Graphic design before graphic designers : the printer as designer and craftsman 1700-1914 / David Jury.

"779 illustrations, 560 in color."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-305) and index.

Alternative functions of the black art -- Celebrating the challenge of change -- Mechanization and international ambition -- Artistic aspirations for mass communication -- The rise of advertising and design -- Printing at the service of design.

Although the term was not coined until the 1920s, graphic design existed long before there were any graphic designers. This lavish volume is a vibrant mix of beautifully crafted printed ephemera from the past. It is a visual journey through the pre-history of graphic design, charting the printer's progress from jobbing tradesman to the heights and hallowed status of artistic printer. Showcasing work from a host of anonymous talents whose names are lost to history as well as seminal, pioneering typographers, artists and printers such as Giambattista Bodoni, William Morris and Oscar Harpel, it reveals how those working on both sides of the Atlantic responded to everyday communication issues with original solutions and breathtaking flair and skill. The extraordinarily diverse results - the precursor of what we now call graphic design - are a celebratory cultural feast of the jobbing printer's contribution to visual culture and heritage--From publisher description.