James Bettley is the former head of Collection Development at the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Celebrating the marriage of word and image on the written and printed page, The Art of the Book presents rarely examined treasures from the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Featuring a huge range of material spanning six centuries—including illuminated manuscripts, fine bindings, the classics of children’s literature, comic novels, and artists’ books, it explores the ways in which books not only transmit information but become works of art in their own right.

Thematic sections illustrate the key aspects of book design and production over the ages. With medieval books of hours sitting alongside contemporary paperback novels, the choice of artists, designers, subjects, and authors is wonderfully varied—from Leonardo da Vinci to Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Aesop to Charles Dickens, and de Brunhoff’s Babar the Elephant to Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Strikingly illustrated with 100 colorplates, this absorbing compendium will be of interest to collectors, graphic designers, and booklovers.