VI.

17th and 18th Centuries

The art of book illustration declined somewhat in the 17th century, as the emphasis in bookmaking shifted from illustration to typography (see type) and decoration. Some notable books were produced, however, particularly in France, where Jacques Callot illustrated the emblem books Vie de la Mère de Dieu (Life of the Virgin, 1646) and Lux Claustri (1646) with etchings, Nicolas Poussin illustrated an edition of Treatise on Painting (1651) by Leonardo da Vinci, and Sébastien Leclerc illustrated Charles Perrault's Labyrinthe de Versailles (1677). Perhaps the greatest English illustrated book of the 17th century was the polyglot Aesop illustrated by Francis Barlow in 1666.

In the 18th century France led the world in book illustration, with such efforts as the Fables (1755) of Jean de La Fontaine illustrated by Jean Baptiste Oudry, the same author's Contes (Tales, 1762) illustrated by Pierre Choffard and Charles Eisen, and an edition of the Contes (1795) illustrated by Jean Honoré Fragonard. Important English illustrated books in this period included an Aesop (1722) with engravings by Samuel Croxall, Hudibras (1726) by Samuel Butler, with engravings by William Hogarth; Poems (1753) by Thomas Gray, illustrated by Richard Bentley; and Anatomy of the Horse (1766) illustrated by George Stubbs. The German artist Daniel Chodowiecki illustrated The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-1767) by Laurence Sterne. In the latter part of the 18th century the most significant English book illustration was done by Thomas Bewick, who revived and perfected white-line wood engraving in such books as History of Quadrupeds (1790), and by the poet-artist William Blake, whose “illuminated books,” beginning with Songs of Innocence (1789), returned to an approach similar to that used in the block books of the 15th century. Japanese artists illustrated books with colored woodcuts of birds, flowers, and everyday life, as for example Shigemasa (Mirror of Fair Women,1776), Masanobu Kitao (Yoshiwara,1784), and Utamaro (Bird Book,1791).