Illustration: A Concise History is a dynamic visual journey through the landscape of illustration that maps the evolution of the discipline from the industrial revolution to the postdigital age and showcases over 180 of its most iconic practitioners, including Laura Knight, Antonio Lopez, Käthe Kollwitz, and Hayao Miyazaki. By contextualizing the subject within a framework of key political events, cultural innovations, and technological advances, Andrew Hall redefines how we might think about illustration and the place that it has in our ever-evolving global network.

The second half of this introductory volume follows on from the ten chapters charting the chronology of illustration to provide a more in-depth look at its specific commercial genres across eleven feature sections, each including minihistories, practical career advice, and biographies of inspirational practitioners who operated within the field.