It can be said that when one thinks of Edward Gorey, one usually thinks of cats. Smiling, mischievous, playful, up to something (or nothing at all) - cats. In 2004, I obtained a wonderful piece of original art by Mr. Gorey showing a pair of cats in ballet shoes performing a Pas de Deux. The ballerina cat is being held aloft by the danseur noble as they effortlessly execute their dance.
This drawing came from the estate of Rosalie Lewis, who was the former head of the New York City Ballet gift shop and merchandise development. This image was used by the ballet for a tee-shirt design entitled "New York Kitty Ballet". Was there an actual Kitty Ballet? Who can say?!
At the time this piece was offered to me by Gotham Book Mart, two other pieces from Ms. Lewis' estate were also offered. I was sent xerox copies of the artwork for my inspection, and I show them here. The second piece shows a single ballerina cat "en pointe". Notes from GBM stated that the image was drawn on tracing paper which had been mounted to heavy art stock.
The third image from this set is a spectacular ballet totem consisting of three pairs of dancers in a gravity defying performance. All three pen and ink drawings have hand written notations for enlargement (not in Mr. Gorey's handwriting).
The Doom of the Haunted Opera was the fourth book left unfinished by John Bellairs at the time of his death. Author Brad Strickland worked from the notes left behind to create a spooky story which features an abandoned Opera House where a sinister piece of music, The Day of Doom will make its debut, despite a ghostly warning not to play it. Once the music is played, the dead will be awakened and the composer's evil grandson will become King of the Dead!
The book was published in 1995 by Dial Books for Young Readers and features a wrap around dust jacket design and frontis illustration by Edward Gorey. The back cover of the dust jacket is particularly colorful. Using a dream sequence for inspiration (don't most dreams play out in black and white?), Lewis and Rose Rita are shown being set upon by headless opera goers and bats! One of my favorite characters in this book is a cat that whistles - a feline that Edward Gorey would certainly have taken a liking to.
When this book was published, I was offered the three pieces of original artwork by Mr. Gorey. Unfortunately, at this time the prices for Mr. Gorey's art were jumping significantly - in fact the price for this art was double what earlier art from the series had been priced at just two years previously - so I could not add this art to my collection. I do still have the full size xeroxes sent to me by Gotham Book Mart, which I am showing to the right.
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