Amazon.com description: Product Description: Throughout his life, Rubens was closely connected with the world of books, executing or supervising the designs for over 80 title pages, book illustrations, and theses. It was through his long association with Balthasar Moretus, the creative force at Plantin Press, that book illustration took on a new dimension in 17th-century Antwerp. Together, Rubens and Moretus gradually brought about a fundamental change in the concept of the title page--whereas the frontispieces of the previous century were purely decorative and only generally related to the texts, they now contained an allegorical significance closely related to the contents of the book. In the light of new research, Judson and Van de Velde examine the iconographic content and meaning of these images, describing the contribution of artist, publisher and patron to the evolution of the image. They also discuss Rubens's stylistic development in the field, and his influence on his contemporaries and later generations.