Marrin's Bookshop

Item Description

4to. 8.75 x 11.25 inches. xxxii + 356 + [4] pp. Bound in original grey cloth, gilt, with maroon panel on front board, in pictorial dust wrapper, which has a little wear at head of spine; otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by frontispiece, 308 black and white photographs, 35 figures and 7 maps. Decorated by contents, chapter heading vignettes and by initials. A profusely illustrated encyclopaedic and readable history of the handmade book from the earliest times up to the birth of printing. Chapters relate the origin of the book, the history of writing, the book in the ancient world, the development of scripts and styles of illumination and the making of manuscripts. Also covered are the cultural traditions of Hebrew and Islamic bookmaking and the techniques of bookbinding and papermaking. Leila Avrin (1935-99) was an art historian and professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. A joint publication of the American Library Association and the British library.