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Richard Minsky

The Art of American Book Covers: 1875-1930 Hardcover – October 20, 2010

by Richard Minsky (Author)

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The Art of American Book Covers: 1875-1930
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From floral patterns to cityscapes, the boldest book designs of a golden age are gathered here in full color.

At the turn of the century, book design was more than a craft; it was a labor of love. Readers accustomed to today’s more utilitarian book covers will find breathtaking images here. The diversity and ingenuity of the artwork will capture the imagination of book lovers and collectors alike―and anyone who enjoys engaging design. 100 color illustrations

Print length

136 pages
Language

English
Publisher

George Braziller Inc.
Publication date

October 20, 2010
Dimensions

9.75 x 1 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0807616028
ISBN-13

978-0807616024
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Whether you curl up and read it, shelve it for reference, or place on the coffee table, this is one book you don't want to miss. "

Read the entire review: finebooksmagazine.com/issue/201004/minsky-1.phtml --Fine Books & Collections Magazine

"Minsky has a sharp eye for stylish, beautifully executed covers." --Critical Flame

From the Back Cover

"Richard Minsky has applied his formidable intellect and passion for a "golden age" of book design to his new book, and the result is a meticulously researched, lavishly illustrated tour de force, enhanced by Minsky's sharp analysis and eye for aesthetic nuance. it is a treasure to have and hold."
-Ina Saltz
Author, Typography ssentials
Associate Professor of Art, The City College of New York

"The subject of this book represents one of the highest achievements in the history of American art and design. There is no one better equipped to tell this story and to describe the exquisite and highly imaginative bookcovers created in a fifty year period beginning in the 1870s."
-Kenneth Soehner
Arthur K. Watson Chief Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"The long, unequal battle between modernism and nostalgia is played out in the architectural fabric of every city in North America. In the realm of book design and typography, the contest is just as important but not nearly so easy to see. Old books are tossed aside far more easily and readily than buildings. Those that survive are very often tucked away on the least accessible library shelves. Richard Minsky knows where and how to find them. He unveils that rich, forgotten heritage and makes great sense of what he finds."
-Robert Bringhurst
Author, The Elements of Typographic Style

"This attractive publication is both entertaining and educational. Through insightful commentary supported by solid research, Richard Minsky opens our eyes to the elegance and sophistication of nineteenth century book cover design."
-Jae Jennifer Rossman
Assistant Director for Special Collections
Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, Yale University

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ George Braziller Inc.; 1st edition, 2nd printing (October 20, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 136 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807616028
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807616024
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.57 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.75 x 1 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,985,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,801 in Antique & Collectible Books (Books)
- #3,438 in Book Design
- #373,308 in History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
21 ratings

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Richard Minsky
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Richard Minsky is widely acclaimed as a pioneering book artist whose work is collected internationally by major museums and libraries. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and the prestigious US/UK Bicentennial Fellowship, awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts and The British Council. In 2010 Yale University, the repository of The Richard Minsky Archive, presented an exhibition of fifty years of Minsky's work. You can download the free PDF version of the catalog at
http://www.library.yale.edu/arts/specialcollections/Material_Meets_Metaphor-Minsky.pdf
Richard is the Founder of the Center for Book Arts (1974), which has mounted over 250 exhibitions during the past 41 years, and currently offers 100 classes and workshops. He has lectured at many institutions, including Brown University, The London College of Printing, Washington University, and The Wizard Academy.
He has published three limited edition volumes on American Decorated Publishers' Bindings, 1872-1929, which are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Morgan Library, and other great institutions.
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Lowell Thing

A beautiful book about beautiful books

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2013

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The Book Beautiful, whether manuscript, incunabulum, vellum or leather-bound, was once for the rich or for use in the Church. But in time, every commercial printer could produce a beautiful book and the cover is often what made it sell. Richard Minsky's book shows us the beautiful books ordinary people could buy from American publishers by and before 1900. He profiles the book cover artists, discusses their styles and innovations, and analyzes the effects they produced with their design, working within and exploiting a new medium: the cloth book cover, limited in size and to the effects that could be produced with brass die stamping. As one who has admired this art (and scoured library sales for examples) for many years, I am delighted and thankful that someone has managed to bring this art to a wider public appreciation. One can page through this book in amazement at a series of artful illusions or study and read how the artist achieved her or his effect. For myself, Richard Minsky has reminded me why I have admired and collected these books and reanimated my delight in looking at them!

3 people found this helpful

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Richard H. Cady

A wonderful book & a great value

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2010

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Minsky's Art of American Book Covers 1875-1930 is, granted, a very specialized area of book collecting interest. But this book will definitely draw more attention to American trade bookbindings as a fine art. The volume is well written and researched and beautifully produced. Illustrated with hundreds of color illustrations of the magnificent bindings of this period. And with a useful bibliography and two pages of artist's monograms at the end. And how it was published at the amazingly low price is a puzzle. A pleasant one.

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hh

even better than i imagined

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2011

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An exquisite book and an amazing trip back in history. Page after page of beautiful images that make you ache for a time when we produced less, but did it with passion and style. And if you are not sated by the collection in the book, the author presents a website at the end into which you can fall for hours on end perusing endless categories of American classic book covers.

3 people found this helpful

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Beverly Plummer

Richard Minsky and the Art of American Book Covers: 1875-1930

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2011

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This is more than just a flawlessly put-together book. Every page with its illustration of a book cover, is a joy to study. The photographs are unadorned except for explanatory text below the cover. There are even facing pages of ARTISTS' MONOGRAMS at the back of the book, along with the addition of a bibliography and a list of online resources. Also a listing of ORIENTAL ART AND ORNAMENT REFERENCES AVAILABLE TO THE ARTISTS. This is a book written by someone who loves books.

2 people found this helpful

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Jack Straw

George Braziller & Richard Minsky!

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2015

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Outstanding, profusely illustrated book. The author and publisher should be proud.

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Susan T. Sowles

A beautiful collection

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2013

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This is a beautifully designed book showing a collection of excellent craftsmanship and design in book covers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's like a library rare book room that you can visit over and over from your own bookshelves.

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2013

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I love the art of bookmaking, and this book adds to my knowledge. Minsky is a genius and I hope to meet him someday!

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Ina Saltz

Meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2010

This book is a treasure to have and to hold. The author's passion for and knowledge of the subject matter is evident on every page, with precise and insightful commentary and analysis. Richard Minsky is a first-rate scholar who has cornered the market on his subject matter, a splendid Golden Age of book design where imagery, typographic design, and painstaking craftsmanship resulted in books that are stunningly beautiful decorative objects, apart from their literary merits. I especially enjoyed the author's thematic juxtaposition of images; it is amazing to discover the ways in which a pattern of trees, for example, can serve as a backdrop for so many diverse subjects.

As edifying and well-written as the accompanying text may be, it is the images that mesmerize...so beautifully reproduced that one can almost imagine feeling the impression of the stamping and the glow of the gold on the woven texture of the jacket. These are exquisite likenesses, richly colored and finely detailed. I have found myself deeply drawn into this beautiful world through this well-made volume, itself handsomely bound and stamped with an ornate interleaving of vines and exotic blooms entirely representative of its contents. It is a most welcome addition to my collection of books on books, and anyone who loves books should have it.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

braquesman

book covers for book lovers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2012

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I ordered this on spec without knowing anything about it but I assumed it would be about American dust jackets - Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Dashiell Hammett, say. That generation of books by Scribner, Knopf etc has mouth watering wrappers. But this book is not about that at all, but about decorated boards, generally on earlier books. I loved it on opening it though. This is an art book and a book about book art. I'm going out right now to become a squillionaire so that I can own all the books illustrated. In years of haunting bookfairs and second hand bookshops I've seen barely any of these books except the Novel in Woodcuts by Lynd Ward, although there are a few familiar English books in their American incarnation, e.g.California illustrated by Sutton Palmer.There's a 1901 cover for Beowulf by Samuel Harden Church - I always wondered who wrote it!

The author is a collector himself and there is an interesting scholarly introduction, but it's mostly about the plates. Appropriately, there is no dust jacket, but the upper board is attractive in a rich red colour with a gold leaf type decoration. Don't let the sun near that red cover. Finally, the book is for those gentle souls who care about books as objects, so note that I'm writing about a second printing. Oh, the pain. I believe the first printing has purplish boards and is more expensive. But you can't go wrong for aesthetic bookish pleasure with this printing.

scottie

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2017

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A beautiful book

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The Art of American Book Covers: 1875-1930 Hardcover – October 20, 2010

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Richard Minsky

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