The Ghost in the Mirror

The Ghost in the Mirror was the first John Bellairs story to be completed by Brad Strickland. Published in 1993 by Dial Books for Young Readers, The Ghost in the Mirror returns Lewis Barnavelt, Uncle Jonathan, Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita Pottinger to the book series after a long absence. The story of how Brad Strickland came to work on, and eventually continue the Bellairs books is detailed on www.belairsia.com in the bibliography section.

Edward Gorey created the artwork for the dust jacket and the frontis illustration for this title. Mr. Strickland's name does not appear on the dust jacket because the cover art was completed and printed before Mr. Bellairs passed away, so "Completed by Brad Strickland" only appears on the title page.

This piece of original art by Edward Gorey is a masterpiece of suspense and terror. If you did not know that it was a piece of dust jacket artwork, you would view it as a wonderfully creepy painting by Mr. Gorey. Barely visible on the printed dust jacket are two faces which appear on the front cover inside the "O" of Ghost and Mirror. They can be seen a bit more clearly floating in the sky on the original art.

The dust jacket painting was included in Bromer Booksellers 2001 catalog of Gorey items. The hand-lettered type for the cover/spine was included as a separate piece of art. I am not aware of the frontis drawing being available from Bromer or Gotham Book Mart.