Meggs' History of Graphic Design 4th Edition

by Philip B. Meggs (Author), Alston W. Purvis (Author)

142 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0471699026

ISBN-10: 0471699020

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Now in its Fourth Edition, this unrivaled, seminal work continues its long tradition of providing balanced insight and thorough historical background. Under the new authorial leadership of Alston Purvis, this authoritative book offers more than 450 new images, along with expansive coverage of such topics as Italian, Russian, and Dutch design. It reveals a saga of creative innovators, breakthrough technologies, and important design innovations.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Under the new authorial leadership of Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition offers hundreds of full-color images supported by the latest information, including a new chapter on modern type design. With more than 1,000 illustrations, lucid text, and interpretive captions, this Fourth Edition reveals a saga of creative innovators, breakthrough technologies, and important design innovations.

Graphic design is a vital component of each culture and period in human history, and this Fourth Edition was carefully reviewed and updated to best represent the work of particular time periods and designers. This edition's historic account is an extraordinary panorama of people and events, including:

The Invention of Writing and Alphabets
Medieval Manuscript Books
The Origins of Printing and Typography
Renaissance Graphic Design
The Arts and Crafts Movement
Victorian and Art Nouveau Graphics
Modern Art and Its Impact on Design
Visual Identity and Conceptual Images
Postmodern Design
The Computer Graphics Revolution

A History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition surpasses in detail and breadth the content, design, and color reproduction of previous editions. Professionals, students, and everyone who works with or loves the world of graphic design will quickly find this reference tool is an invaluable visual survey that they will turn to again and again

About the Author

The late PHILIP B. MEGGS was a designer, educator, and author. He was School of the Arts Research Professor, Communication Arts and Design Department, at Virginia Commonwealth University; visiting faculty at Syracuse University and the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland; and contributing editor to Print magazine. He authored more than a dozen books and 150 articles and papers on design and typography, including a section on graphic design in Encyclopedia Britannica. He was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame and received its Educator's Award for lifetime achievement and significantly shaping the future of the fields of graphic design education and writing.

ALSTON W. PURVIS is Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Boston University. During his career, he has worked as an instructor at The Cooper Union and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at The Hague. His photographs have been exhibited in Amsterdam, London, New York, and Paris. He is the author of Dutch Graphic Design, 1918–1945 (Wiley) and H. N. Werkman; and coauthor of Graphic Design 20th Century; A Century of Posters; and Wendingen: A Journal of Arts 1918–1932.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 4th edition (December 7, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 575 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0471699020
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0471699026
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.84 x 1.48 x 11.04 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,137,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #469 in Typography (Books)
- #1,081 in Architecture (Books)
- #1,091 in Architectural Drafting & Presentation

Customer Reviews:
142 ratings

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5 star		74%
4 star		15%
3 star		6%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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PhilippeH

The Bible of graphic design histories

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2016

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If you are interested in graphic design and more specifically in its history, this book is (still) the bible. I teach History of Graphic Design to postgrad students and Meggs' book is the basis of my course I know for a fact that this is also true for most of my colleagues. This book initiated the tradition that graphic design history should start with the invention of writing and a history of typography. Only the second part deals with "real" graphic design (after 1900). Nevertheless, one should keep in mind that this book was written from an American/English point of view. I would recommend you supplement this great book with books dealing specifically with French, German or Russian graphic design. Not that Meggs fails to deal with these subjects, but other authors might make you get a more balanced, more European picture.

10 people found this helpful

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Graphic Designers; steal this book.

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2010

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This book is a must have if you are taking any graphic design courses. If you are already a graphic designer this book is also a must have. My class is long over and I wont sell this book, that says something considering I am a starving student, well maybe not starving.

I bought this for a class and I ended up reading it just because the information presented is both interesting and also very digestible to the average reader. It is a very interesting book that you can keep long after the class is over. One thing is it makes a fantastic coffee table book. It would not be out of place in the lobby of your design firm.

Content (+)
The content of this book covers from our earliest designs all the way to modern design and the impact it has on our lives. The content of this book does not shy away from the controversial to the mundane.

Images (+)
I made the video clip so you could see the great artwork in this book. Many full color images are wonderful references that can be used when you are designing. "Good artists copy, great artists steal", Pablo Picasso

Text (+)
As I was saying this is not just boring text droning on and on. It, in fact is very interesting to those that are into graphic design or art. Any art is graphic design, and all graphic design is art. You really get that feeling after reading this book.

Overall this book is a great value at what I paid for it which is twice what it cost now. Get this BRAND NEW and you will have this book for many years.

12 people found this helpful

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K. Carlberg

Standard Text Delivery, Good Reference Material

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2010

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This is a good textbook for giving you the bald facts. When reading it I felt much the same as I felt reading all of my textbooks in college: Bored as hell but just interested enough to keep reading. I did learn quite a bit from this textbook, however. I will say one thing, this text book is an explosion of example pictures. I don't think I would have learned nearly as much had these not been an integral part of the layout. It makes sense when discussing the history of graphic design to use photos to back up your descriptions, but I've definitely read some textbooks that rely heavily on text and not enough on reference pictures and other visual material. That's part of what keeps me going when trying to dredge though textbooks like these. Overall I'd say this ranks higher than most textbooks I've been subjected to.

One person found this helpful

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Andris Rutins

Lots of fun here!

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2014

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I don't know all that much about graphic design, but the instructor of my only course on the subject recommended this book, and I don't regret buying it. It has a lot of information and a bounty of illustrations to make its many valuable points. I think this may be a cornerstone of literature on the topic in the English language.

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Valeria

History of Design

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2011

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Meggs' History of Graphic Design is a wonderful resource. This book was the required text for my History & Trends in Vis Com course, and although I do NOT like paying more than $50 for a textbook, the art history books always seem to be worth it. This book employs a good use of chronology, and the images look crisp and vibrant, as expected. I do wish now that I had sprung for the hardcover, but the jacket is matte and held up to a bit of wear and tear, so no regrets. Now that my class is over, it sits safely on the shelf, and serves as a great reference for graphic styles through the centuries. As a graphic designer, I recommend this text. You can never go wrong being inspired by the masters.

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Kari McBride

More Than A Textbook

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2013

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This is one of the only texts books I've ever decided to keep after my class was over. It's a wealth of information about graphic design, the only I've found that is so inclusive.

The information is wonderful, and photos are beautiful. I learned so much from this text book and I love it.

One person found this helpful

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lilblkraincloud

The best source

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2012

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There are seriously no good Graphic Design History books out there. This is NOT an amazingly complete text book, but its the best I've found as of yet. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FIND THIS INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET! If you want REAL graphic design history, forget Wikipedia; get this book.

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Melissa M. Steele

Boring but effective

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013

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Be fore warned, I am a web design major, I thought this class involved design of some kind, It does not! It is the history of typography. Focus on the history of advertising. It is DRY, Boring, and it takes forever to process what you are reading.

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Top reviews from other countries

jennifer

Good

Reviewed in Canada on June 8, 2018

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needed it for school

Nova_

Very pleased

Reviewed in Canada on May 28, 2013

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The book arrived promptly and, aside from slight wear on the cover sheet, it was like new. There was no writing inside any of the pages, and the book has that *new book* smell to it. Thank you!

I. Hardy

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on November 17, 2016

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Outstanding book.

mr alan harper

I have no idea

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2015

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I bought it for my daughter and have not seen it so I can not comment.

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