Something Else Entirely, the Illustration Art of Edward Gorey Exhibition Is Now Open

This past weekend Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey opened at The Society of Illustrators in New York City. This much anticipated exhibition showcases 108 original artworks by Edward Gorey, the majority of which have never been displayed publicly before. Offering a fresh perspective on the artist's fifty year career as a commercial artist, the works on display include pen & ink drawings, color pieces, sketches, and hand rendered lettering. 

Visitors to the gallery are greeted by a wall sized mural reproducing Gorey's drop curtain from his 1994 production of Amphigorey.Visual treasures fill the gallery walls, and because these are illustrations for books, periodicals, and ephemera each piece has its own story to tell.

For the location, gallery hours and admissions, go HERE.

Gallery shots courtesy of The Society of Illustrators, Art is Fun color image from the collection of Irwin Terry.

  

Let The Gorey Show Begin!

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity on the third floor gallery of the Society of Illustrators in New York City. After more than a year of planning, the exhibition Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey will open to the public on Saturday October 4th and will be on display through the end of the year.

With the gallery walls prepped and ready for the original artworks gathered together from near and far, the process of composing the exhibit began early Thursday morning this week. 

Steve Compton, director of Exhibitions and Collections (pictured right) headed an exhibition hanging crew that included guest curator and collector Russell Lehrer (pictured left).

With multiple display areas and two levels, the airy gallery space retains a feeling of intimacy that is perfect for displaying Mr. Gorey's works.

Exhibition rarities were sorted as the space began to fill with fabulous examples of Edward Gorey's original artworks.

As selected groupings of artwork were finalized, the work of hanging the show began in earnest. Steve Compton positions art from The 12 Terrors of Christmas.

The Society of Illustrators executive director Arabelle Liepold stopped into the gallery during the hanging to offer advice and encouragement.

Jonathan Logan, the Society's exhibitions associate and art handler accepted and unpacked a much anticipated late arrival from California.

Russell Lehrer continued to group rare pieces throughout the day. Along with Russell, I am a guest curator for the show but was unable to travel to New York to help with setup in person. Through Russell's efforts throughout the day sending texts and photographs I was able to offer encouragement and opinions from afar.

Will Baker from the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust offers placement suggestions for a piece of art that was deemed "too scary" for the 1969 cover of Some Things Are Scary by Florence Parry Heide. 

With most of the artworks placed by late Thursday afternoon, the crew retired to rest and regroup for their return on Friday.

 Day 2 began with the installation of a large wall mural with introductory text that will greet visitors to the gallery. 

Several display cases were filled with books and ephemera from Russell Lehrer's extensive collection, each relating to the artworks on display. 

By the end of the day on Friday, the gallery only needed some finishing touches and a general straightening to welcome visitors on Saturday morning!

For more information on the Society of Illustrators, including gallery hours and special events go to https://societyillustrators.org.

 Photos courtesy of Russell Lehrer and The Society of Illustrators.

 

Edward Gorey, The Beginning and the End

Pop Quiz. What was Edward Gorey's first published illustration? Hint...it was published in 1950. Do you know which illustration was the last to leave Mr. Gorey's drawing table and was published months after his passing in April 2000? The two pieces of original art that bookmark Edward Gorey's illustration career will be included in the upcoming exhibition Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey at the Society of Illustrators in New York City.

 

Something Else Entirely Exhibition - Art on the Move

From California, Texas, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and across town in Manhattan, original artworks by Edward Gorey are on the move to the Society of Illustrators for the highly anticipated Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey exhibition.

Joining works lent by The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust and several other collectors, nineteen pieces of original illustration art by Edward Gorey from my personal collection have arrived at the Society.

The Society of Illustrators is located at 128 East 63rd St., New York, NY 10065. Visit their website HERE. 

 

A Something Else Entirely Exhibition Disussion - Lisa Brown and Daniel Handler Discuss Muriel Spark and Edward Gorey's The Very Fine Clock

In conjunction with the upcoming centennial exhibition Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey at the Society of Illustrators in New York City, illustrator Lisa Brown and author Daniel Handler will discuss the new publication of The Very Fine Clock and how Edward Gorey influences their own works. The presentation will take place at the Society of Illustrators 128 East 63rd Street, New York City on Wednesday October 15th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

Written by Muriel Spark and illustrated by Edward Gorey, The Very Fine Clock is an imaginative children's book that was first published in 1968 by Alfred A. Knopf Publishers. This new edition by Transit Books celebrates Transit's 10 year anniversary and is the first book of their Transit Children's Editions. This edition is being printed using the latest printing technology and new scans of the original Edward Gorey artwork for optimum reproduction quality.

Lisa Brown is a celebrated illustrator, writer and cartoonist. Daniel Handler is the author of many books including the Series of Unfortunate Events series, written under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. The husband and wife team will discuss the influences of Edward Gorey on their own works.

Seating for the event is limited, and tickets are required to attend. For more information and to secure a ticket, go to the Society of Illustrators Events Page HERE.  

Images courtesy of The Society of Illustrators and Transit Books.

Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey Exhibition

The centennial celebrations honoring Edward Gorey continue with Something Else Entirely, The Illustration Art of Edward Gorey at the Society of Illustrators in New York City from October 4, 2025 through January 3, 2026. Featuring an in-depth section of over 80 pieces of original art, this will be the largest exhibition of original artworks by Edward Gorey in the United States since the critically acclaimed Elegant Enigmas traveling exhibition. The official Exhibition Opening Reception will be held on Thursday October 16th.

Focusing on Mr. Gorey's five decades long career as an illustrator, Something Else Entirely shines a spotlight on Mr. Gorey's illustrative collaborations with a wide variety of authors, publishers, and periodicals. Curated from the archives of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust, San Diego State University and several noted private collections, many of the works included in the exhibition have never before been publicly displayed. 

Located at 128 East 63rd Street in New York City, The Society of Illustrators was founded in 1901 and has year-round themed exhibitions featuring classic and contemporary illustration art. The Society also conducts educational programs and juried  competitions. 

For more information about the exhibition and The Society of Illustrators, go HERE. 

The Gloomy Gallery, A Centennial Exhibition

The Gloomy Gallery, an exhibition celebrating the centennial of Edward Gorey's birth is opening on September 2nd at Harvard University's Houghton Library. Showcasing holdings from the library's extensive collection of Gorey material, the exhibit will feature books, manuscripts, and original artworks, many of which have not been previously displayed.

The exhibit will also include a suite of more than a dozen recently acquired drawings created by Edward Gorey for a college roommate, Tony Smith. For more information on the exhibition, including registration to attend the opening on Thursday September 4th, go HERE.

Images courtesy The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust and The Houghton Library.
 

Theater News

Continuing the celebration of Edward Gorey's 100th birthday year, the Florida base acting troupe Pantasmagoria will be presenting PHANTASMAGORIA XVI "Hauntingly Whimsical Tales" from October 3rd through November 8th at various theaters in various cities in Florida.

Echoing Edward Gorey's own theatrical entertainments from the 1990's, Phantasmagoria combines "Evocative Storytelling, Phantastical Dance, Puppetry, Projections, Original Music and MORE" into an evening of entertainments based on Mr. Gorey's books.

To view the performance schedule and purchase tickets, go HERE. 

Limited Edition Print

Continuing the year long celebration of 100th anniversary of Edward Gorey's birth, the  Edward Gorey Charitable Trust is creating a special limited edition fine art commemorative print. Reproducing artwork from the Edward Gorey Archive, Skeleton Dance is a triptych executed in an expressive drawing style by Mr. Gorey. 

Skeleton Dance features a pencil thin femme fatale engaging in a Danse Macabre with an even thinner dance partner. The images crackle with movement and tension. Is she being lured to her ultimate destruction or is she seducing him to do her bidding?

Printed in exacting detail on fine art paper and presented in a custom archival matte, this exciting print is available for pre-order until Friday July 4. The final edition size will be determined by the number of prints pre-ordered. To reserve your copy go HERE. 

 

Auction News

Considering that 2025 is the centennial of Edward Gorey's birth, the auction market featuring original art by the artist has been a bit quiet. 

Notable exceptions include the Femme Fatale with a Cigarette drawing from Leaves From A Mislaid Album (Gotrham Book Mart, 1972) that sold at Bohnam's Auctions in April (see my post from April 13, 2025), and the collage of Vampire Bat Drawings and Sketches that sold at Swann Auction Galleries Illustration Art auction on June 18, 2025.

Edward Gorey designed the sets and costumes for the 1973 Broadway production of Dracula, visually referencing the 1931 movie that starred Bela Lugosi in the title role. Through his signature crosshatch drawing style Mr. Gorey created an environment that evoked the suspenseful look and feel of the black and white movie. 

In a burst of inspirational genius, Edward Gorey did not just recreate the movie sets, he filled the stage with a seemingly endless variety of bats. Virtually every architectural detail, piece of furniture and costume was decorated with a bat motif. To this end, Mr. Gorey filled sketchbooks with drawings of bats.

On June 5, 2018 several sketchbook pages with Dracula bat designs were sold at Swann.  

The artwork auctioned at Swann this week is a collage of more than half a dozen clippings of bat drawings. Some of the drawings are expressive sketches, while others are fully realized finished pieces of art. Collectively, they take the viewer on a visual journey of Edward Gorey's creative process to embellish the set for this singular production. This remarkable artwork sold for $13,750 (including buyer's premium).

Images courtesy Russell Lehrer, Swann Auction Galleries, Brady Schwind, and The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust. 

Actress Valerie Mahaffey

Actress Valerie Mahaffey has died at the age of 71. Amongst her extensive acting credits on screen, television and stage was her 1979 Broadway performance as Lucy Steward in the Edward Gorey Production of Dracula opposite Raul Julia in the title role. Ms Mahaffey replaced Ann Sachs, the original Lucy.

 

(Photograph by Kenn Duncan. For more images of Mahaffey and Julia in the play, visit the New York Public Library Digital Collections https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?q=valerie+mahaffey+dracula)

The Gorey Podcast from the BBC

Spend three quarters of an hour exploring a deep dive on the life and work of Edward Gorey. The podcast is peppered with a veritable who's who from the Gorey universe. Listen to it HERE.

A Gorey Tale from Rome

Fans of Edward Gorey can turn up anywhere, even in the Vatican. About fifteen years ago I was corresponding with Cuthbert Thambimbuttu (1945 - 2019), an insatiable book collector known to many dealers, fellow collectors, and authors as "Tubby" about all things Edward Gorey. Mr. Thambimbuttu was a devoted and persistent collector of signed editions by authors he admired and respected. Edward Gorey was among the authors whose works he sought out.

In an email dated February 21, 2011, Mr. Thambimbuttu told me an origin story about the image Edward Gorey created that has become known as The John Locke Quote. John Locke (1632 - 1704) was an English philosopher and physician whose work and views have influenced writers, philosophers and political thinkers to this day. 

The quote, hand lettered by Edward Gorey, tells of the perils of books in general, and the moral pitfalls that befall anyone who comes into contact with them professionally. Illustrated with a witty color image of an obsessive book collector clutching a volume just after he has caused the previous owner to fall over the edge of a cliff, this delightful image was printed as an oversized folded stationary card by The Gotham Book Mart. The 7" x 8.5" card is printed on regular paper stock and was issued without envelopes. 

Mr. Thambibuttu related that Andreas Brown (1933 - 2020), owner of The Gotham Book Mart and one of the original trustees of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust, had been sent a copy of the Locke quote by Fr. William Sheehan (1937 - 2018). Fr. Sheehan was originally from New York and in 1986 had become the Director of the Incunabula Catalog Department - Printed Books at the Vatican Library in Rome. Fr. Sheehan had contacted Mr. Brown to see if Edward Gorey could "make anything fitting" using the quote as inspiration. The stationary card was Edward Gorey's response to the request.

Auction News

The Fine Books and Manuscripts auction held at Bohnam's Auctions in New York City on Tuesday April 8th included three pieces of original illustration art by Edward Gorey. (The image above is a detail from the third piece discussed below).

The first of the three is an illustration from Hauntings, Tales of the Supernatural, a collection of stories published in 1968 by Doubleday. The artwork shows three vignette's for John Collier's 1940 short story Thus I Refute Beelzy. The individual drawings are not only beautifully and precisely drawn but are artfully arranged on the page to indicate the story progression. This piece of art sold for $5632.00 (including the buyer's premium).

The second piece illustrates a poem by Felice Holman titled Finding Out from her 1970 book, At the Top of My Voice and Other Poems. This sweet image shows a young girl going to look at a flower. On closer inspection she discovers an ant, and the two pause to contemplate one another. The delicately drawn image sold for $5376.00 (including buyer's premium).

The final piece in this sale is a true rarity. Edward Gorey published selected images from Leaves From A Mislaid Album in First Person magazine in 1960. The full collection of 17 single images with no text was eventually published as a limited edition primary work in 1972 by The Gotham Book Mart. The collection of loose drawings were packaged in a folded portfolio housed in an illustrated envelope. 

Edward Gorey made it a point of not selling original artwork from his primary publications. During his lifetime, Mr. Gorey only sold art from two primary works - The Broken Spoke and Leaves From A Mislaid Album. While quite a few pieces from The Broken Spoke have appeared in collections or have been offered on the market over the years, this is one of only three pieces from Leaves that have been offered for sale (according to my research and knowledge). 

Expressively rendered by the artist in his "loose" painterly style (pen & ink line work with areas of painted wash for dramatic effect), this exquisite Femme Fatale sold for $14,080.00 (including buyer's premium).