Fruitcake

Fruitcake

The first recorded recipes come from Ancient Roman times and through the centuries, fruitcake has been an extravagant indulgence served at special celebrations whose ingredients at one time were even regulated by the Pope (See the Wikipedia link HERE for a history of fruitcake).  In November 1978, Johnny Carson told a joke on The Tonight Show about fruitcake, stating that there is only one actual fruitcake that gets passed from hand to hand but is never actually consumed. The joke struck like lightning and fruitcake has never been viewed the same since. It seems that everyone either loves fruitcake or despises it.    

In 1990 Edward Gorey added his own inimitable twist on the ubiquitous holiday treat (and running joke). Published as a limited edition Christmas card for the Albodonocani Press in 1990, Edward Gorey drew Fruitcake, a winter scene in which a bundled up family is braving the cold and snow to dispose of their unwanted fruitcakes under the cover of darkness by dropping them through an ice fishing hole on a frozen pond. 

Strikingly executed in pen and ink, the night sky was rendered not by painting in the background which would have been an overwhelming flat black when printed, but rather by painstakingly applied individual pen strokes. The horizontal flecks of white paper showing through the darkness lighten the image and add a sense of drama to the scene. The fruitcake falling from the sky gives the work a touch of surrealistic humor.  

Arguably Edward Gorey's most famous Christmas card image, I acquired the original artwork for Fruitcake earlier this year.

Edward Gorey Limited Christmas Cards

Edward Gorey created a series of Christmas cards for Albondocani Press beginning in 1975 and ending in 1990. These cards were printed in limited editions and were sent by the publisher for their Christmas Greeting. The editions range from 350 to 450 cards and they were issued unsigned/unnumbered.

The three most famous images from the series are Gertude Stein Decorates a Dog for Christmas (1975), A Future Unremembered Poet from the Seventeenth Century accepts a Christmas Cookie from the Great Veiled Bear (1977), and Fruitcake (1990). Some of these cards have been reproduced in boxed sets, but the majority of the images were only issued for use by this publisher. Shown in the photos is the complete set of ten cards. All of the cards shown have been signed by Edward Gorey on either the copyright or limitation statements.

The cards were published in the following order:

1975 - Gertrude Stein as a child decorates a dog for Christmas - edition of 450
1977 - A Future Unremembered Poet from the Seventeenth Century accepts a Christmas Cookie from the Great Veiled Bear - edition of 450
1979 - Hertha Struggs Fifth Christmas - edition of 450
1981 - Ettie Lou Stopper does a tinsel dance at a tree trimming party in Gumsville, Nebraska, Christmas Eve, 1923. - edition of 450
1983 - Un cadeau ennuyeux - edition of 400
1986 - Noel chez les volants des Alpes Dolomites - edition of 400
1987 - In Stubville Nebraska on December 23,1911 Christmas tree ornaments fell from a cloudless sky. - edition of 400
1988 - L'Etoile en Orient - edition of 400
1989 - Christmas in the Eggplant Hills - edition of 400
1990 - Fruitcake - edition of 350