Donald Corley was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 of short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

, illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 and architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

. He is chiefly remembered for his three self-illustrated books, which included a number of classic fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 short stories.

Life and career

Corley was born June 28, 1886 in Covington

Covington, Georgia

Covington is a city in Newton County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 13,118. The city is the county seat of Newton County...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. His mother was Annie Bradshaw, who was the daughter of James Bradshaw, Presbyterian minister and President of the College for girls In Covington. He graduated from Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

 and studied architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 in Europe. By 1918, at which time he was married with a wife and child, he was established as an architect in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. According to his obituary he was employed for a time by the New York firm of McKim, Meade & White, "playing a part in the work of decoration of the General Post Office." He designed camouflage for New York harbor during World War I. In 1920 he was living singly as a lodger together with other writers and artists.

Corley contributed as a writer to a number of magazines from the late 1910s through the early 1930s, including Scribner's Magazine

Scribner's Magazine

Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...

, the Pictorial Review

Pictorial Review

Pictorial Review is a magazine which first appeared in September, 1899. The magazine was originally designed to showcase dress patterns of William Paul Ahnelt's American Fashion Company. By the late 1920s it was one of the largest of the "women's magazines"....

, Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...

, and The Forum

The Forum (defunct magazine)

The Forum was an American magazine between 1886 and 1930. The magazine printed commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, and poetry. Most editions of the magazine contained pieces written by prominent guest authors who were not employed by the magazine....

. His first collection, titled The House of Lost Identity

The House of Lost Identity

The House of Lost Identity is a collection of short stories by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. Corley did not limit himself to one genre, but the primary distinction of the collection is its inclusion of a number of classic dark fantasies . It was first published in hardcover in New York...

after the initial story in it, was published by Robert M. McBride

Robert M. McBride

Robert Medill McBride was the publisher of James Branch Cabell and the later books of Frank Buck .-Early years:...

 in 1927 and was reasonably well-received, particularly by James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell, ; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his...

, who wrote a review that was included as an introduction in later printings. His best-known work was his second book, The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker

The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker

The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker is a book by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. It was his best known work and his only novel, though according to Lin Carter it is actually "a volume of short stories under the guise of a novel." The book was first published in hardcover in New York by Robert M...

(1930). It and the subsequent The Haunted Jester

The Haunted Jester

The Haunted Jester is a collection of short stories by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. Corley did not limit himself to one genre, but the primary distinction of the collection is its inclusion of a number of classic dark fantasies . It was first published in hardcover in New York by...

(1931) appear to have sold less well, however, and afterwards he stopped publishing. He continued writing into his old age, well after abandoning his architectural profession.

As an artist Corley illustrated many magazine articles and books in addition to his own works.

He died on Sunday, December 11, 1955, at the age of 69 at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. He was survived by his daughter Sheila and brother Neil. Neil would not claim Donald's body, so he was buried in Potters Field.

Posthumous reputation

The Haunted Jester and The House of Lost Identity were reprinted by Books for Libraries in 1970 and 1971, respectively. Not long after, Corley's work was rediscovered by Lin Carter

Lin Carter

Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...

, who anthologized two of his fantasies in Discoveries in Fantasy

Discoveries in Fantasy

Discoveries in Fantasy is an anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in March 1972 as the forty-third volume of its celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series...

for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 , the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature, which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines , in cheap paperback form—including works...

 in 1972, and another in Realms of Wizardry

Realms of Wizardry

Realms of Wizardry: An Anthology of Adult Fantasy is a 1976 anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday....

for Doubleday in 1976. Carter describes Corley's style as possessing a quality of "gorgeousness", which he characterizes as having "the sort of verbal richness that bejewels the pages of Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...

's work or the Arabian Nights ... lazy and singing, [with] a certain playfulness to it ..."

Books

• The House of Lost Identity
  The House of Lost Identity
  The House of Lost Identity is a collection of short stories by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. Corley did not limit himself to one genre, but the primary distinction of the collection is its inclusion of a number of classic dark fantasies . It was first published in hardcover in New York...
  
  (1927)
• The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker
  The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker
  The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker is a book by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. It was his best known work and his only novel, though according to Lin Carter it is actually "a volume of short stories under the guise of a novel." The book was first published in hardcover in New York by Robert M...
  
  (1930)
• The Haunted Jester
  The Haunted Jester
  The Haunted Jester is a collection of short stories by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. Corley did not limit himself to one genre, but the primary distinction of the collection is its inclusion of a number of classic dark fantasies . It was first published in hardcover in New York by...
  
  (1931)

Short works

• "De Senectute" (Oct. 1919)
• "The Daimyō's Bowl" (Nov. 1919; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Last Day of Childhood" (Nov. 1920)
• "The God from the Shelf" (Jan. 1922; collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "Ethel Wallaci, Gay Primitive" (Feb. 1922)
• "Marooned" (poem, Apr. 1922)
• "The Book of the Debts" (Aug. 1922; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "Ex Rustico fit Nitidus" (poem, Sep. 1922)
• "The Price of Reflection" (Mar. 1923; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Legend of the Little Horses" (Oct. 1924; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Manacles of Youth" (Dec. 1924; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Glass Eye of Throgmorton" (Jun. 1926; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The House of Lost Identity" (Sep. 1926; collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "Figs" (collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Ghost-Wedding" (collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Tale That the Ming Bell Told" (collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "The Song of the Tombelaine" (collected in The House of Lost Identity, 1927)
• "Preface to an Unwritten Novel" (May 1927)
• "The Bride's Feast" (Jan. 1928; collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Eyes of Compassion" (Jan. 1928; collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Eyes of India" (Aug. 1928)
• "The Dance of the Drowned" (Jan. 1931; collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "Seven Knights in Silver" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Red Lacquer Box of Nirr-lo-fan" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Lama, the Lady, and the Topaz" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Road to Benachie" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Troubled Promises of Kings" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "Que le Diable!" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Daughter of the Moon" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "Droit de Seigneur" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "Fifteen Annas in the Rupee" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)
• "The Bird with the Golden Beak" (collected in The Haunted Jester, 1931)

External links