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CHOICE Review

Haskell is primarily concerned to recount the laborious process by which the 18th-century banker Pierre Crozat managed to publish Recueil d'Estampes ... (1763). Haskell argues that Recueil was the first published "art book" in the contemporary sense: reproductions of artworks with accompanying text for a large public. Contrasting the methods of the French publisher Crozat with earlier Italian art-print publishers, Haskell shows how the making of this book both reflected and shaped the tastes of the 18th century while forming a model for art historical research. As a published lecture, the volume makes no pretense at comprehensiveness. But this kind of book may fill out a subject area already well represented. It would be interesting to compare this book with Richard D. Altick's Paintings from Books (CH, Sep '86) for a greater idea of the interchange between reproductions and paintings. Haskell's very elegantly designed volume is beautifully printed on a matte-coated heavy paper; the typography is especially appealing. It is also well footnoted and contains fine illustrations. For college and university libraries.