Illuminated manuscripts, Persian and Mughal miniatures, Victorian novels enriched by illustrations from the likes of Cruikshank and Phiz: Illustrated texts have a long, rich and varied history.
A SINGLE MATCH, by Oji Suzuki. Translated by Jocelyne Allen. Drawn & Quarterly, 2011, 240 pp., $24.95 (hardcover)
It can seem odd, therefore, that nowadays picture books are so persistently and exclusively associated with children.
Wikipedia, for example, in its entry on the subject, allows that "some picture books are also written with older children or even adults in mind," but that brief nod is all we hear in the entry about such anomalies: Evidently they are too marginal to warrant further discussion.