SEVEN PERSPECTIVES OF THE WOODCUT: PRESENTATIONS FROM A HEAVENLY CRAFT SYMPOSIUM AND EXHIBITION

Washington: Library of Congress, 2008. paper wrappers. 7 x 10 inches. paper wrappers. 108 pages. Seven Perspectives on the Woodcut covers a wide range of issues related to bookmaking in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The analyses of the art of the woodcut presented here have their beginnings in the exhibition "A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books," which opened at the Library of Congress in April 2005. The exhibition and its catalogue celebrated the large gift of illustrated books by Lessing J. Rosenwald, retired chairman of Sears, Roebuck & Company, to the library and examined the early history of printed books through some of the collection's rarest items. The Library of Congress also hosted a symposium in honor of the exhibition and Rosenwald's gift and invited scholars of art history and bibliography to contribute to a discussion of the woodcut in early printed books. Each chapter analyzes unique perspectives on the artistic development of the woodcut. Topics include the work of Albrecht Dürer, distinguished miniaturist Benedetto Bordon, early illustrated versions of Genesis, the illustrations for Bernhard von Breydenbach's Travels in the Holy Land, one of the earliest travelogues, and the history of early illustrated prayer books and devotional texts. Corresponding images of woodcuts as well as photographs of original woodblocks appear throughout the volume. Distributed for the Library of Congress.