Joseph Clement Coll: A Legacy in Line

"The pen and ink drawings of Joseph Clement Coll were to Pulp fiction what Charles Dana Gibson's drawings were to the newly liberated American woman and Edwin Austin Abbey's drawings were to the Shakespearian epic. Whether depicting the heroic "King of the Khyber Rifles" or the insidious "Dr. Fu-Manchu," Coll's rapier-like pen strokes captured the characters, the mood, and the action perfectly. My feeling has always been that as a draughtsman and visual dramatist, he was unsurpassed."---Murray Tinkelman, Illustrator Professor of Illustration and Illustration History Syracuse University

"I first became aware of the great pen and ink illustrators when I was an art student back in the 1950s. I was immediately drawn to the work of Joseph Clement Coll, first by the familiar themes of his illustrations--- most notably the writings of Charles Dickens, Sax Rohmer, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle---and then by the excitement and drama of his compositions, which were invariably bathed in the most intricate and dramatic lighting, dazzlingly rendered in pen and ink. His work remains as much a source of inspiration today as it was to me as a fledgling artist. Most gratifying is the fact that most of Coll's work has been compiled in books such as this one and is available to the art student, the professional, and the public at large so that they may study and appreciate Coll's genius and unique style as well as this glorious period in American illustration---one all too often overlooked."---Angelo Torres, Illustrator

"Coll's technique was so masterful you could get the willies trying to imitate it. I never did. He embodied the highest standards of his medium and epitomized an era of craftsmanship we'll probably never see again. Behind his facility lay the power of invention and it's good to recall, in this era of Photoshop Surrealism, how much magic can be conjured up with just a pen point dipped in ink."---Brad Holland, Illustrator

"Coll combined imagination with a dazzling technique. Never has an artist working in black and white achieved such color. He had no superiors, and was simply the best!"---Everett Raymond Kinstler, Artist

Shadows shimmer as liquid lines coalesce into forms that leap from the page. Obscene creatures, exotic assassins, women whose beauty defies description, and daring men who fight with guns or swords or force of will, grab you and drag you wholly into their world. Such is the power of Joseph Clement Coll---such is his "Legacy in Line."

Coll defined the look of adventure illustration. No one has ever captured the menace of the Devil Doctor or Athelstan King's journeys into mystic lands the way Coll did. The struggle between the gallant Sir Denis Nayland Smith and his archnemesis the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu in Sax Rohmer's classic sagas breathe and move on the page. Every nuance of form and fantasy one could imagine is evoked in Talbot Mundy's incredible tale of intrigue, King of the Kbyber Rifles. These epic encounters of heroes and villains locked in combat make up only a small portion of the nearly 250 illustrations in this---the largest collection of Joseph Clement Coll's art ever produced.

For twenty short years, until his untimely death from appendicitis at the age of 41, Coll's expressive draughtsmanship graced the pages of The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Everybody's Magazine, and other famous magazines bringing form to the printed word and inspiration to a generation of artists. Always the consummate storyteller, Coll never let his art detract from the works he illustrated; however, only the best stories could stand up to Coll's unique artistic interpretations and seemingly limitless repertoire of expressive pen lines. Whatever a writer envisioned (no matter how extraordinary or fantastic) could be realized by Coll's boundless imagination and rapier pen.

This lost and forgotten art has now been collected in Flesk Publications' 208 page, Joseph Clement Coll: A Legacy in Line.Most of the 236 black & white and 15 color pieces in this second volume on Coll have been reprinted for the first time in decades. Many of these illustrations have been shot from the original drawings---including eight sketches that have never been reproduced. Here are incredible illustrations by one of the world's greatest artists at the pinnacle of his career. It is art so expressive, so powerful that it will grab you and drag you wholly into whatever world Coll's imagination, and pen, chooses to go to next.

The deluxe edition is limited to 300 numbered copies, signed by the publisher, John Fleskes, and contributors Nick Meglin and Gary Gianni, on an extra bonus color plate, reproducing a previously unpublished sketch by Joseph Clement Coll.

John Fleskes is the president and publisher of Flesk Publications. His previous books include Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen, and the two-edition set on the works of Joseph Clement Coll: The Art of Adventure and A Legacy in Line.