A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
Frontispiece by Theodore Von Holst of the 1831 edition of Frankenstein. The monster in this illustration, which Mary Shelley would no doubt have seen, is closer to the description in the text than the myriad shambling figures that came later. It’s a recurrent feature of commissioned work that you sometimes find yourself illustrating novels or … Continue reading “Illustrating Frankenstein”
Berenice. Narraciones extraordinarias was the first commission that arrived from Spanish publisher Editorial Alma earlier this year but it’s the second one to be revealed here. (Copies of the pictures at a larger size may be seen on the main website.) I confess I was rather dismayed when the request came through for this. I … Continue reading “Narraciones extraordinarias by Edgar Allan Poe”
The Murders in the Rue Morgue. My current workload is very Poe-oriented (about which more later) so I’ve been spending some time looking at earlier illustrators of the Boston maestro. Edgar Allan Poe’s stories don’t receive as much attention from illustrators as other popular works—horror and the macabre having a limited appeal—but there are nevertheless … Continue reading “Fritz Eichenberg’s illustrated Poe”
Metzengerstein by Wilfried Sätty. One of the horses in yesterday’s post seemed familiar until I realised it had been used by Wilfried Sätty for his final Metzengerstein illustration in The Illustrated Edgar Allan Poe (1976). This has been happening a lot since I started delving into the book scans at the Internet Archive, Sätty’s collage … Continue reading “Metzengerstein”
Cover art by Wilfried Sätty. Lettering by David Singer. Collage artist Wilfried Sätty has been in my thoughts this month, it being ten years ago that Jay Babcock, Richard Pleuger and I drove up to San Francisco and Petaluma to talk to Walter Medeiros and David Singer about Sätty’s life and work. Looking today at … Continue reading “The original Gandharva”