America Pictured to the Life: Illustrated Works from the Paul Mellon Bequest - Tapa dura

Better known as an art collector, Paul Mellon was also one of America's premier book collectors of the late 20th century.America Pictured to the Life: Illustrated Works from the Paul Mellon Bequest explores the extraordinary range of American illustrated books that Mr. Mellon's estate gave to Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The catalog ranges from 16th-century accounts of early European exploration through late 19th-century American children's literature. Works depicting American cities and historical events are accompanied by illustrated trade literature, art and architectural manuals, and works of entertainment. Illustrated in full color, the catalog includes commentary on more than 100 items from the Mellon bequest.

GEORGE A. MILES is William Robertson Coe Curator of the Yale Collection of Western Americana at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. He teaches American history at Yale and was co-editor of Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America's Western Past.

WILLIAM S. REESE is the founder of the William Reese Company, antiquarian booksellers specializing in Americana. He is the author of numerous works on American bibliography and the history of the book in the Americas, most recently Stamped with a National Character: Nineteenth Century American Color Plat Books (The Grolier Club: 1999).