TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION

London: George G. Harrap & Co, 1935. No. 36 OF 460 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR, 450 of which were for sale. 272 x 197 mm. (10 5/8 x 7 3/4"). 317, [1] pp.
Publisher's special binding of gilt-decorated vellum over boards, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed and about one-third UNOPENED. In the original (somewhat scuffed and worn) blue paperboard slipcase with paper title label to spine. Half title and title vignettes in gold, 11 illustrations in the text, and 29 plates (12 in color and mounted) by Arthur Rackham. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 72-73; Houfe, p. 424; Hudson, p. 172. ◆One corner rather bumped, otherwise A LOVELY COPY--clean, fresh, and bright internally, in a binding remarkably free of the soiling and splaying that usually affects vellum books like this one.

While Rackham did illustrations for a great many books, Houfe observes that he concentrated "particularly [on] those of a mystical, magic, or legendary background," a fact that makes his work on Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" a good fit. Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) studied art at Lambeth School, where the work of his fellow student Charles Ricketts influenced his development. As Houfe says, soon after Rackham joined the staff of "The Westminster Budget" in 1892, he began concentrating "on the illustration of books and . . . very soon established himself as one of the foremost Edwardian illustrators[, being] triumphant in the early 1900s when color printing first enabled him to use subtle tints and muted tones to represent age and timelessness. Rackham's imaginative eye saw all forms with the eyes of childhood and created a world that was half reassuring and half frightening. His sources were primarily Victorian, and among them are evidently the works of Cruikshank, Doyle, Houghton, and Beardsley, but also the prints of Dürer and Altdorfer." The plates here illustrate some of Poe's best-known stories in a delightfully macabre fashion--including "Masque of the Red Death," "Fall of the House of Usher," and "Murders in the Rue Morgue.".