Elmer Paisley:

September232012

“I have been reading Vathek, ‘tis a mad Book to be sure, and written by a mad Author…”- Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi

Just finished reading this book last night. The above is an accurate description.

arabian nights gothic gothic fiction gothic horror illustration literature orientalism vathek vintage illustration william beckford art

June202012

Hogarth’s unfinished oil sketch is an illustration to John Milton’s epic poem, ‘Paradise Lost’. Satan, on the left, confronts Death who bars his way from hell to earth. Between them is Sin, shown as a naked woman. She reveals to Satan that she is his daughter, and that Death is their incestuous child. This is one of the earliest paintings devoted to a subject from Milton and predates Burke’s seminal Enquiry into … the sublime and the beautiful, 1757, in which this passage from Milton and the description of Death are singled out as an absolute example of the Sublime.

(Sources: 1, 2)

art william hogarth poetry literature paradise lost satan john milton

May162012

Two different Harry Clarke illustrations of the same scene in “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” by Edgar Allan Poe.

Full text of the original story…
…and a related story, “Cool Air“ by H.P. Lovecraft.

All of Harry Clarke’s fantastic Poe illustrations can be found here.

art edgar allan poe h.p. lovecraft harry clarke illustration literature macabre

May112012

German Romance Vol. 1: Musäus, de la Motte Fouque, and Ludwig Tieck: http://archive.org/stream/germanromance01carl#page/n5/mode/2up Vol. 2: E.T.A. Hoffmann and Jean Paul Richter: http://archive.org/stream/germanromance02carl#page/n9/mode/2up

books de la motte fouque e.t.a. hoffmann jean paul richter literature ludwig tieck thomas carlyle musaeus

May102012

“The King of the Golden River”: classic Victorian fairy tale by John Ruskin (the famous art critic), illustrated by Richard Doyle.

Full text with pictures: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33673/33673-h/33673-h.htm

books stories fairy tales kunstmaerchen john ruskin richard doyle illustration fantasy literature victorian

April242012

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Complete illustrated book:

http://archive.org/stream/midsummernightsd00shak#page/n11/mode/2up

art illustration shakespeare literature arthur rackham midsummer night's dream fairy tales

3PM

Boccaccio's "Decameron"

“The Decameron (c.1351) is an entertaining series of one hundred stories written in the wake of the Black Death. The stories are told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble men and women who are seeking to escape the ravages of the plague. Boccaccio’s skill as a dramatist is masterfully displayed in these vivid portraits of people from all stations in life, with plots that revel in a bewildering variety of human reactions.” (goodreads.com)

books boccaccio decameron literature

April232012

"Idylls of the King"

by

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Illustrated by Gustave Doré

poetry literature arthurian legend illustration art gustave dore alfred lord tennyson books

3PM

“The Man in the Moone”, by Francis Godwin, 1638.

Complete text: http://archive.org/stream/strangevoyageadv00godw#page/n5/mode/2up

books literature science fiction

3PM

“I write of melancholy, by being busy to avoid melancholy. There is no greater cause of melancholy than idleness, no better cure than business.”

Full text (1638 edition): http://books.google.com/books?id=cPgveWnCdRcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

“The Anatomy of Melancholy” by Robert Burton, 1621. I just stumbled upon this eccentric book last night and ended up skimming through it well into the wee hours of the morning. Words completely fail me, so here’s Wikipedia instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Melancholy