Author: Martin Hutner & Jerry Kelly

Publisher/Date: NH: David R. Godine/ Grolier Club (2004 1st of revised and expanded edition)

Format/Condition: New oversized hardcover with dust jacket in fine condition. Full black cloth with gilt lettering. Lavishly illustrated with examples of fine printing. Measures 9×12 inches, with 110 pages, b&w and color illustrations, bibliography and indicies authors & titles, designers & presses.

Description: From the publisher: Any serious book Collector (and the most serious belong to New York’s Grolier Club, that pre-eminent shrine for bibliophiles ) harbors a latent penchant for lists.

Here are the hundred greatest printed books of the twentieth century. Given another pair of editors, you’d probably be offered a different list, but this one serves and serves well, for it concentrates not only on the recognized chestnuts, but also lesser-known, and often exceedingly recherche volumes that have left their mark. It is noteworthy that only two books in the survey were printed by offset; the rest are all letterpress.

This survey, while admittedly neither comprehensive nor definitive, provides an overview of fine printing over the past hundred years. Despite Morison’s contention that typography is the most conservative of all the arts, the forms, designs, and techniques of book production continue to mutate, evolve, and advance. If we are to overcome the complexities of a digital age, we would do well to appreciate, if not embrace, the heritage so convincingly presented on these pages.

From the Foreword:

"This survey includes only books printed from the greco-roman alphabets in Europe and America. We have, however, considered the book as a whole  with all the elements  from typography and paper through presswork and binding - taken into account. On the following pages are some of the most beautiful, finely printed books produced during the twentieth century arranged in chronological order." Each of the one hundred books chosen is represented with an illustration and a commentary as to why it was included.