The Gold Bug And Other Tales
Cameo Classics (Illustrated Edition)
©Grosset & Dunlap/ca.1935-1940s
CAB Comment––It’s always wonderful to have some old Poe books around on a coffee or end table, not only for conversation, inspiration, or nostalgic atmosphere, but also for simply reading a macabre tale on a dark and stormy night. To me this edition has a unique 1940s vibe––art-deco in its bright color and classical bas-relief cameo inset into the cover. I love the rats in the front-piece illustration and the skeleton shackled to the dungeon wall––macabre and humorous. When reading my personal copy of this edition, I feel like Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) might show up at any moment; a black-&-white apparition from an old movie, asking to listen in on me reading of “Murders In The Rue Morgue” or “The Mystery Of Marie Roget”. Other stories included (that Basil might want to hear), are: “The Gold Bug”, “The Cask Of Amontillado”, “The Pit And The Pendulum”, “A Descent Into The Maelstrom”, “The Oblong Box”, and “The Purloined Letter”.
A bit of CAMEO CLASSICS history:
The Cameo Classics were a Grosset & Dunlap reprint series of illustrated classics published from 1935 until the late 1940s. The books were mostly Illustrated Edi- tions Co. books rebranded with the Cameo Classics series name. Originally the books had a clear, acetate dust jacket and were boxed in a slipcase with an illustrated cover (very hard to find original slipcases these days, or even one that is falling apart). The series contained illustrated versions of classic titles published earlier in more expensive editions. The price per volume started at .69 cents and was gradually lowered to .59 and .50 cents per volume by the late 1930s.
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