The Art of Book Design: Tanglewood Tales

Nathaniel Hawthorne. Tanglewood Tales. Illustrated by Edmund Dulac. London, New York, Toronto; Hodder and Stoughton, 1919

This Fairy Tale Saturday we’re looking at Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales again. We’ve already looked at the 1921 edition of the book with artwork by Virginia Sterrett and today we’re looking at an earlier edition with artwork done by Edmund Dulac. Dulac was a master illustrator of books during the art nouveau period and he is considered to be one of the masters of the style.

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The Art of Book Design: Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Edgar Allen Poe. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. London : G. G. Harrup ; New York : Brentano’s, 1919.

Here’s Marcus again and he’s holding his first edition copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, illustrated by Harry Clark.  Clarke was another of Caine’s favourite artists and many of the drawings that follow have previously been seen on this blog. Clarke’s illustrations in Poe’s Tales of Mystery are considered the best of any edition produced. According to the Public Domain Review:

 …perhaps it is the Irishman Harry Clarke who has come closest to evoking the delirious claustrophobia and frightening inventiveness of “Poe-land”. For the 1919 edition of Tales Clarke created the twenty-four monochrome images featured below. Their nightmarish, hallucinatory quality makes you wonder if he was on something, until you remember the stories.

I couldn’t agree more. All 24 full-sized illustrations are included below the fold.

Illustrations via: The Public Domain Review

The 1923 edition of the book can be viewed at The Internet Archive. This edition includes 4 colour plates that were not part of the original 1919 edition. I haven’t included them here. They’re worth taking a look at and so are the smaller page illustrations.

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The Art of Book Design: Fringilla or Tales in Verse

R.D.Blackmore. Fringilla or Tales in Verse. Illustrated by Will Bradley. Cleveland. The Burrows Brothers Company, 1895.

Fringilla, Illustrated by Will Bradley. Back Cover.

Will Bradley was considered the “Dean of American Designers” during the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Periods and he was the best paid American artist of the early 20th Century. Much of Bradley’s work was for magazine covers, advertising and posters, but his illustrations for this book, Fringilla, were considered to be among his masterworks.  All the full-sized illustrations are below the fold.

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The Art of Book Design: Flowers of Evil

Charles Beaudelaire. Flowers of Evil. Translated by C. Bower Alcock. Illustrated by Beresford Egan. New York, Sylvan Press, 1947.

Flowers of Evil, illustrated by Beresford Egan, Title Page

Flowers of Evil, Illustrations by Beresford Egan, Page 35

Flowers of Evil, Illustrations by Beresford Egan, Page 45

The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs de Mal) by Beaudelaire was one of Caine’s favourite books and a special edition of it was gifted to her by Marcus. (stderr) The edition that she received was printed in limited quantities in 1947 with artwork by Beresford Egan and that’s Marcus in the first picture holding a copy of the same book he sent to Caine. The next 2 photos are Marcus displaying 2 of the interior plates to the book. Caine published several illustrations from the book on the blog and always noted how much she enjoyed the exaggerated forms and dark, macabre style of Egan. I’ve included the rest of the illustrations in the book below the fold.

Illustrations via: Retro Sixty, Modern British Art

There are several other editions of this book available to read at The Internet Archive. If you desire to read this edition by Beresford Egan you will need to open an (free) account at The Internet Archive and formally borrow the book.

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The Art of Book Design: Salome

Oscar Wilde. Salome. Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley. London : John Lane, the Bodley Head ; New York : John Lane Co., 1907.

Aubrey Beardsley was one of Caine’s favourite artists from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods. Beardsley was commissioned directly by Oscar Wilde for this edition of Salome. Wilde felt that Beardsley’s modern, dark and macabre style captured the true spirit of the book.

I’ve included all the interior plates below the fold and they are deliciously grim and gruesome. The entire book can be viewed at The Internet Archive.

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The Art of Book Design: The Miroir

This week I’ll be featuring books with art that Caine would enjoy. This first book is in homage to Caine’s mastery and love of needlework.

The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, copied in her own hand by Princess Elizabeth when just 11 years old (1544) and Presented to her stepmother Katherine Parr. Featured in English Embroidered Book-bindings (1899) – source

 

via:The Public Domain Review

The Art of Book Design: Korean Fairy Tales

William Elliot Griffis. Korean Fairy Tales. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1922.

It’s Fairy Tale Saturday and this week our book tells tales from the country of Korea. The author, William Griffis, lived and taught in Japan for many years and wrote many serious books on Japan and Japanese Culture. Mr. Griffis was brought to Japan in 1870 to assist in the modernization of Japanese Schools. He became a respected educator and author within Japan and was twice honored with the Order of the Rising Sun – in 1907 with the Gold Rays with Rosette and in 1926 with the higher honor of Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.

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The Art of Book Design: Bound by a Spell

Hon. Mrs. Greene (Louisa Lelias Plunket). Bound by a Spell; or, The Hunted Witch of the Forest. London, Paris, New York & Melbourne: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1885. Illustrations by Gordon Browne. First edition.

I chose today’s book cover mostly because of the snow. I thought it would be nice on a hot day. Brrr…

 

Photo via: L.W. Currey, Inc.

The book is available to read at The Internet Archive