Old Picture Books, With Other Essays on Bookish Subjects

A meticulous yet readable tour through the world of early printed illustration, this collection gathers a series of essays that illuminate how woodcuts and decorative prints shaped the books of the Renaissance and beyond. From a 1502 Strassburg edition of Virgil, where tiny cannons march across the page, to the delicate illuminations of Italian Bibles and French Hours, the author shows how printers balanced practical storytelling with the artistic whims of their own age. The pieces also venture beyond images, tracing the spread of English titles abroad, the peculiar marks left by fifteenth‑century presses, and the curious histories of heraldic initials and armorial stamps.

The essays, originally published in a range of scholarly and literary journals, are refreshed with new revisions and several illustrations appearing for the first time. Readers will come away with a richer sense of how early publishers, craftsmen, and even satirists like Sebastian Brant turned the printed page into a visual as well as textual experience, offering a vivid glimpse into the bookish arts of a bygone era.