Response Postcard Original Art

 

Edward Gorey received a fair amount of mail from admirers of his works looking for autographs and asking him with questions in the hopes of getting a personal reply by return post. Mr. Gorey felt an obligation to answer his fan mail but he really didn't have the time or interest to respond with a personal reply to every request. His solution to this mounting challenge was to create a postcard that he could quickly hand sign and mail back. 

The original artwork for this exceptional postcard was recently offered at Swann Auction Galleries in New York City and I was able to add this stunning piece of original artwork to my collection. Drawn on an 11 1/2" x 7 1/4" piece of paper, the image is 6 1/4" x 4 1/4" with crop marks in the margins. 

When creating artwork for a piece that would be reproduced with a full bleed ( the image would extend to the edge of the printed piece with no white margins), Edward Gorey would draw the image slightly larger than the final size and indicate how it was to be cropped. In this instance, the image was drawn 4% larger than the final postcard size of 4" x 6". The mastery and precision of Mr. Gorey's pen strokes is evident at the edges of the drawing. Without inking a border line to contain the image, each pen stroke stops at the precise edge of the drawing field. Since the image was intended to be trimmed, Mr. Gorey could have made the edge of the artwork ragged.

Edward Gorey dated the drawing in typical fashion, with a start and completion date. He must have decided to date the drawing upon finishing it because he doesn't seem to remember the exact day he started this piece of artwork. Dated "? ix 79 . 1 x 79", it is clear that he completed the drawing on October 1, 1979, and had been working on it in September of that year, but did not make a note of the day he began the piece.

I have a postcard in my collection that was signed, addressed and sent by Edward Gorey to a fan in April 1, 1999. Hope the recipient didn't think it was an April Fool's Day joke!!

 

 

Mystery! Parody

 The idea for this post came from an online chat group.

The PBS Masterpiece Theater program Mystery! began in 1980 and continued into the 2000's before changing into a new format. By the late 80's the program and its unique introductions became a firmly established cultural fixture. At the same time Edward Gorey also became something of a household name due in large part to the the animated sequence he created with Derek Lamb that opened each episode. After the animated sequence, a host would introduce the program in a set designed to look like an interior by Mr. Gorey. Host Vincent Price often begin his introductions by welcoming viewers to "Gorey Mansion". It can come as no surprise that the opening of the show was parodied on many television programs in the '80's & '90's.

One of the more unexpected programs to do a parody of Mystery! was Sesame Street, which produced an ongoing series of segments spoofing the show and its format. The segments were entitled Mysterious Theater! and each began with a title card spoofing the Gorey/Lamb animation. https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Mysterious_Theater lists five segments of Mysterious Theater!, the first appearing in Season 20 (1989).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ8A-FQ7OSA 

All of the Mysterious Theater! segments featured were hosted by a Muppet named Vincent Twice, who always said his entire name twice. The segments also only spoofed the Sherlock Holmes stories with a clueless detective named Sherlock Hemlock and his dog Watson. Of course, Watson solves every mystery.

Stuffed Creatures Part 4: Great Gotham Sale

(To reference previous posts focusing on Edward Gorey's three dimensional creatures and beanbag animals, type "stuffed creatures" into the search engine.)

On June 30, 2021, Ashcroft and Moore Auctions hosted Gotham Gorey Squared, their second auction of items from The Gotham Book Mart's (GBM) remaining inventory. GBM closed in 2007 and the contents of the store went into hiding until recently coming to light. Ashcroft and Moore is one of several auction houses that has offered items from GBM's final inventory. 

Of special interest to collectors in this sale was a stunning collection of the various stuffed creatures that were completely hand made by Edward Gorey. These creatures were usually used as gifts to friends, but they would also occasionally be sold at his theatrical productions or through GBM.  Most of the creatures in this sale appear in quantity, but it should be remembered that each of these objects was hand made by Mr. Gorey himself and they are actually quite rare. Until this auction, these items have only rarely appeared on the secondary market.

Edward Gorey spent a lot of  time watching television and rather than just sit and stare at the screen, he multi-tasked and kept busy hand sewing these (and other) creatures while viewing programs. Mr. Gorey created stuffed Frogs in two basic styles - with splayed back legs, long front legs, and rounded toes (approximately 9.5" x 9.5"); and more streamlined version with short front legs and pointed toes (approximately 9" x 6"). There was no standard fabric color preference on the frogs, and most have small button eyes. 

This sale included one Figbash doll. Edward Gorey probably created more Figbash dolls than any other of his stuffed creatures, and they appear in a rainbow of fabric colors and patterns. While it was rare for Gotham to offer the other creatures for sale, Figbash dolls were usually available for purchase. According to the Gorey-made tags that Gotham included with these dolls, Figbash is presented "life sized" and is 6.5" x 19". With his long arms and short body, Figbash is supple and can be playfully draped in an infinite number of positions.

Salamanders are one of the more complex creatures Edward Gorey designed. Mr. Gorey stuffed his creatures with Uncle Ben's Rice - he claimed that this brand had the best pouring spout - and he used a chopstick to shove the rice into the nooks and crannies such as the salamander's curving tail. The salamanders are approximately 9" x 8" and tend to have less robustly colored fabrics. They tend to be well stuffed and are not as flexible as the frogs, which can be flopped and easily positioned into humorous attitudes. One of the salamanders has been created with a patriotic fabric that Mr. Gorey seemed to have a fondness for. He used this American flag motif often with other animals (but which were not part of this sale).

There was only one Alligator offered in this sale. At 10.5" x 5", it is one of the larger creatures created by Edward Gorey. Very few alligators are known.

The final set of creatures in this sale is one of the most perplexing. They are approximately 8" x 5" and appear in a variety of fabrics. Two of the pieces sold have eyes, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

Over the years, this creature has been described both as The Doubtful Guest and as a Penguin, with no definitive answer as to what it actually is meant to be. I recall Andreas Brown calling them penguins on occasion and the answer can presumably be found in Lot #427. This creature, in black fabric, is accompanied by a hand written note by Edward Gorey that is titled "Oiseau funebre (or what you get when you ask for a penguin). The title translates into "Funeral Bird", and penguins are one of the few animals that are known to mourn and bury their dead when a chick or mate dies, often gathering in groups.

Who asked for a penguin? Was this the first of its kind to be created? Unfortunately, we may never know for sure, but since this was part of the GBM inventory and presumably came direct from Edward Gorey himself, it can be assumed that Mr. Brown may have been the original recipient of this rare bird and that this flock is indeed intended to be penguins. To cover all the bases, one collector I know has started referring to them as Penguin Guests!