century. He discusses and illustrates such conflicts of ideas as that between the Art Nouveau movement and the followers of William Morris and that between the protagonists of die Neue Typographie in Germany and the supporters of the renaissance of printing in England and the United States. He describes the influence of the French éditions de luxe on American and British illustrated books, and in a later chapter introduces the work of Slevogt, Kokoschka, Georg Grosz and Paul Klee, together with the Surrealist book illustrations of Max Ernst and his followers. A discussion of English and American traditional illustration is followed by a comparison of the wood-engraving revivals in France and England. Also included is a massive array of children's illustrated books covering many favorites since the beginning of the century. A final chapter traces the development of the modern paperback showing how its design has influenced the look of hardcover books." - from the blurb. Very Good in a Very Good dustwrapper, save that the dustwrapper flaps are slightly yellowed.