Poe Illustrated

Jeff A. Menges

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780486141480
• Topic: Arte
• Subtopic: Monografías de artistas

In his brief and troubled life, Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) was as haunted by tragedy and loss as he was plagued by poverty, illness, and alcoholism. Poe's personal misfortunes doubtless influenced the dark romanticism of his work. Obsessed with death, decay, and madness, he created compelling narratives of characters trapped in perverse situations. The profound influence of his stories and poetry extends not only to world literature but also to the visual arts. This outstanding collection, selected and edited by Jeff A. Menges, features scores of memorable moments from Poe's writings, recaptured in gripping images of eerie beauty by the author's most acclaimed interpreters.
More than 100 illustrations, reproduced in brilliant color and crisp black-and-white, include hard-to-find images from private collections as well as those from sought-after rare editions. Poe Illustrated features scenes from such popular tales as `The Pit and the Pendulum,` `The Fall of the House of Usher,` `The Gold-Bug,` `The Black Cat,` and `The Cask of Amontillado,` as well as `The Bells` and other poems. Spanning a fifty-year period, they range from Édouard Manet's 1875 etchings for a French edition of `The Raven` to the 1935 illustrations by Arthur Rackham for `The Tell-Tale Heart` and other stories. Additional contributors include Arthur E. Becher, W. Heath Robinson, Byam Shaw, and Harry Clarke, among others. The editor provides an informative overview, as well as brief introductions to each of the artists, and captions for their images.

THE CITY IN THE SEA, Headpiece

Edmund Dulac, 1912

Edmund Dulac, 1912

THE BELLS AND OTHER POEMS

By a good measure, the creator of the largest body of work among the volumes considered here, Edmund Dulac (1882—1953) was in his thirtieth year when he made this stellar contribution to the imagery of Poe. As one of England’s leading “gift-book” artists in the early years of the twentieth century, Dulac worked on a number of beautiful and well-produced books—classic stories with new color illustrations that were an annual anchor to a publisher’s list. Dulac is primarily remembered for his rich and colorful scenes of Eastern tales, as well as a large body of work in a variety of fairy tale collections. The sense of mystery and the exotic nature of Poe’s poetry would be fertile material for Dulac’s imagination, and he produced remarkable pieces for this Hodder & Stoughton volume in 1912.

The original volume contained twenty-eight full-color plates, and numerous details like those below: line work printed on a neutral tone, to preserve the subtle quality of the original etchings. Among Dulac’s pieces are two portraits of Poe—one printed in this collection on the title page, and the other appearing as this book’s frontispiece—casting Poe himself as the victim of his Raven. Dulac continued to produce books into the late 1920s, and later turned to other areas of the graphic arts to further his career, working until his passing in 1953.

THE BELLS, Frontispiece

Edmund Dulac, 1912

THE BELLS, PLATE 2

Edmund Dulac, 1912

DREAMLAND

Edmund Dulac, 1912

AL AARAAF

Edmund Dulac, 1912

Top, left to right: ALONE, ISRAFEL

Lower, left to right: BRIDAL BALLAD, THE CITY IN THE SEA

Edmund Dulac, 1912

THE SLEEPER

Edmund Dulac, 1912

Top, left to right: THE BELLS 3, ANNABEL LEE

Lower, left to right: TO THE RIVER, FAIRY-LAND

Edmund Dulac, 1912

ELDORADO

Edmund Dulac, 1912

TO HELEN

Edmund Dulac, 1912

TO HELEN, PLATE 2

Edmund Dulac, 1912

Headpiece

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over man...