The Art of the Book celebrates Thames & Hudson’s 75 years of creative publishing

As one of the best-known and longest-running art publishing houses, Thames & Hudson has built up a hugely rich backlist of titles across the entire spectrum of the visual arts. Founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath, both Austrian-born refugees from Nazi Germany, Thames & Hudson was named for the two great rivers in London and New York.

Despite being founded in a period of rationing and austerity, from the outset Thames & Hudson was focused on making scholarship more accessible. With the arrival of more cost-effective colour repro technology in the early 1960s, the breadth of this ambition could really take flight, with lavishly illustrated colour plates bringing classic and contemporary artworks to life for a broad audience.

The Art of the Book: 75 Years of Thames & Hudson offers up a vivid picture of this pioneering publishing approach, starting with their very first monograph, English Cathedrals, featuring full colour images by the Swiss publisher and photographer Martin Hürlimann. Combining historic studies of art and architecture with partnerships with contemporary artists and galleries, Thames & Hudson has gone on to become one of the world’s pre-eminent publishing houses.

The Art of the Book is a vivid celebration of the publisher’s pioneering and consistent approach to art direction. With over 2,000 illustrations, it explores three quarters of a century’s worth of Thames & Hudson archives, looking at layouts, covers and artistic partnerships in design and beyond.

Read on to see our selection from this ‘museum without walls’.

The Art of the Book: 75 Years of Thames & Hudson, £65, ThamesandHudson.com, @ThamesandHudson

Henry Moore’s Sheep Sketchbook

Featuring images of sheep drawn from life in the fields surrounding his Hertfordshire studio, this monograph by Henry Moore (1898 - 1986) showcased the publisher's ability to cater to artistic side projects.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer

Yves Bonnefoy's 1979 book was one of the first major monographs on the legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 - 2004).

Zaha Hadid: Complete Works

For a 2004 monograph chronicling the (then) complete works of Zaha Hadid (1950 - 2016), Thames & Hudson created a four-volume set presented in a 3D embossed ruby red Lucite slipcase that evoked the transparency and dynamism of her art and architecture.

Magnum Photos

Another long-running collaboration was Thames & Hudson's involvement with Magnum Photos. Between 2005 and 2024, the publisher was involved with numerous monographs as well as in-depth books like Kristen Lubben's Magnum: Contact Sheets, which explored the photographic editing process in previously unseen depth.

1,000 Marks

Graphic design is another important subject for Thames & Hudson, the recent book 1,000 Marks by Angus Hyland delved into Pentagram's extensive branding work.

Derek Jarman’s Garden

A hugely influential book from 1995, not just because it celebrated the work of the late filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman (1942 - 1994), but it brought another aspect of his work and life into sharp focus courtesy of Howard Sooley's evocative photographs.

The Playbook Faces

An early foray into innovative children's publishing, The Playbook Faces was one of three books by Adams and Cook that could be used as friezes to decorate a nursery.

Manolo Blahník Drawings

Anna Wintour's 2003 monograph, Manolo Blahník Drawings (with contributions from André Leon Talley, Michael Roberts and Anna Piaggi) brought the shoe designer's eccentric sketches to life.

An Atlas of Es Devlin

A book designed to be an interactive sculptural object, An Atlas of Es Devlin, written by the artist with editor Andrea Lipps, showcased Thames & Hudson's ability to push the boundaries of design and print technology.

Judith Kerr

This monograph on the work of beloved author and artist Judith Kerr was released as part of Thames & Hudson's The Illustrators series.