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Who
Creates an Illustration?
Publishers may have pictures created specifically for publication or to
reproduce another artwork, such as a painting. Authors may illustrate
their own publications. Early books required many people to produce the
illustrations, including designers, transfer artists, block cutters or
engravers, printers, and colorists. Until the early 20th century, wood
engravers prepared hundreds of blocks to provide illustrations to be printed
directly with the text.
Illustrations of plants drawn from nature became particularly
important for botanical study, allowing for the comparison of species
from different regions and the establishment of uniform nomenclature.
About this book:
De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes (On the History
of Plant Stocks)
Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566)
Designed by H. Füllmaurer and A. Meyer
Basel: In officina Insingriniana, 1542
Gift of the Burndy Library
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About the image above: These identified images
of the designer and transfer artist represent an early acknowledgment
of the illustrators’important role.
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About this book:
Handbook of Wood Engraving
William Emerson
Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1881
About the image on the left: Engraver
at work
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About this image:
Intaglio printer’s shop, from A. Bosse’s treatise on
engraving, France, 1645. Courtesy of the Graphic Arts Collection,
National Museum of American History.
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About this image:
Lithographic printing shop of Wagner & McGuigan, Philadelphia,
about 1850. Courtesy of the Harry T. Peters Collection, Division
of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History.
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