William Hatherell

The illustrations in books and stories are the pictorial representation of the writer's imagination. They accompany the reader into a world of fantasy or underline the events of the world in their expressiveness. As early as the 18th century, the desire of bourgeois society arose to add illustrations to the world of books and magazines. This desire marked the beginning of the cultural-historical development of literary illustration. A form of art that became commonplace. An art form that was considered more of a craft than an art until the Arts and Craft movement in the mid-19th century. The Arts and Craft movement sought the natural beauty of things and the aesthetics of craft in an age of advancing industrialization. The painters William Morris and John Ruskin began to create a connection between art, society and production. The book moved to center stage and the era of artfully illustrated publishing editions began.