Overview

All earthly existence must ultimately be contained in a book.' French poet Stephane Mallarme understood that books hold the world's stories. From the earliest known myths and legends to postmodern fictions, books are mirrors of real worlds, windows into imagined worlds and keepers of powerful ideas. Beautifully illustrated, The World of the Book is a celebration of this age-old tradition drawing upon the rare collections of the State Library of Victoria. A journey through time and across the globe, this volume features great books and publishing innovations of the past and present. It also revels in the sheer beauty of books as objects to be desired and treasured. Within these covers you will discover an illuminated manuscript created for the Medici family of Florence in 1479; masterpieces of early printing, such as Gutenberg's Bible and Aldus Manutius's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili; books recording the scientific discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo and Newton; atlases and illustrated accounts from the great age of travel and exploration; works by the great botanical and natural history artists, such as Redoute, Audubon and Gould; the woodblock books

Full Product Details

9780522857191

Table of Contents

Reviews

Drenched in vivid colors, snappy and glamorous in its design, deploying the sharpest or most exotic images, the overall impression the book gives is of the glittering treasure chest. --Sydney Morning Herald Sumptuously illustrated . . . The World of the Book could not easily be bettered. --Canberra Times This authoritatively written and lavishly illustrated work includes religious texts, great travel tomes, books that changed the world, typography, and cover design and comics. It's a book for browsing and admiring as much as for reading. --Sun Herald

Drenched in vivid colors, snappy and glamorous in its design, deploying the sharpest or most exotic images, the overall impression the book gives is of the glittering treasure chest. --Sydney Morning Herald

Author Information

Des Cowley is a rare books librarian. Clare Williamson is a senior exhibitions curator. They both work at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, where they cocurated the exhibition ""Mirror of the World: Books and Ideas.""

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