Explore a wealth of ideas and imagination in World of the book, a one-of-a-kind exhibition showcasing the history of book design, production and illustration from the Middle Ages to today, at the State Library of Victoria.

Select items featured in the book will be on display at State Library Victoria from November 2017, including medieval manuscripts, early printed books such as the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), key early works in the history of science and art, literary works by writers associated with the Beat generation, illustrated works of voyages and travel, and works by the great natural history illustrators such as John James Audubon and John Gould. As well, the Library’s exhibition will include contemporary graphic design, Japanese woodblock books, pulp fiction, and zines – all featured in The World of the Book.’

French poet Stéphane Mallarmé understood that books hold the world's stories. From the earliest known myths and legends to postmodern fictions, books are mirrors of real worlds, windows into imagined worlds and keepers of powerful ideas.

Beautifully illustrated, The World of the Book is a celebration of this age-old tradition drawing upon the rare collections of the State Library of Victoria.

A journey through time and across the globe, this volume features great books and publishing innovations of the past and present. It also revels in the sheer beauty of books as objects to be desired and treasured.

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The World of the BookClare Williamson, Des Cowley

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Within the pages of The World of the Book you will discover:

• an illuminated manuscript created for the Medici family of Florence in 1479
• masterpieces of early printing, such as Gutenberg's Bible and Aldus Manutius's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
• books recording the scientific discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo and Newton
• atlases and illustrated accounts from the great age of travel and exploration
• works by the great botanical and natural history artists, such as Redouté, Audubon and Gould
• the woodblock books of Japanese artist Hokusai
• the lavish productions by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press
• literary greats from William Shakespeare to Virginia Woolf
• children's books
• Beat literature
• pulp fiction
• graphic novels
• artists' books and
• contemporary graphic design

The exhibition opens on November 10th 2017.