THE EX-LIBRIS SERIES. EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE. THE DECORATIVE ILLUSTRATION OF BOOKS. BY WALTER CRANE. [Illustration: G Bell and Sons] OF THE DECORATIVE ILLUSTRATION OF BOOKS OLD AND NEW BY WALTER CRANE [Illustration] LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. NEW YORK: 66 FIFTH AVENUE MDCCCXCV PRINTED AT THE CHISWICK PRESS BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM & CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, E.C. AND FIRST PUBLISHED DECEMBER, 1896 SECOND EDITION, REVISED, FEB. 1901 THIRD EDITION, REVISED, JAN. 1905 PREFACE. This book had its origin in the course of three (Cantor) Lectures given before the Society of Arts in 1889; they have been amplified and added to, and further chapters have been written, treating of the very active period in printing and decorative book-illustration we have seen since that time, as well as some remarks and suggestions touching the general principles and conditions governing the design of book pages and ornaments. It is not nearly so complete or comprehensive as I could have wished, but there are natural limits to the bulk of a volume in the "Ex-Libris" series, and it has been only possible to carry on such a work in the intervals snatched from the absorbing work of designing. Within its own lines, however, I hope that if not exhaustive, the book may be found fairly representative of the chief historical and contemporary types of decorative book-illustration. In the selection of the illustrations, I have endeavoured to draw the line between the purely graphic aim, on the one hand, and the ornamental aim on the other--between what I should term the art of _pictorial statement_ and the art of _decorative treatment_; though there are many cases in which they are combined, as, indeed, in all the most complete book-pictures, they should be. My purpose has been to treat of illustrations which are also book-ornaments, so that purely graphic design, as such, unrelated to the type, and the conditions of the page, does not come within my scope. As book-illustration pure and simple, however, has been treated of in this series by Mr. Joseph Pennell, whose selection is more from the graphic than the decorative point of view, the balance may be said to be adjusted as regards contemporary art. I must offer my best thanks to Mr. Gleeson White, without whose most valuable help the book might never have been finished. He has allowed me to draw upon his remarkable collection of modern illustrated books for examples, and I am indebted to many artists for permission to use their illustrations, as well as to Messrs. George Allen, Bradbury, Agnew and Co., J. M. Dent and Co., Edmund Evans, Geddes and Co., Hacon and Ricketts (the Vale Press), John Lane, Lawrence and Bullen, Sampson Low and Co., Macmillan and Co., Elkin Mathews, Kegan Paul and Co., Walter Scott, Charles Scribner's Sons, and Virtue and Co., for their courtesy in giving me, in many cases, the use of the actual blocks.