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Seeing Is Believing: 700 Years of Scientific and Medical Illustration
Excellent companion site to New York Public Library exhibit that took place a couple of years ago. Examines color in graphic reproduction as well as the four common book illustration techniques: relief printing, intaglio printing, planographic printing and photography. Includes detail studies that allow you to click on an area in an image to view in greater detail. I especially liked the details of the world's only hand-colored edition of Vesalius' De humani Corporis Fabrica Libri.
"Illustrations were essential in spreading new scientific and medical ideas and it was often the case that new developments in the sciences were accompanied by corresponding developments in illustrative techniques. These techniques are the subject of Seeing Is Believing, which complements an exhibition of the same name on view from October 23, 1999-February 19, 2000 at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library."
"Scientific and medical illustration is often characterized by a twofold need: for accuracy and for clarity in presenting information. It would be more appropriate, however, to say that such illustration is utilized in assisting the reader in "seeing" information within the context of a particular theory or scientific reality."
[Thanks to David Williams of Portage (another excellent site) for the link.]