From 1890 to 1935, the tradition of publishing illustrated decorative editions of authors’ collected work reached its golden age in the marriage between advances in printing press technology and the application of color techniques, which boosted the quality and volume of illustrations in books, literary and general-interest magazines, and popular weekly journals, such as The Graphic and the Illustrated London News. This also corresponds to the emergence of illustration's sister medium, poster art, where illustration moved from private single-volume exhibitions to a more public sphere that connected the art to the service of advertising. Over the course of this period, the art of illustration (especially via poster art) also underwent a change in status from a quaint, second-rate art form considered of lesser importance than fine art and graphic design to a valued art genre in itself, featuring single images that were not necessarily tied to published collections of writerly work. It is noteworthy, however, that most of Poe's illustrators never attained, in reputation and public recognition, the degree of fame that found its way to their more “serious” contemporaries known for their painting rather than illustrating. While lesser known to the general public, great illustration retains its own forcefulness that the traditional “high arts”— such as painting— cannot reach: a power that achieves its shape because it is combined with stories from a beloved writer.

The art of visualizing Poe after World War II reflects several variables that were not relevant prior to this time. New editions of Poe published in the post– World War II era seldom included illustrations; special editions of his work or collector's items might include a pen and ink drawing at the end of an individual selection, or perhaps a reproduction on the dust jacket cover, or placed throughout the book including reprints from the oeuvre of one of the more prominent illustrators referenced in this book. The greatest number of Poe illustrators proliferated during the early to mid-twentieth century, and their pictures were most often commissioned to accompany new Poe collections.