On a day when a Belgian prime minister is receiving accolade for becoming the first President ever of the European Counsel, we are pleased to announce that the book Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations in Sixtieenth-Century Europe, by Karen L. Bowen and Dirk Imhof (Cambridge UP, ISBN 978052185276-0), has received the Roland H. Bainton Book Prize.The Roland H. Bainton Prize was named after a professor of church history at the seminary of Yale University, and is awarded yearly for best books in Art and Music History, History/Theology, and Literature.
The news has yet to be announced by Sixteenth-Century Society & Conference (SCSC), which appoints the committee who chose this year's winners. We previously announced publication of this study here.
Bowen and Imhof's study borrows heavily on archival research to document how Plantin's choice for etchings influenced a change in taste with regard to book illustration at the time. Their book is to date the most comprehensive monograph on 16th-century intaglio production and trade for our region, and a must-have for any serious research library.
