The American Weekly magazine was a Sunday supplement published by The Hearst Corporation from 1896 until 1966. They claimed a circulation of over 50 million readers. This book consists of the complete contribution of Edmund Dulac for the publication as it relates to the run from 1924 until 1951.
By now I have read and reviewed a few of Albert Seligman’s editorial trove, so I am becoming somewhat familiar with the content, if I remain a layman towards reviewing art. Even so, find the craft here is quite expressive and reflective of the style of the time. Furthermore, all the summation of 106 watercolors have been lovingly restored, and in the eBook version, pop. My one concern with their presentation would be in the hardback version, as the paper quality is lacking – though I have been told this will be remedied by a change in the printer.
The addition of Ann Hughey’s introduction was welcome. I assumed this book would be by its nature less focused, so the additional information helped offset this issue. This results in a larger book than the other publications, coming in at around 167 pages to Canterbury’s 117, to use as an example. I did however find the middle of the introduction to be a touch dry, yet the rest was sufficiently interesting. It was also fascinating to see again another artist demanding in a contract to have their original works returned, as serialization paid so little. I believe I read it was, perhaps still is, something that plagues comic book artists and other sorts of similar freelance illustrators.
Altogether another finely edited collection by Albert Seligman. There is just the right mix of thematic information on the depictions and context as it relates to Edmund Dumac to occupy oneself for an evening, but not to retire out early. I am sure readers of the classics represented herein, and lovers of this period of art, will enjoy this collection.
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