Meggs' History of Graphic Design

The late Philip B. Meggs is an inductee into the Art Directors Hall of Fame and received its Educator's Award for lifetime achievement. A former contributing editor to Print magazine, he authored more than a dozen books and 150 articles and papers on design and typography. Alston W. Purvis is Professor of Visual Arts at the Boston University College of Fine Arts where he serves as Chair of the Department of Graphic Design. He is author and co-author of numerous books on graphic design history.

• Preface to the First Edition viiiAcknowledgments ixPart I The Prologue to Graphic Design 1The visual message from prehistory through the medieval era1 The Invention of Writing 52 Alphabets 213 The Asian Contribution 354 Illuminated Manuscripts 49Part II A Graphic Renaissance 69The origins of European typography and design for printing5 Printing Comes to Europe 736 The German Illustrated Book 857 Renaissance Graphic Design 1038 An Epoch of Typographic Genius 129Part III The Bridge to the Twentieth Century 147The Industrial Revolution: The impact of industrial technology upon visual communications9 Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution 15110 The Arts and Crafts Movement and Its Heritage 18711 Art Nouveau 20912 The Genesis of Twentieth-Century Design 245Part IV The Modernist Era 265Graphic design in the first half of the twentieth century13 The Influence of Modern Art 26914 Pictorial Modernism 29115 A New Language of Form 31616 The Bauhaus and the New Typography 34517 The Modern Movement in America 371Part V The Age of Information 391Graphic design in the global village18 The International Typographic Style 39719 The New York School 41520 Corporate Identity and Visual Systems 43921 The Conceptual Image 46522 Postmodern Design 49123 National Visions within a Global Dialogue 51324 The Digital Revolution—and Beyond 571Epilogue 621Bibliography 623Image Credits 657Index 663