A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780807615362)

The combination of the woodcuta print method devised early in the fifteenth centurywith Johannes Gutenberg's revolutionary invention of printing with moveable type resulted in a powerful explosion of information and ideas. For the first time, it was possible to use a mechanized system to print identical copies of books containing both text and images. Featured in A Heavenly Craft are the earliest surviving examples of these books from throughout Western Europe, all printed within the first century after Gutenberg's invention. The contributors bring these rare books to life, exploring the evolution of the technique, composition, and coloration of the woodcut beginning with the earliest publications. Many of the woodcut designs grew out of the tradition of manuscript illumination, in which book illustrations were painstakingly executed by hand. The authors also present the distinguishing features of national style and taste, treating the reader to examples from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. In addition, A Heavenly Craft describes the provenance of these volumes, providing an account of how Lessing J. Rosenwald purchased them from the heir to the Lea and Perrins fortune and later donated them to the Library of Congress. These early printed volumes are the predecessors of today's illustrated books. A Heavenly Craft celebrates these origins, making these early publications available to bibliophiles and print lovers. 100 color illustrations.

Author: Daniel de Simone
ISBN-10: 0807615366
ISBN-13: 9780807615362
Publisher: George Braziller
Language: English
Published: 11/17/2004
Pages: 192
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 3.65lbs
Size: 11.98h x 9.32w x 1.06d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 04/15/2005 pg. 83