When well-grounded on evidence, this is an acceptable and sometimes even a laudatory development. When poorly-based on historical documentation, it is deplorable. All scholars must understand that they are asked to observe the highest professional standards for achieving historical accuracy in the representation of facts and events. Make photocopies of the illustrations you might like to use in the book and mark where they should appear. Every image needs a caption that identifies it, states its significance, and tells us where it came from.
Historical writing is a difficult, but rewarding, endeavor.
Its power to shape understanding is critical to the welfare of humanity. At a fundamental level the objective of the historian must be to serve the present, and expanding the perceptions of individuals is an especially noble and challenging goal. I hope that this discussion will be of some use in your work of presenting the past to the present.