The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories - Illustrations

Illustrations

Vess's black-and-white line drawings are "reminiscent of the great Arthur Rackham, harking back to the early 20th-century golden age of children's book illustrations". Mary Ann Gwinn praises them in The Seattle Times, describing them as "delightful" and inspired by art deco and Edward Gorey. Lucy Hughes-Hallett, however, argues that the volume is "insistently and inappropriately illustrated". Agreeing that the images are indebted to Rackham, she contends that they are "anachronistic" and a "kind of mimsy-whimsy".

Reviewers praised the design and construction of the book itself, praising its similarity to products of late 19th-century publishing. Hoyle notes that the hardback was "embossed rather than jacketed, shaded in a discreet grey and black palette with flashes of a lively petunia pink; inside the paper is thick and creamy, the font is bold and each story has its own title page, provided by Vess."