"A profusely illustrated visual history of the printed book, from bibles to children's books to modern photography collections, that will delight and inform bibliophiles everywhere. Since the fifteenth century, the printed book has been an essential carrier of information. And, for more than five hundred years, there have been designers, printers, and publishers who have extended the boundaries of their professions aesthetically and technically, producing books that are masterpieces of graphic art. This sumptuous collection tells the history of the printed book through milestone publications and little-known treasures of the art of the book. The noted originators range from Jenson and Bellaert in the fifteenth century through Piranesi, Bodoni, and Bewick to Morris, Gill, Tschichold, and Birdsall in the modern age. The featured publications include The Nuremberg Chronicle from 1493--a masterpiece of integrated text and illustration; Maria Sibylla Merian's book of insects from 1719; Muybridge's 1887 Animal Locomotion; a photomontage book by John Heartfield published in 1929; and a 1937 edition of The Frogs by Aristophanes, produced by the Limited Editions Club of New York. 685+ color illustrations."

Introduction -- The invention and spread of printing -- Nicolas Jenson -- Gheraert Leeu -- Erhard Ratdolt -- Bonino de Boninis -- Jacob Bellaert -- Nuremberg chronicle -- Johannes & Gregorius de Gregoriis -- Hypnerotomachia Poliphili -- The sixteenth century -- Wolfgang Hopyl & Henri Estienne I -- Aldus Manutius -- Luca Pacioli -- Henri Estienne I -- Complutensian polyglot -- Johann Froben -- Theuerdank -- Vitruvius -- Ludovico degli Arrighi -- Albrecht Dürer -- Geoffroy Tory -- Marco Fabio Calvo -- Decoration and illustration -- Hans Holbein the Younger -- Robert Estienne -- Andreas Vesalius -- Simon de Colines -- Jacques Kerver -- Michael Isingrin -- Michel de Vascosan -- Jean de Tournes -- Robert Granjon -- Christoffel Plantin -- Plantin polyglot -- Henri Estienne II -- Giovan Francesco Cresci -- The Dutch golden age -- Willem Barentsz -- Jan van den Velde -- Vincenzo Scamozzi -- Paulus Aertsz van Ravesteyn -- The Elzeviers -- Joan Blaeu -- Joseph Moxon -- The eighteenth century -- Cornelis de Bruijn -- Charles Plumier & Imprimerie royale -- Maria Sibylla Merian -- Martin-Dominique Fertel -- Mark Catesby -- George Bickham -- Giovanni Battista Piranesi -- Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert -- John Baskerville -- Pierre-Simon Fournier -- Johannes Enschedé -- Louis-René Luce -- Joaquín Ibarra -- François-Ambroise Didot -- Giambattista Bodoni -- Thomas Bewick -- Redouté & Didot le Jeune -- Imprimerie impériale -- Nineteenth-century graphic techniques -- Alois Senefelder -- William Savage -- Vincent Figgins -- Jean Midolle -- John Gould -- Gottlieb Haase Söhne -- Chiswick Press -- John Sliegh & Birket Foster -- Victorian gift book -- Julius Klinkhardt -- Eadweard Muybridge -- James McNeill Whistler -- Gerrit Dijsselhof -- Private presses and traditional book typography -- William Morris -- Théo van Rysselberghe -- Lucien & Esther Pissarro -- Theodore Low De Vinne -- Count Harry Kessler & Emery Walker -- Rudolf von Larisch -- Doves Press -- Henry van de Velde -- Peter Behrens -- American Type Founders Company -- Avant-garde and new typography -- Francesco Cangiullo -- Fernand Léger -- Bruce Rogers -- El Lissitzky -- Rudolf Koch -- Francis Thibaudeau -- Theo van Doesburg & Käte Steinitz -- Karel Teige -- H.N. Werkman -- W.A. Dwiggins -- Wierner Werkstätte -- Count Harry Kessler & Edward Gordon Craig -- A.M. Cassandre -- John Heartfield -- Jan Tschichold -- Eric Gill -- Piet Zwart -- Jan van Krimpen -- Pierre Faucheux -- Modernism and Swiss typography -- Richard Paul Lohse -- Jan Tschichold -- Herbert Bayer -- Willem Sandberg -- Marie Neurath -- Robert Massin -- Lester Beall -- Paul Rand -- Karl Gerstner -- Max Huber & Giovanni Pintori -- Willy Fleckhaus -- Rémy Peignot & Adrian Frutiger -- Wim Crouwel -- Quentin Fiore -- Christian Chruxin -- Wolf Vostell -- Katy Hepburn -- Massimo Vignelli -- Helmut Brade -- Postmodernism -- Irma Boom -- Paula Scher -- Bruce Mau -- Rudy VanderLans & Zuzana Licko -- Derek Birdsall -- Stefan Sagmeister -- Joost Grootens -- Irma Boom -- Postscript.

"Book published to accompany the exhibition "The printed book: a visual history," at the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam featuring 125 books from different periods and countries in their collection."