Published by Princeton University Press in 2026, “Reading Pictures: A Cultural History of Illustration,” tells the story of illustration as a dimension of and contributor to the rise of reading in North America, Europe, and East Asia from the fifteenth century to the twenty-first.
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Reading Pictures
Praise for “Reading Pictures”
“From a ninth-century Chinese frontispiece to Marxist magazine covers, this rich tome explores the power of illustration and the ways in which we read such images… . [In ‘Reading Pictures’,] Dowd masterfully embeds his images in pages of cultural commentary, relating the steady expansion of the genre to the growth of literacy worldwide. He also offers trenchant observations on the ways in which illustrations have been abused for propaganda or profit.”
“In ‘Reading Pictures’, Dowd elevates illustration from a marginalized, understudied craft to a central medium of visual culture, public communication and historical meaning… . Dowd presents it as a dynamic, civic and politically charged visual language shaped by technology, markets and power. [The book] offers both ahistorical narrative and a sharp critical intervention, placing illustration in dialogue with art history, media studies, visual culture and design history.”