Tales of Mystery and Imagination
06390London: George G. Harrap & Co. 1923. Harry Clarke Illustrates Edgar Allan Poe<br /> The First Trade Edition with Color Plates<br /> <br /> CLARKE Harry illustrator. POE Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. London: George G. Harrap & Co. & New York: Brentano's n.d. 1923. <br /> <br /> First color edition. Quarto 10 1/2 x 7 7/8 inches; 267 x 200 mm. 381 3 pp. Eight color plates mounted on gray card twenty-four black and white plates twenty-six vignettes including thirteen repeats. <br /> <br /> Publisher's black cloth front cover with mounted plate of Morella spine decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt plain endpapers top edge stained black others untrimmed minimal rubbing to corners. Small booksellers label on rear paste-down endpapers slightly browned. Still an excellent gilt-bright copy of an edition so beloved and well-read it has rarely survived in anything better than very good condition. <br /> <br /> From the library of Adams T. Rice with his striking Art-Deco pictorial bookplate on front paste-down featuring gears lightning and a theatrical mask - imagery suggestive of the machine-age optimism of the 1920s and perhaps reflecting the owner's connection with engineering or industrial technology. Adams T. Rice neat signature on front free endpaper. <br /> <br /> Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen was Harry Clarke's 1889-1931 first printed work. This was closely followed by illustrations for an edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. The first version of that title was restricted to monotone illustrations while a second iteration with eight color plates and more than 24 monotone images was published in 1923. The latter of these made his reputation as a book illustrator. This was during the golden age of illustrated gift-books in the first quarter of the twentieth century and Clarke's work can be favorably compared to that of Aubrey Beardsley Kay Nielsen and Edmund Dulac.<br /> <br /> "Tales of Mystery was the greatest commercial success of all Clarke's illustrated books especially the colour plate edition with reprints being done on a regular basis for a few years" Steenson.<br /> <br /> Steenson A2.e. London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1923 unknown
David Brass Rare Books, Inc. · États-Unis850,00 $US≈ 719,19 €
