The Book of Books: 500 Years of Graphic Innovation

A beautifully illustrated visual history of Western book design

In this digital age, many designers and readers still feel strongly attracted to the printed book as an object of beauty.

Beginning in 1471 with an edition printed by the influential Nicolas Jenson in Venice and ending in 2010 with a stylish design by Irma Boom, this sumptuous collection tells the history of the printed book through milestone publications and little-known treasures.

Here is the work of the greatest printers of the hand-press period – Aldus Manutius, Christoffel Plantin, the Elzeviers, John Baskerville, Giambattista Bodoni – alongside books by trendsetting designers of the modern era – William Morris, El Lissitzky, Jan Tschichold, Paul Rand, Massin, Bruce Mau – and remarkable illustrated works by architects and artists such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Maria Sibylla Merian.

Special attention is also given to printers’ manuals and type specimens, charting the changing relationship between form and function, between legible clarity and decorative profusion.