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THE EX-LIBRIS SERIES. Edited byGleeson White.
THE DECORATIVE ILLUSTRATIONOF BOOKS. BY WALTER CRANE.
PRINTED AT THE CHISWICK PRESS BYCHARLES WHITTINGHAM & CO. TOOKSCOURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, E.C.AND FIRST PUBLISHED DECEMBER, 1896SECOND EDITION, REVISED, FEB. 1901THIRD EDITION, REVISED, JAN. 1905
his book had its origin in thecourse of three (Cantor) Lecturesgiven before the Society of Arts in1889; they have been amplifiedand added to, and further chaptershave been written, treating of thevery active period in printing and decorative book-illustrationwe have seen since that time, as wellas some remarks and suggestions touching thegeneral principles and conditions governing thedesign of book pages and ornaments.
It is not nearly so complete or comprehensive asI could have wished, but there are natural limits tothe bulk of a volume in the "Ex-Libris" series, andit has been only possible to carry on such a workin the intervals snatched from the absorbing workof designing. Within its own lines, however, Ihope that if not exhaustive, the book may be foundfairly representative of the chief historical andcontemporary types of decorative book-illustration.
In the selection of the illustrations, I haveendeavoured to draw the line between the purelygraphic aim, on the one hand, and the ornamentalaim on the other—between what I should term theart of pictorial statement and the art of