Harry Clarke’s 24 Sinsiter Illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, 1919

By the time Harry Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) came to illustrate Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination in 1919, the work first published in 1902 had already been illustrated by Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and Gustave Doré. Those were tough acts to follow, but Clarke’s twenty-four outlandish visions of pulsating dark fantasy are arguably the best fit for the sinister luminosity of Poe’s strange worlds.

Clarke got the job on spec. He read Poe’s Tales in 1914 and felt inspired to drew an illustration. He showed his work to the publisher George Harrap who recognised that “Poe’s bizarre and gruesome fancies ” were ideally suited to Clarke’s “particular bent”.

 

After studying in his native Ireland at the Dublin Metropolitan College of Art and Design, Harry Clarke moved to London and trained at the South Kensington Schools of Design. After completing his studies, he returned to Dublin and worked for his father’s business designing stained glass. Harry and his brother Walter took over the business after their father’s death in 1921. When Walter died, the studio became the Harry Clarke Glass Studios, and continued to operate even after Harry’s death, producing an estimated 1000 windows and finally closing in 1973.