The Jolly Corner - Portfolio of 21 etchings illustrating the novel by Henry James

Peter Milton

Peter Milton's Surrealist interpretations of Henry James' The Jolly Corner, written in 1908. The portfolio is boxed in a brown linen clamshell box designed to open like the double front doors. The etchings are executed in three segments of seven images to illustrate the story, which is told on 29 accompanying typeset pages. The text is set on Rives paper by the Press of A. Colish in Mount Vernon, NY. Abe Lerner did the typography and design.

The Jolly Corner is a short story by Henry James published first in the magazine The English Review of December, 1908. One of James' most noted ghost stories, it describes the adventures of Spencer Brydon as he prowls the now-empty New York house where he grew up. He encounters a "sensation more complex than had ever before found itself consistent with sanity."

Milton comments on the technique he developed for this portfolio: "For The Jolly Corner I had changed my lift-ground procedure to drawing in sugar ink on clear Mylar; I then transferred the image to the copper plate that had been treated with a light-sensitive ground (photo-resist), a procedure developed for printed circuitry."