I know not how it was - but,
with the first glimpse of the building,
a sense of insufferable gloom
pervaded my spirit.
Edgar Allan Poe’s atmospheric tale of madness and premature burial has intrigued and disconcerted readers ever since it first appeared in 1839. In the twentieth century, it attracted interpretations from all fields of artistic creativity: film, television, theatre, opera, music, literature and art.
There have been around twenty film and television adaptations: European filmmakers, from the aesthete Impressionist Jean Epstein in 1928 to schlockmeister Jess Franco in the 1980s, American directors Roger Corman and Curtis Harrington, Czech animation wizard Jan Svankmajer, and British directors such as Ken Russell and Ivan Barnett, whose 1946 adaptation was filmed at a Hastings guesthouse which at the time was the home of notorious occultist Aleister Crowley.
Roderick Usher has been played by many eminent actors including Martin Landau, Denholm Elliott, Oliver Reed and, of course, Vincent Price.
The story remains relevant – 2020 saw the release of Lady Usher and in 2023 horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan created the acclaimed eight-episode series The Fall of the House of Usher for Netflix. Musically it has inspired an opera by Philip Glass, an unfinished opera by Debussy and concept albums by The Alan Parsons Project, Peter Hammill and Lou Reed. Steven Berkoff has adapted the story for the stage, Ray Bradbury wrote a science fiction story ‘Usher II’ and numerous artists including Arthur Rackham, Harry Clarke, Alastair and Leonor Fini have produced illustrations.
The House of Usher’s fortunes continue to rise.
This fully illustrated first edition of Mansion Of Gloom is presented as a gatefold soft-back of 651 pages with a full colour cover and includes a complete copy of The Fall Of The House of Usher and a custom bookmark.