Illustrations from The Pines of Lory

Illustrations from The Pines of Lory

Accompanying the text are 21 “decorations,” as the book describes them, done by Albert D. Blashfield. The decorations appear in the front of the book after the title page and before the publishing and copyright information, on the dedication page, accompanying the first page of each of the chapters, and on pages at the start and end of the text. While the images in the dedication and at the top of the chapter pages throughout the book appear to be printed with the same black ink as the text itself, the images that appear preceding the copyright information and the story, and immediately following the last lines of the book are done in a lighter brown ink. The majority of the images on the chapter pages appear to be scrolls being unraveled, complete with cherubs, vases, and other decorative elements, while the other images accompanying the text appear as framed scenes from nature, including trees, forests, waves and water, etc, invoking classical pictorial allusions to the roots of literature and juxtaposing them with scenes from the novel’s physical landscape. These decorative elements of the text underscore the significance of intersections of nature, art, and life that Mitchell’s novel explores.

Decorations by Albert D. Blashfield

Life Publishing Company

1901

Decorations by Albert D. Blashfield

Illustration