The Masque of the Red Death

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“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. This illustration was selected as one of the 20 finalist of the Folio Book Illustration Award 2022, the celebrative competition for the 75th anniversary of the prestigious publishing house Folio Society.

"But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who reveled. And thus, again, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise — then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust."