Bestselling novels by Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a multitude of others have enchanted us by blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Their genre of writing has been variously defined as 'magic', 'magical' or 'marvellous' realism and is quickly becoming a core area of literary studies. This guide offers a first step for those wishing to consider this area in greater depth, by:

• exploring the many definitions and terms used in relation to the genre
• tracing the origins of the movement in painting and fiction
• offering an...

Republished unabridged from the final comprehensive edition, this work contains the largest single-volume collection of classical art motifs ever compiled. It reproduces material from Greek and Roman, medieval European, Islamic, Renaissance, baroque, and early nineteenth-century art, architecture, and design -- in all, presenting artists, crafters, and students with more than 3,000 designs.
Featured design elements include networks, Gothic tracery, geometric designs, akanthos leaves, lotus ornamentation, animal ornamentation, grotesque figures, fret bands, chains, interlacements,...

This spectacular treasury of antique ornamental ironwork designs will delight antique lovers, graphic artists, and anyone interested in inspired decorative flourishes from a bygone era.
More than 675 finely detailed illustrations, selected from a rare turn-of-the-century publication, provide striking examples of decorative designs for balconies, gates, window grilles, staircases, doorways, and other architectural features.
Commercial artists and craftworkers can choose from a remarkable variety of motifs -- from intricate, gracefully executed floral, foliated, and geometric elements...

The art of applying color to written documents is an ancient one, practiced by the Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Romans, and other cultures. But it was the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, perhaps more than any other documents, that preserved this exceptionally rich art form for posterity.
This handsome collection of designs, drawn chiefly from illuminated European manuscripts of the eighth to sixteenth centuries, as well as from rare woodcuts and monumental brasses, offers today's graphic artists, calligraphers, and students of design a rich selection of 30 authentic...