Tag Archives: Illustration

Silmarillion with an accent

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

I was searching for an illustrated copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion for a client when I stumbled across this Russian language version with exceptional black and white drawings by artist Denis Gordeev. I don’t know anything about him, but he … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Egypt and Its Monuments

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

A book buyer just requested some images from this fantastic 1908 edition of Egypt And Its Monuments by Robert Hichens with illustrations by Jules Guérin so I thought I’d share them here as well. Over the years, I’ve bought and … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Art, Books, History, Middle East, Tourism, Travel Writing, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Mapping the Wild Things

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

The late American artist and illustrator David McLimans published widely in periodicals as varied as The Atlantic, Washington Post and New York Times, and was awarded a Caldecott Medal for his children’s book Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet. I especially … Continue reading →

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Just Twenty Six Letters

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

Lauren Hom is a Brooklyn-based illustrator with a dream—she’s planning to sell all of her belongings, grab her backpack, and set off on a year-long, round the world trip. Her goal is to set foot on every continent while visiting … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Tourism, USA | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Invisible Cities

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

Artists Leighton Connor, Joe Kuth and Matt Kish originally planned to publish a book of illustrations based on Italo Calvino’s brilliant book Invisible Cities. Unfortunately copyright issues will likely preclude their book’s publication for the foreseeable future. However, the three … Continue reading →

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Moving Pictures

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

As a collector and seller of antiquarian books, late at night I sometimes get the feeling that the illustrations are stirring. Now I have proof. The Smithsonian Libraries blog is teeming with gifs based on illustrations based on historical books and publications. … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Art, Books, History, Libraries, Museums | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Everything but Fukushima

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

The only thing I love more than a cool map is a cool map with clever illustrations. The Cape Town, South Africa-based creative design studio MUTI illustrated this terrific map of Japan that includes lots of icons highlighting landmarks, architecture, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Asia, Maps | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

We Know Nothing

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

I have been a big fan of Oakland, California-based artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon ever since I ran across some of her San Francisco travel illustrations. Now the self-taught prodigy has a wonderful book coming out on April 1st called … Continue reading →

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Z is for Zagreb

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

London-based, French-Japanese illustrator Hugo Yoshikawa has created this marvelous alphabet with letters composed of building, bridges and monuments from European cities. Each letter is hand drawn and watercolored. Of course A is for Amsterdam and Z is for Zagreb, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged , , | 2 Comments