You can pick up a very good used copy of this informative book for probably less than the postage to send it to you. I recently bought the third 1992 edition with 512 pages, hardly used (but no dust jacket) for virtually nothing. It's now up to the sixth reprint in 2016 with 696 pages and I notice that the cover has the author's name in a huge sans type and the actual title of the book much smaller.
I would imagine that it's now considered the definitive title on the history of graphic design (in the broadest sense) in the English speaking world. This is probably because it starts at year zero and in twenty-six chapters ends up with the digital revolution. I thought Meggs coverage of the origins of printing in Germany during the fourteenth century combined with some excellent illustrations put the later developments of printing and type in clear perspective. Nicely the author occasionally looks at creativity outside of flat printed graphics, page 164 has a photo of a chair designed by Arthur Mackmurdo from the arts and crafts movement, page 282 shows Herbert Bayer's design for a streetcar station and newsstand in the chapter on the Bauhaus and Robert Venturi's interior for Grand's Restaurant on page 433 in the Postmodern design chapter.
Most graphics get a look in, obviously print like magazines and ads but also posters, typeface design, logos, packaging, book covers, corporate design, transport livery, movie trailers, TV graphics, newspapers, architectural signage, stamps, money. All of them have required some creative input to make them work and Meggs uses some excellent examples to back up his text.
I would say that probably more than half the book are good sized images, all with comprehensive captions and referred to in the text with a bold type number. There is a fifteen page bibliography, luckily arranged in chapter order and a seventeen page index. As a history of the subject it's the obvious choice in my opinion
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