A GUIDE TO THE PRINTED WORK OF JESSIE M. KING

London and New Castle: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2007. First Edition. quarto, cloth in dust jacket. 230 pp.; 8 plates. Jessie M. King (1875-1949) was the foremost Scottish book designer and illustrator of the 20th century. Her work reflected the mixture of Symbolism and Arts and Crafts practiced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the others of "The Four" in Glasgow where she was trained. During the 50 years of her career she designed and illustrated some 250 books, over 100 greeting cards, bookplates and assorted items of ephemera. A Guide to the Printed Work of Jessie M. King attempts to bring order to this enormous output. Every known item has been annotated, classified and catalogued, and a further section lists over 100 publications containing reproductions of other works by the artist. An appendix by Dr. A.D. Portno discusses her work for the German publishers, Globus. A second appendix investigates her designs for Routledge's series of children's classics. In order to do justice to Jessie M. King's talent, besides the selection of items illustrated in the book, a substantial part of her work is illustrated in color on an accompanying CD-Rom. On the CD, every significant item is present, with each illustration numbered according to the corresponding entry in the text. A fine copy.