Great Books and Book Collectors

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, first edition, 1975. Cloth, gilt cover-title on red panel, large 4to, 32 cm,. 280 pp, 40 colour ills and 250 black-and-white ills,. A highly readable and profusely illustrated account of great books through the ages, telling the stories of how they were produced, how they survived, the people who produced them and the great collectors who rediscovered and preserved them. Should appeal to every book collector, whatever his or her particular enthusiasms. Chapters on Manuscripts; Early Printing; Bookbinding; The Bible; Early Books in Hebrew; Herbals and Colour-Plate Flower Books; English Books with Colour Plates; Books on Architecture; The New World; Private Press Books; First Editions, Fakes & Forgeries; and Great Book Collectors. "Alan G. Thomas, the eminent bookseller, here tells the story of some of the 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, and the Bible in Hebrew, both of 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, and a charming example of the art of book production, English books with coloured aquatint plates; the great books produced by Palladio, Gibbs and Robert Adam which did so much to influence architecture in Europe and America. Alan Thomas also considers 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 of America. In more recent times he discusses the revival of printing through the Private Press movement, why first editions are collected, and recounts an astonishing series of fakes and forgeries. Finally, he follows the history of great book collectors, from men like Sir Robert Cotton who salvaged the manuscripts scattered by the sack of the monasteries to the great American collectors - Pierpont Morgan and Henry Huntington - who established libraries fully comparable to those of the Old World. 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." - from the blurb. Near Very Good in a dustwrapper which is torn with some loss.