בידספיריט | Great Books And Book Collectors

Great Books And Book Collectors by Alan G. Thomas - Spring Books, 1975. Red cloth hardback with cream lettering to the front and spine. White illustration to the front board under the lettering.  280p. 40 colour plates & 250 monochrome illustrations. Clean and tight. world's greatest books, their creation and survival, and the men who were responsible for them. Unlike many writers on the subject, he never loses sight of their importance as landmarks in the history of mankind. Beginning with manuscripts from their emergence in the Dark Ages down to the Renaissance, he discusses many fascinating aspects of the subject: the invention of printing - Gutenberg, Aldus and Caxton, and the beautiful early woodcut books; bookbinding, from the Gospel found in the coffin of St Cuthbert to the superb work of French craftsmen still alive today; the heroic story of early editions of the Bible, which were often produced under conditions of persecution; the fifteenth-century herbals, the beautiful colour-plate flower books such as Redouté and Thornton's Temple of Flora; the great books produced by Palladio, Gibbs and Robert Adam which did so much to influence architecture in Europe and America. onsiders the achievements of the New World, from the letter in which Columbus announced his discovery of America to one of the finest ornithological works ever produced - Audubon's The Birds ofAmerica. In more recent times he discusses the revival of printing through the Private Press movement and finally, he follows the history of great book collectors like Sir Robert Cotton and Henry Huntingdon. The lively text and many beautiful illustrations, chosen from the finest books ever produced, do justice to the subject as one of the most glorious achievements of Western civilization. .