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Dutch Book Design: 1914–1945

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From trade catalogues to children’s stories, Dutch graphic designers during the first half of the 20th century produced a memorable body of work that deserves revisiting.

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During the period 1914–45 in Europe, an era encompassing two world wars, a seemingly endless outpouring of avant-garde creativity took place in all aspects of the arts, a significant amount of which was in the form of book design and illustration. It therefore comes as quite a surprise to find that Holland, a country with a great tradition in both the fine arts and book production, should have produced only a handful of books at this time, despite giving birth to a flourishing avant-garde movement in the graphic arts.

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