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The fantastical dust jacket, which graces the 1920s crime novel The Mouse by Ruth Gray (A A Knopf, 1929: London), has to be a contender for the title of scariest jacket ever. It’s a dramatic pen and ink drawing depicting the head of Medusa, her hands pulling at her head of tangled snakes. The spine shows an agonised rat, its tail dangling, set against a blood-red heart. It’s rare to see a jacket designer credited but in this case there is a clear and intriguing acknowledgement identifying “Shaw” as this Medusa’s creator. The novel, apparently, relates the story of one Hilda, an ordinary women driven to attempt an horrific and extraordinary deed. Judging from the dust jacket, one suspects that she was haunted and tormented.
Frustratingly I’ve not been able to find out who “Shaw” is or whether they created other dust jackets and illustrations. I would love to know more so any information, suggestions or hints would be very gratefully received.
I’m grateful to fellow ibooknet member Stephen Foster of Foster Books for permission to use his photograph of The Mouse. Foster Books is currently offering this first edition copy of The Mouse for sale.
7 responses
Not been able to find out who Shaw is, one thought I had is that the cover image might be from a larger work, and the arms belong to Perseus who is holding the head of Medusa aloft.
That is a very good thought. And the more I look, the more inclined I am to think you may be right. Wasn’t Medusa meant to have claws rather than fingers? And the arms don’t look physiologically right to be Medusa’s.
I think she sometimes has claws, although her appearance varies. There were a lot of depictions of her by the Pre-Raphaelite movement where mostly she was a more romantic nude with snakes. More often it is just the head that is depicted being held by Perseus. However variations of a search have failed to come up with ‘Shaw’.
In the back of my head I think that there could be a connection to Augustus John, however I think I might be thinking of John Byam Shaw, and he sighed his etchings and prints with a banner and always Byam Shaw.
I wonder? This jacket is really intriguing me. I’ve spent longer than I care to admit trying to find something…Byam Shaw is one of my favourite illustrators but the style of this jacket doesn’t ring with his usual style for me and, as you say, the signature doesn’t look quite right, although I wonder if you are right in thinking it may be a detail from an earlier work rather than being designed for The Mouse’s jacket specifically.
It’s a mystery. I’m almost sure I’ve seen the image before, but looking through Greek Myth books that I own I haven’t found it.
It’s a mystery that needs to be solved!
I can’t help with the Shaw question I’m afraid but it is interesting how that book does not strike one as a crime novel at all. Modern marketing methods which require you to peg a books genre at first glance have made modern covers so often very boring.
Good point. If I saw this in a shop today, I think I’d be thinking some sort of genre horror, but it would sure grab my attention, not least because you don’t often see covers like this anymore. And I’m afraid I have no progress on Shaw to report either…but the literary detective in me hates being defeated so not giving up yet. I’m doing to see the if experts down at the National Art Library can help.