illus.

Writing & Everyday abbreviation · Citation and Bibliography

illus.
Stands forIllustrator or illustrated by
CategoriesWriting & Everyday

illus. stands for Illustrator or illustrated by, a citation and bibliography abbreviation.

Identifies the illustrator of a book in citations and catalog records, either after the name or before it ("illus. by"). Children's books and picture books routinely credit illustrators this way.

Example: Sendak, Maurice, illus. Little Bear, by Else Holmelund Minarik. New York: Harper, 1957.

Usage notes

MLA 9 lists illustrators with "illustrated by" in the slot for other contributors. Book descriptions also use "illus." to mean "illustrations," as in "312 pp., illus.," indicating the book contains pictures. Libraries record illustrators as added names so their work can be searched.

More citation and bibliography abbreviations

  • enl. – Enlarged
  • f. – And the following (page)
  • ff. – And the following (pages)
  • fig. – Figure
  • fn. – Footnote
  • fol. – Folio
  • intro. – Introduction
  • ISBN – International Standard Book Number
  • ISSN – International Standard Serial Number
  • l. – Line
  • LCCN – Library of Congress Control Number
  • ll. – Lines

See all 58 citation and bibliography abbreviations →

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