Icons of the Fantastic: Illustrations of Imaginative Literature from the Korshak Collection

Icons of the Fantastic: Illustrations of Imaginative Literature from the Korshak Collection features artwork by pioneering artists from over 160 years of published works of science fiction and fantasy. The illustrations in the collection appeared on the covers of timeless novels such as the Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs and classic pulp magazines from the 1930s through 1960s, such as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales. They accompany images of mischievous satyrs, ethereal mermaids, and spell-casting witches for texts ranging from The Tempest, Don Quixote, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to works by Edgar Allan Poe and H. G. Wells. Alongside essays about famous illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Aubrey Beardsley, contributors engage in a critical reassessment of understudied artists such as José Segrelles, Wladyslaw Benda, Margaret Brundage, and Hannes Bok. The book includes a foreword by Guillermo del Toro, a preface by Kevin J. Anderson, an introduction by Michael Dirda, and an interview with renowned contemporary illustration artist Michael Whelan.


Author: Amanda T. Zehnder
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
Published: 10/30/2025
Pages: 172
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.30lbs
Size: 10.30h x 9.20w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781644534052

About the Author
AMANDA T. ZEHNDER is Chief Curator and Department Head of Museums at the University of Delaware.

DAVID M. BRINLEY is an industry award-winning painter and illustrator. An artist member of the Society of Illustrators, he is a Professor of Art & Design at the University of Delaware.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO is renowned filmmaker, writer, and artist, who has directed over a dozen films and created numerous television shows, including The Strain (2014-2017) and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022).

KEVIN J. ANDERSON has published more than 190 books, fifty-eight of which have been national or international bestsellers. Anderson is the director of the graduate program in Publishing at Western Colorado University, and he and his wife Rebecca Moesta are the publishers of WordFire Press.

MICHAEL DIRDA is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a longtime book columnist for The Washington Post, and the author of the memoir An Open Book (2003), five collections of essays, and the critical appreciation On Conan Doyle (2012).

MICHAEL WHELAN is one of the world's premier painters of imaginative realism. For fifty years, he has created book and album covers for authors and musicians like Isaac Asimov, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Brandon Sanderson, the Jacksons, and Meat Loaf.

STEPHEN D. KORSHAK is the owner, along with his wife Alma, of the Korshak Collection of Illustrations of Imaginative Literature.

MARGARET STETZ is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware.

ASHLEY RYE-KOPEC is the Curator of Education and Outreach at the University of Delaware Museums.

RACHAEL KANE is the Learning and Engagement Manager at Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts.

LAUREN STUMP is the Curator of the Korshak Collection.

LISA YASZEK is Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech.

GARY K. WOLFE is emeritus Professor of Humanities in Roosevelt University's Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies.​