Complete Encyclopedia Of Illustration

But most of the engravings are large, detailed, and highly specific. And most are quite strange, as if awkwardly removed from their original places. Plus, they are somewhat limited to the 18th and 19th centuries.

For my purposes--clip art--this book didn't really help very much. I did wind up finding one illustration for my wedding invitation, but not much more. For those interested in a much wider array of illustrations, and those who wish to use illustration for clip art, I would instead recommend _The Clip Art Book_ by Gerard Quinn. In the latter book you'll find machines, animals, people, letters, and more. All done in a great variety of styles. Even those who aren't interested in "clip art" will find Quinn's book to be a more encyclopedic array of illustration. It's the diversely illustrated book which this "encyclopedia" fails to be.


lost engravings   November 2, 2002
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

A quality sample of a thousand, or so, engraved pictures. With computer graphics, many facets of this art will become lost, because this book represents the best reproductions of tedious, labor-intensive 'photography' in the era before film photography and computer imagery. All of the illustrations here probably started out as simple sketches that were turned over to a plate engraver for inclusion in a magazine or book, many in reference books for engineers and scientists, in order that the reader could follow along with the author's 'pictorial' narrative. Were it not for the meticulous detail and precision of the enscriber, many accounts of historical value would be forever lost as many of the drawings in the book depict machinery, architecture, archaeological wonders and detail that are no longer used, made, or found in existence or in the Modern World. Simply put, this is a phenomenal Book!


comprehensive source of visual information   February 27, 1999
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book contains a seemingly endless supply of exactly what you need when you are looking for detailed visual reference, drawn, displayed and categorized in that compulsive Victorian manner. A very handy book to have.