The Beauty of Books
Total Seasons :1Total Episodes : 4
Series combining human stories, expert interviews, book illustrations and historic archive to reveal the beauty of books.
Episodes(4)
1. Ancient Bibles
The British Library in London is home to 14 million books, on shelves that stretch over 600km. Extraordinary vessels of ideas and knowledge, they testify to the love affair we have with books. This series explores the enduring appeal and importance of books from a 4th century bible to present day paperbacks.
Air Date : 2011-02-07
2. Medieval Masterpieces
The medieval era was the heyday of illuminated manuscripts. In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was a flowering of religious texts set into beautifully-decorated pages. Among these devotional books were psalters, or books of psalms. Hundreds of these were produced, but the Luttrell Psalter is remarkable for its whimsical, humorous and vivid pictures of rural life and a demonic world that is terrifying and grotesque.
Air Date : 2011-02-14
3. Illustrated Wonderlands
The Victorians were masters of illustrated books, especially for children. Thanks to an emerging middle class readership, new printing technology and a sentimentalised regard for childhood, fairy tales and fantasy fiction containing words and pictures grew into an established genre.
Air Date : 2011-02-21
4. Paperback Writer
The paperback book democratized reading in the 20th century, and printing directly onto the covers became a way of selling a book in the mass market.
Air Date : 2011-02-28
Cast
Richard Dormer
(Narrator)
Stephen Bayley
(Himself - Author & Design Critic)
Rick Gekoski
(Himself - Writer & Rare Book Dealer)
Michelle Brown
(Herself - University of London)
Christopher de Hamel
(Himself - Corpus Christi College Cambridge)
Alison Bailey
(Herself - Curator British Library)
Andrew Biswell
(Himself - Burgess Biographer)
Alixe Bovey
(Herself - University of Kent)
Michael Foreman
(Himself - Illustrator)
John Gray
(Himself - Designer)
Carolyne Larrington
(Herself - St. John's College Oxford)
Patricia Lovett
(Herself - Scribe & Illustrator)
Edward Maggs
(Himself - Rare Book Dealer)
John McConnell
(Himself - Designer)
Scot McKendrick
(Himself - British Library)
Paul W. Nash
(Himself - Bodleian Library Oxford)
David Parker
(Himself - University of Birmingham)
Sebastian Peake
(Himself)
David Pearson
(Himself - Designer)
David Pelham
(Himself - Designer)
Wesley Rykalski
(Himself - Historical Researcher)
Janet Soskice
(Herself - University of Cambridge)
D.J. Taylor
(Himself - Orwell Biographer)
John Vernon
(Himself)
Edward Wakeling
(Himself - Editor of Lewis Carroll's Diaries)
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