{"product_id":"reading-pictures-a-history-of-illustration-hardcover","title":"Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eD. B. Dowd\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA history of illustration from the beginning of popular print to the rise of mass literacy and into today's age of digital media\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOf all the visual arts, illustration shares a unique relationship with the written word, often serving to visualize, enhance, or respond to a text. \u003ci\u003eReading Pictures\u003c\/i\u003e presents a global history of this versatile art form, linking its emergence to modern developments such as the illustrated news, recreational reading, and ad-driven consumer culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the advent of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century to the modernist artistic and cultural movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, D. B. Dowd traces the development of illustration as an integral part of the reading experience. He examines the move from ancient scrolls to pamphlets and book forms, and a return to the scroll in electronic form on smartphones and tablets. His story begins with relief prints and woodcuts in ancient China and Japan before moving to printing and platemaking in early modern Europe. Dowd discusses how book and periodical publishing rose sharply with the innovations of wood engraving and lithography, leading to a boom in cultural literacy; and how the illustrated press reached its zenith between the 1860s and 1960s, as printed entertainment and the news of the world became commonplace in every household, bringing with them advertising, propaganda, and consumer culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRichly illustrated with more than four hundred images spanning the iconic to the unexpected, \u003ci\u003eReading Pictures\u003c\/i\u003e reframes the story of illustration within the broader histories of race, gender, literacy, and the transmission of cultural memory. It reveals how reading and looking have become increasingly integrated, and that, as images have become ever more prevalent today with the digital revolution, what is meant by literacy has evolved.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eD. B. Dowd\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of design and American culture studies and faculty director of the Dowd Illustration Research Archive at Washington University in St. Louis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 400\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 21, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45582999453740,"sku":"9780691245683","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/6260\/8940\/files\/X9viFg8fXM9780691245683.webp?v=1780120081","url":"https:\/\/littleredgeneralstore.com\/products\/reading-pictures-a-history-of-illustration-hardcover","provider":"Little Red General Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}