Book as an object: conceptual illustrations in Edgar Allan Poe’s books and a sample study

Abstract

Today, when the future of the book is discussed, the main question is whether it has one. Information age transformed ongoing traditional features of a book. It has been foreseen by the critics that printed books, libraries and book stores are doomed to lose their values on the ground of developing technologies. As James O’Donnel cited from Pulitzer winner author E. Annie Proulx in his paper, “Nobody is going to sit down and read a novel on a twitchy little screen. Ever." (Nunberg, 1996). Although printed books are less popular in this digital age, there are still readers and book lovers who always get fascinated by the feeling of flipping pages of a book. According to a research done with readers, they would prefer to have a reading experience with a printed book rather than a screen especially if it is a classic literature book. Two of the main components of verbal and visual dimensions of imagination are illustration and literature. Aim of this paper is to try and find a way to maintain the tradition of a printed book and to explore the relation between these principals in one medium through narrative illustrations of Edgar Allan Poe literature. Also the purpose of this paper is finding the similarities of the two disciplines, as both reveal ideas in unexpected and innovative ways in one’s mind. A selection of his short stories and poems will be illustrated and designed to engage the two areas, literature and illustration to reach readers in a more different way than usual in order to communicate with them more effectively.Keywords: Edgar Allan Poe, book as an object, illustrations, conceptual narrations, book design