the darkening garden – A short lexicon of horror: john clute

2006

An in-depth exploration by scholar John Clute of the fundamental motifs of modern horror literature.

The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror was published by Jacob McMurray's  now defunct art press Payseur & Schmidt in 2006. The work is non-fiction and scholarly, so the design required a direction that would present as desirable to all audiences, and not get lumped together with other, more staid scholarly genre works. McMurray persuaded 30 different illustrators to create images for each of the motifs discussed in the volume. Each illustrator received the text for a specific motif and their contributions were entirely their own choice.

The small hardcover features an arresting image from Jason Van Hollander stamped in grey ink on the cover and the artist names stamped on the back. Instead of a dust jacket, the book features a screen-printed sash with art by Adam Grano. 500 copies were printed, signed and numbered by the author.

In addition to the book, a companion postcard set was created, called Postcards of Doom: A Journey From Affect to Vastation. 

Artists and motifs (for both book and postcard set):

Affect Horror – Steven Weissman | Aftermath – Art Chantry | Answered Prayer – Chanda Helzer | Appointment in Samarra – Karen Kirchoff | Attempted Rescue – Jacob Covey | Bound Fantastic – Jay Ryan | Cloaca – Jessica Lynch | Dark Fantasy – Martin Ontiveros | Difficulty – Julie Murphy | Duende – Lesley Reppeteux | Equipoise – Kaela Graham | Followed – Little Friends of Printmaking | Free Fantastic – Shawn Wolfe | Full Horror Model – Andrio Abero | Fustian – Jason Van Hollander | Holocaust Fiction - Carson Ellis | Hook – Corey Lunn | Identity Loss – Jesse LeDoux | Infection – Jeff Kleinsmith | Motif of Harmful Sensation – Meg Hunt | Petrification – Guy Burwell | Picture Books – S. Britt | Revel – Tara McPherson | Serpent's Egg – Diana Sudyka | Sighting – Dirk Fowler | Sleepwalking – Michael Michael Motorcycle | Strange Stories – Heiko Mueller | Thickening – Adam Grano | Twin – Jon Daly | Vastation – Mike King

Scope: book design, packaging