Word & image : art, books and design : from the National Art Library

This unique history brings together more than 150 spectacular objects from the National Art Library's collection of literature, prints, drawings and photographs. Housed within the V&A, the library was, from the beginning, an integral part of the Museum, formed by, and for, artists and designers as an essential element of the educational and museological project of Prince Albert and Henry Cole after the Great Exhibition of 1851. Word & Image shows how the distinct character of the NAL was formed, and how its collections created a new kind of bibliographical resource. From a fifteenth-century book of hours to William Morris's specimen pages for Jean Froissart's The Chronicles of Fraunce, Inglande, and Other Places Adjoynynge; from George Cruikshank's studies of Fagin for Oliver Twist to an Yves Saint Laurent design for the House of Dior; and from Bill Brandt's photographs to the Book of Nails by Floating Concrete Octopus, Word & Image explores some of the finest examples of 'book art' in existence.

Director's foreword -- A reader's foreword -- 'Word and image' : the evolution of the Victoria and Albert Museum's library / Julius Bryant -- The growth of the library collection, 1837-1909 / Rowan Watson -- Collecting the art and design of the book after 1909 / Elizabeth James -- Art, Books and Design from the National Art Library. Introduction ; 1. Resources for art and design education ; 2. Making images : the illustrator at work ; 3. Designers, aesthetes and the 'book beautiful' ; 4. The impact of photography ; 5. Promoting commercial art : the initiative of 1936 ; 6. The fashion archive ; 7. Modern artists and the book -- Timeline.