From the publisher:

From 1989 to 2001, author Fred Taraba was a regular contributor to the graphic arts publication, Step-By-Step Graphics. His column, "Methods of the Masters," documented the lives and working methods of some of America's finest Golden Age illustrators. While a number of other writers contributed to the regular column, Fred himself wrote 41 installments. This book is a compilation of those 41 classic articles, which have been extensively reworked and revised with completely new artwork especially prepared for this volume.

Featuring 41 of America's greatest illustrators, this book is a showcase for hundreds of reproductions of original paintings, photographs, and tearsheets of vintage printed ephemeral materials. Each artist's life and career is discussed, and their working methods are described in detail. This book is destined to be a classic, and belongs on the bookself of every serious student of American illustration history.

ARTISTS FEATURED: Constantin Alajalov, McClelland Barclay, Walter Baumhofer, Harry Beckhoff, Rudolph Belarski, Wladyslaw T. Benda, Walter Biggs, Franklin Booth, Austin Briggs, Arthur William Brown, Margaret Brundage, Charles Livingston Bull, Gilbert Bundy, Pruett Carter, Matt Clark, Walter Appleton Clark, Will Crawford, F.O.C. Darley, Joe DeMers, Albert Dorne, Robert Fawcett, James Montgomery Flagg, John Gannam, Edwin Georgi, Earl Oliver Hurst, John LaGatta, Andrew Loomis, Orson Lowell, Neysa McMein, Wallace Morgan, Rose O'Neill, Herbert Paus, Edward Penfield, Coles Phillips, Garrett Price, Norman Price, Mead Schaeffer, Alice Barber Stephens, Saul Tepper, Jon Whitcomb, Coby Whitmore