Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Awdrey-Gore Legacy

The Awdrey-Gore Legacy was published in 1972 by Dodd, Mead & Company, New York. Dedicated to Agatha Christie, this title was published in hard cover with a matching printed dust jacket. This book is included in Amphigorey Also, and was also printed as a poster. The copy I am showing is signed and inscribed to me by Edward Gorey. While mystery based, The Awdrey-Gorey Legacy predates Mr. Gorey's involvement with Mystery! on PBS which began its run in 1980.

Edward Gorey was a self proclaimed Agatha Christie enthusiast, and stated that he read everything she wrote several times. This homage to the murder mystery is not so much a full fledged story as a deconstructed collection of all the bits and bobs that go into the making of a good mystery. In many ways, I think of this volume as the Edward Gorey book-version of the board game Clue.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The back of The Awdrey-Gore Legacy lists "The Interesting List" (among others) as "In Preparation". Do you know what became of that title?

ampootozote said...

I can check with some people who should know, but as far as I am aware, this piece was never completed.

Goreyphile said...

I have often wondered if the in preparation was just something to tease with....a little inside joke perhaps...It would be interesting to find out if there was a intention there.

ampootozote said...

Actually, the pieces listed as "in preparation" were being worked on to some degree. Mr. Gorey had so many projects going on at one time that some would fall by the wayside as others became more urgent or interesting to him. His estate has published several of these (usually through Pomegranate publications) that were only partially completed at the time of his death.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 1 back, following up on the above old discussion ... here's
a drawing from The Interesting List across which I just came.

ampootozote said...

What fun! Thanks for forwarding this for everyone to see.