Auction News

There have been several recent auctions that included original art by Edward Gorey. On October 17, 2024 Leland Little Auctions of Hillsborough, North Carolina offered a piece from The Dream World of Dion McGregor, published in 1964 by Bernard Greis Assosiates, New York. The provenance note on this piece stated that the art came from the collection of Don Patterson, executive editor at Bernard Greis. 

Titled Cottage for Sale,  this creepy image illustrates a particularly gruesome tale of a house of torture being shown to perspective renters with the sales pitch given as if the house is a quaint home for rent. Edward Gorey chose what is quite possibly the least horrific part of the tour for this illustration. "And the closet space...each one with a noose hanging in there...". This piece sold for $4920.00 (including buyer's premium).

On October 24th Bohnam's auctions of Los Angeles featured two works by Edward Gorey from the collection of Leonard Stanley. The first, titled Lawn on Malta is a Zen landscape created in 1974 featuring rocks that look like cats alongside sleeping cats that look like rocks. This tranquil scene sold for $12,800.00 (including buyer's premium).

The second piece included in the sale is a beautifully rendered set design from Edward Gorey's seminal 1977 Broadway production of Dracula.

Edward Gorey designed the set with a framework of five arched openings for inset panels which could be quickly changed for each act. This Act 1 set piece is the wall panel inset on the right. The books filling the shelves were indicated on other set drawings for this scene. The drawing sold for $8960.00 (including buyer's premium).

Images courtesy of Leland Little Auctions, Hillsborough, NC, and Bohnams Auctions, Los Angeles, CA. Dracula Act 1 set photo by Martha Swope, New York Public Library Digital Collections.