Victorian Illustrated Books
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Tanning and foxing
At the intersection of art, commerce, and literary culture, Victorian Illustrated Books stands as an authoritative and richly detailed survey of one of the most visually dynamic eras in publishing history. Percy Muir chronicles the golden age of British book illustration, tracing the remarkable evolution of pictorial design from the wood-engraved frontispieces of the 1830s through to the colour-saturated gift books that defined the close of the nineteenth century. With meticulous scholarship, Muir presents the key figures, techniques, and publishing houses that transformed the illustrated book into a celebrated art form — examining luminaries such as George Cruikshank, John Tenniel, and Walter Crane alongside the technological innovations that made mass-produced illustration not only possible but spectacular. Muir's prose carries the refined authority of a seasoned bibliophile, and his analysis illuminates the broader cultural forces — the rise of a literate middle class, the democratisation of art, and the symbiotic relationship between author and illustrator — that gave Victorian book illustration its enduring significance. Victorian Illustrated Books is an indispensable reference for collectors, historians, and lovers of the decorative arts, and it leaves the reader with a profound appreciation for the craftsmanship concealed within the pages of even the most commonplace Victorian volume. What other artistic treasures lie hidden in the archives of the nineteenth century, waiting to be rediscovered?
Author: Percy Muir
Format: Hardback
Genre: History of arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Tanning and foxing
At the intersection of art, commerce, and literary culture, Victorian Illustrated Books stands as an authoritative and richly detailed survey of one of the most visually dynamic eras in publishing history. Percy Muir chronicles the golden age of British book illustration, tracing the remarkable evolution of pictorial design from the wood-engraved frontispieces of the 1830s through to the colour-saturated gift books that defined the close of the nineteenth century. With meticulous scholarship, Muir presents the key figures, techniques, and publishing houses that transformed the illustrated book into a celebrated art form — examining luminaries such as George Cruikshank, John Tenniel, and Walter Crane alongside the technological innovations that made mass-produced illustration not only possible but spectacular. Muir's prose carries the refined authority of a seasoned bibliophile, and his analysis illuminates the broader cultural forces — the rise of a literate middle class, the democratisation of art, and the symbiotic relationship between author and illustrator — that gave Victorian book illustration its enduring significance. Victorian Illustrated Books is an indispensable reference for collectors, historians, and lovers of the decorative arts, and it leaves the reader with a profound appreciation for the craftsmanship concealed within the pages of even the most commonplace Victorian volume. What other artistic treasures lie hidden in the archives of the nineteenth century, waiting to be rediscovered?