Remarkable Books: The World’s Most Beautiful and Historic Works

Description

A beautifully illustrated guide to more than 75 of the world's most celebrated, rare, and seminal books and handwritten manuscripts ever produced, with discussions of their purpose, features, and creators. From ancient masterpieces such as The Art of War, written on the leaves of bamboo, to the stunningly illustrated Birds of America, to Chairman Mao's Little Red Book, Remarkable Books delves into the stories behind the most incredible tomes ever produced, offering an insight into their wider social and cultural context, and is chronologically ordered to demonstrate the synergies between the growth in human knowledge and the bookmaking process. Alongside breathtaking images of the books and manuscripts themselves, close-up views draw out interesting features, which are discussed in greater detail, while biographies tell the lives of the people who produced them. This coffee table-worthy book is wrapped in a textured jacket with gold foil, making it a great gift for those with an interest in literature and art and design. Contents 4......Page 6 Preface 6......Page 8 Introduction 8......Page 10 Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead 18......Page 20 I Ching 24......Page 26 The Art of War 26......Page 28 Mahabharata 28......Page 30 Dead Sea Scrolls 30......Page 32 Vienna Dioscorides 34......Page 36 Book of Kells 38......Page 40 The Blue Qur’an 44......Page 46 Diamond Sutra 46......Page 48 The Exeter Book 48......Page 50 Directory 50......Page 52 The Tale of Genji 54......Page 56 Canon of Medicine 56......Page 58 The Domesday Book 58......Page 60 The Gospels of Henry the Lion 60......Page 62 Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry 64......Page 66 Directory 70......Page 72 Gutenberg Bible 74......Page 76 Elementa Geometriae 76......Page 78 Nuremberg Chronicle 78......Page 80 Divine Comedy 84......Page 86 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili 86......Page 88 Harmonice Musices Odhecaton 88......Page 90 The Codex Leicester 90......Page 92 Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion 94......Page 96 Il Principe 96......Page 98 Epitome 98......Page 100 Cosmographia 102......Page 104 Les Prophéties 108......Page 110 Aubin Codex 110......Page 112 The Discoverie of Witchcraft 114......Page 116 Don Quixote 116......Page 118 King James Bible 118......Page 120 Hortus Eystettensis 122......Page 124 Tutte l’opere d’architettura, et prospetiva 126......Page 128 Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies 128......Page 130 Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo 130......Page 132 Bay Psalm Book 132......Page 134 Directory 134......Page 136 Micrographia 138......Page 140 Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica 142......Page 144 Systema Naturae 144......Page 146 L’Encyclopédie … des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers 146......Page 148 A Dictionary of the English Language 150......Page 152 Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis 154......Page 156 Tristram Shandy 156......Page 158 Fables in Verse 160......Page 162 The Wealth of Nations 162......Page 164 Rights of Man 164......Page 166 Songs of Innocence and of Experience 166......Page 168 Birds of America 170......Page 172 Procedure for Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong in Dots 174......Page 176 Baedeker guidebooks 176......Page 178 The Pickwick Papers 178......Page 180 The Holy Land 180......Page 182 Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions 186......Page 188 Uncle Tom's Cabin 190......Page 192 Leaves of Grass 192......Page 194 On the Origin of Species 194......Page 196 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 196......Page 198 Das Kapital 200......Page 202 The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer Now Newly Imprinted 202......Page 204 Un Coup de Dés Stéphane Mallarmé 208......Page 210 Directory 210......Page 212 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 216......Page 218 The Tale of Peter Rabbit 218......Page 220 The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm 222......Page 224 General Theory of Relativity 226......Page 228 Pro Dva Kvadrata 228......Page 230 Penguin’s First 10 Paperback Books 230......Page 232 The Diary of a Young Girl 232......Page 234 Le Petit Prince 234......Page 236 Le Deuxième Sexe 236......Page 238 The Feminine Mystique 237......Page 239 Silent Spring 238......Page 240 Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung 240......Page 242 Directory 242......Page 244 INDEX 246......Page 249 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 255......Page 257