Art by Willy Pogany from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. London: Harrap & Co., (1910). 1st edition
"The pilot and the pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord-in heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.
"I saw a third -- I heard his
voice:
It is the hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll
wash away
The Albatross's blood."
William Andrew Pogány (1882-1955) was born in Hungary, studied art in Budapest, and worked in Paris briefly before moving to London in 1905 where he worked as a book illustrator for ten years. He moved to New York in 1915 and had success as a book illustrator and designer of stage sets and hotel interiors. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is one of Pogany’s best-known books. It is a bold artistic experiment in unifying text and images. Every page is elaborately decorated in Pogany’s distinctive style, which attempts to create a printed version of a medieval illuminated manuscript. He was responsible for the beautiful calligraphic text, green and mauve page decorations and borders, and the many black and white drawings and tipped-in plates in full color.
Art by Willy Pogany from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. London: Harrap & Co., (1910). 1st edition
"The pilot and the pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord-in heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.
"I saw a third -- I heard his
voice:
It is the hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll
wash away
The Albatross's blood."
William Andrew Pogány (1882-1955) was born in Hungary, studied art in Budapest, and worked in Paris briefly before moving to London in 1905 where he worked as a book illustrator for ten years. He moved to New York in 1915 and had success as a book illustrator and designer of stage sets and hotel interiors. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is one of Pogany’s best-known books. It is a bold artistic experiment in unifying text and images. Every page is elaborately decorated in Pogany’s distinctive style, which attempts to create a printed version of a medieval illuminated manuscript. He was responsible for the beautiful calligraphic text, green and mauve page decorations and borders, and the many black and white drawings and tipped-in plates in full color.