Dover Publications, Inc., New York

Whilst tidying my computer I have found a lot of gems. One was a folder of scans I made of a book. 14 years ago I manipulated them in singular ways but I can't remember why; I will cover this another day because the contents of the book are worth a post or two in their own right. That won't be for a while though, I'll have to read it again and maybe do some more digging.

So come on Alan, enough already! What's the book??

"The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels" is typical of the output of Dover Publications. It is an affordable but still high quality reprint of a lavishly illustrated textbook which in itself was an analysis of some of the greatest treatises on anatomy ever produced. Vesalius wasn't so much the artist as the author and producer, spending huge amounts of time and money overseeing the production of the volumes in the 1530s and 1540s, using the best artists he could find - including the draughtsmen from Titian's studio. The end result is a collection of cadavers exquisitely drawn, peeled back layer by layer and made with a fascinating combination of the artistic rigour of the draughtsman and the scientific rigour of Vesalius and spiced up with the exquisite pride of craftsmen who have no false modesty - everywhere are un-necessary yet not distracting flourishes - the bodies are in identical poses so they can be stacked up and the layers can literally be peeled away and some of them feature backgrounds of a recognisable place.

This is what Dover has always done. They take scarce books which have a heavy visual element and make them accessible. They particularly like copyright free images and were a prime source of high quality "clip art" pre-internet. Indeed, another strand of their publishing was explicitly cut out and re-use royalty free images and source books. They also re-publish scientific works. Wiki has a nice summary but I'm sad to see them suggest the books are no longer as well put together as they used to be.

The main reason I am aware of them is a shop hidden behind some market stalls near Covent Garden which only sells Dover Books. I don't know if it is still there, if it has broadened its repertoire, if it is independent or owned by the publisher, but as a child it was always one of the highlights of a trip to London, a proper little wonderland. I would even argue they were one of my formative influences from a visual point of view.

I am delighted to see the publishers are still going, albeit with an increased emphasis on the educational market. I had wondered how the internet with projects like Project Gutenberg and Google Books and technologies like image searching would affect them.

Have a browse, be open minded and pick up something random. Its a great way to discover new things.