BALLADS WELCOMED TO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

An official letter of acknowledgement has been received from the Library of Congress notifying Charles Vess that his award-winning work The Book of Ballads has been accepted into their collection.  Initiated in 1985, Vess commissioned scripts based on English and Scottish songs from a number of popular authors including Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, Jeff Smith, Elaine Lee among others.  

"The Galtee Farmer" by Jeff Smith & Charles Vess

Charles himself produced all of the accompanying art for each story, and initially self-published the work in four comics through Green Man Press.  In 2004, three additional stories were added and the collection was released in book form through Tor Books.  The work earned Vess an Eisner award, and its inclusion in the the Library of Congress will go a long way towards filling a need for narrative comic art in its collection.

Congratulations, Charles!