cover image The Book of Books: 
500 Years of Graphic Innovation

The Book of Books: 500 Years of Graphic Innovation

Edited by Mathieu Lommen. Thames & Hudson, $65 (464p) ISBN 978-0-500-51591-4

Described in the introduction as a “visual history” of “Western book design,” this volume, edited by Lommen, a curator at the Special Collections department of the Amsterdam University Library, is actually a chronological exhibition of beautiful and innovative editions published between 1471 and 2010. Brief text accompanies each example, but neither the introduction nor the postscript provides an overview of printing, book design, or book production history. Also missing is a glossary. Even bibliophiles would appreciate definitions for punchcutter, roman, die, copperplate, or offset technique. But the book’s raison d’etre is its glorious reproductions, like a 1729 natural history book in which Mark Catesby created astonishing etchings of a blue bird, a crab, and a magnolia, among other species. By occasionally matching its illustrated works’ gutters with the gutter of this book, the publisher reproduces the effect of turning the pages of the original. It is a fun effect, and one suited to a book honoring book design. The specter of the e-book haunts any project related to print books, and this is no exception. However, the print book takes the day here. Illus. (Sept.)