The Aesthetic Book

This talk will discuss the design influences, technical innovations, and philosophies of book-making which merged in the period 1860-1890 to contribute to a recognizably “Aesthetic Book.” In defining and delineating the “Aesthetic Book” within the larger context of the Aesthetic Movement, the talk will address the impact of theorists and designers such as Ruskin, Pugin, and Dresser; the influence of other times and places, particularly the medieval European past, and the newly re-discovered culture of Japan; the anonymous but crucially important contributions of processes (chromolithography, color wood-engraving), innovations (publishers' bindings), and the mechanization of printing processes generally; and the impact of Morris, Pickering, De Vinne, and other seminal figures in the nineteenth century book world.