Occasionally, especially in the later trade editions, they did not have tipped on plates and were instead printed directly to the page. The illustrations in two of these editions are tipped on plates with tissue guards, just as was so often the case with Rackham et al. The page layout is very similar to those ‘Golden Age’ books, with extra-large margins and a compact text block. My attempt with this special edition was to put the text and art into a format which I believed was fitting for the style of book and the style of painting. The magical story by Neil Gaiman, and the gorgeous illustrations of Charles Vess are a perfect fit, just as Kay Nielsen was a perfect fit with ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’, or Edmund Dulac with ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’. I believe that ‘Stardust’, if it had been published at that time and illustrated by Charles Vess, would not have been out of place in the company of those masterpieces. These were the days of book illustration giants such as Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen and Edmund Dulac who were illustrating the Brothers Grimm, Aesops Fables and other fairytale classics. The design of this special, limited edition of ‘Stardust’ was heavily influenced by the books of the ‘Golden Age of Illustration’ from the early part of the 20th century. He lives in a house down on the North Fork River in southwestern Virginia where he works diligently from his studio, Green Man Press. Currently, three new books are taking shape on his drawing board. His collaboration with Ursula Le Guin resulted in a fully illustrated edition of all her Earthsea stories published by Saga Press that garnered many awards.
His work has also been shown in Paris, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK. His long list of accomplishments include the Stardust illustrated novel with Neil Gaiman, cover art for Marvel, DC, Tor and Subterranean Press as well as many illustrated books and graphic novels for which he has won four World Fantasy, three Chesley, two Locus, a Mythopoeic and two Will Eisner awards.Ĭharles’ art has been featured in many gallery and museum exhibitions across the nation, including two exhibitions in New York City: “Modern Fairy Tales” (with Michael Kaluta) at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and “Spectrum: The best in Contemporary Fantastic Art” at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators. Charles Vess has been drawing ever since he could hold a crayon and crawl to the nearest wall.
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