Illustration

Illustrated books are the combination of words and art on the page. This list of influential illustrated books includes world famous artists, specialist book illustrators, pioneers from the Golden Age of Illustration, children's picture books, a diary, alphabet books, and more.

Books of Hours were medieval bestsellers. Sandra Hindman, an expert on medieval manuscripts, explains why these books were, and still are, so important.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published on December 19 in 1843. Its illustrations helped craft the festive holiday that is celebrated today. Discover illustrated editions of this classic story.

There are two main points to consider when looking at an illustration. Who created the illustration, and what artistic method did they use to create it? Learn more with our guide.

No matter what you call it, this genre isn't easily pigeon-holed into clear-cut categories, making compiling a list of 50 must-read graphic novels a daunting task... but we did it.

Arthur Rackham was an illustrator in the late 19th and early 20th century. The first of Rackham's illustrations to be published in a book were in 1893, in The Dolly Dialogues. Rackham never looked back. Learn more about this remarkable artist.

Of course, Andy Warhol, maestro of Pop Art, loved cats. How could he not? Fifty years before I Can Has Cheezburger, Warhol was putting cute cats in front of people.

The Limited Editions Club of New York was started in 1929 by George Macy. At 29-years-old, he was an avid reader who wanted to make his living from books. His business revolved around publishing beautifully illustrated classic titles in relatively small quantities with club members paying a subscription.

The Book of Miracles is perhaps not the right name. 'The book of biblical drama and things we don't understand' may be a better title. This beautiful book about a book is published by Taschen. It contains a facsimile of a mysterious manuscript from the 16th century.

A Wrinkle in Time can be classified as science fiction or fantasy, or both. The plot includes something called a tesseract where space and time are folded together. Here's a selection of covers for our favourite children's story about the space-time continuum.

Murder, torture and more grisly tales! We went back centuries to find out what really happened to our favorite princesses.

Some people think it's one of the weirdest books ever published. An art book unlike any other art book. A unique and disturbing surreal parody. Grotesque and beautiful. It's very hard to describe. Codex Seraphinianus by Italian artist Luigi Serafini is a window on a bizarre fantasy world complete with its own unique (unreadable) alphabet and numerous illustrations that borrow from the modern age but veer into the extremely unusual.

Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was an American illustrator and writer, chiefly remembered for his illustrated books. Once you've seen a bit of Gorey's work, it becomes instantly recognisable.

Despite everything that fans of technology will tell you, the 'Google' has existed since 1913 when an English banker wrote and illustrated this beautiful but surreal children's book of verse about colourful creatures in a fantastical land.

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is a story about a curious girl who falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a magical, nonsensical world. Read by millions of children and adults alike around the world, this book has had many artists interpret the classic story with unique illustrations.

William Blake did so much so well that it is difficult to label him. Therefore, we're going to let bookseller and William Blake expert John Windle summarise the incredible life and impact of this particular Englishman.