rlandon

Personal Information

Full Name

Richard Landon

Bio

Richard Landon is the Director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and a Professor of English at the University of Toronto. He has lectured and published widely in the areas of book history and bibliography for many years.

Affiliation

University of Toronto

Country

Canada

Personal Statement About Topic

I first became interested in the work of Thoreau MacDonald about forty years ago when Margaret Edison asked me to provide descriptions for Thoreau MacDonald: A Catalogue of Design and Illustration (1973). I greatly extended the Edison Collection in the Thomas Fisher Library and formed my own large collection of books and original Thoreau MacDonald artwork which still enhance the walls of my house.

Case studies by Richard Landon

Case study :

“Carefully Drawn by Thoreau MacDonald”

During a period of nearly fifty years, the beautiful decorations, lettering, illustrations, and designs of Thoreau MacDonald appeared in Canadian books, magazines, and catalogues, in an Arts and Crafts movement style that was imbued with a particularly Canadian sensibility. Revered for these works and for the rural- and nature-inspired publications of his own Woodchuck Press, MacDonald is today considered to have been one of the country’s most important book designers and illustrators.