title: Nightmares In Decay: The Edgar Allan Poe Illustrations of Harry Clarke
author: Harry Clarke
description: Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was the greatest of all Irish stained glass artists, as well as a brilliant painter and book illustrator, comparable with Aubrey Beardsley, Edmund Dulac and Kay Nielsen, and influenced by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements. His illustration work included The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault, Faust by Goethe and Selected Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne - but his illustrations for Poe remain his dark masterpieces.
zlib_text: ![](Images/image00230.jpeg)  
  
  **Contents**
  
   _One_ AH, FANTASY: the stuff of life.
  
   _Two_ THE LABYRINTHINE HALLWAYS should have confounded any ordinary burglar’s
  escape…
  
   _Three_ THE TWO VOICES were deep and demanding. From the back,…
  
   _Four_ IT TOOK MARGE and Decker nearly forty-five minutes to make…
  
   _Five_ SINCE IT WAS L.A., the scene might have been a…
  
   _Six_ ONCE BEHIND THE wheel, Marge got comfortable in her seat…
  
   _Seven_ DECKER WAS DEAD to the world from twelve midnight until…
  
   _Eight_ LEANING AGAINST THE wall, he slowly unwrapped a peanut power…
  
   _Nine_ THE PRESS DEBRIEFING had gone well, although Strapp had little…
  
   _Ten_ THE TWO COPS stationed outside Gil Kaffey’s ICU room momentarily…
  
   _Eleven_ THEY STOOD TWENTY abreast, police officers interspersed with
  volunteers trained…
  
   _Twelve_ AS THE DAYLIGHT drew to a close, the sun’s rays…
  
   _Thirteen_ HE CURSED BRETT Harriman the entire ride home.
  
   _Fourteen_ DECKER BROUGHT OVER a cappuccino and a croissant and placed