Fine Art Prints, Part 9

We continue with Gotham Book Mart's 2002 list of prints created by Edward Gorey. Most of the prints shown on this post are available for purchase from The Edward Gorey House - edwardgoreyhouse.org - although some editions are sold out. Unfortunately, I do not have large scans of many of these prints. To see the images more clearly, please reference the Gorey House web site.

#36 Elephant Ignoring The Giant Skull - 20/50 prints were hand signed.
#37 Elephant in Sea Foam - 32/75 prints were hand signed.
#38 (No Publication) - This is the first bump in the numbering system of this list. Look below for the major gap which has been causing confusion since this list was published.

#39 Loch Ness Resident - 34/50 prints were hand signed.
#40 Two Resting Striped Elephants & Two Birds - 20/50 prints were hand signed.
#41 Au Secours - 17/25 prints were hand signed. I have print #8/25 in my collection. This is the second rarest print of the series (see print #11 in a previous post). This colagraph edition was never completed because the stored plate was damaged beyond repair. While each print is signed x/25, only 17 impressions will ever exist. NOTE: Prints 1 -10 are numbered x/25 but prints 11 - 17 are numbered x/50. Mr. Gorey mistakenly signed the second batch of prints with a higher edition number.
#42 Still Life with Skull Vase & Elephant - 24/50 prints were hand signed.
#43 Le Chien de Giselle (Ballerinas) - 30/50 prints were hand signed. This image comes from Pacific Book Auctions.
***The gap in the numbering system which now occurs on the GBM list had nothing to do with Edward Gorey. Mr. Gorey created prints and sent them to Gotham Book Mart to be marketed and sold. The numbering gap exists because GBM's in-house accountant was having a difficult time keeping track of all the Gorey related material being sold at the bookstore. She finally started a list to keep track of each item, and while items #44 - #94 are Gorey related, they are not prints.

#95 Bat in Rain - 75/95 prints were hand signed.
#96 Bat - 80/95 prints were hand signed. I have print #8/95 in my collection. This is arguably the most famous of Edward Gorey's etchings, and this image has appeared on t-shirts and other Gorey related merchandise.

Minnesota Fringe Festival

As it does each August, the Minnesota Fringe Festival is going full tilt around the Twin Cities, providing a diversion to the summer heat. One of the shows this year is a production of Fletcher and Zenobia Save the Circus, based on the story by Edward Gorey. Fringe shows have very short runs, but there is still time to catch this production. Below is the full review by John Townsend that appeared in today's Star Tribune.

Fletcher & Zenobia Save the Circus

Ripe with physical comedy, award-winning Fringe favorites premiere their adaptation of Edward Gorey's "children's" book about an unlikely cat-and-doll duo who must overcome all odds to save a circus from ruin.

The playful Live Action Set brings vivacious physicality to the characters of Edward Gorey's children's book and its illustrations by Victoria Chess. Though the actors pull out all the stops and glory in their quirky clown-like portrayals, the cavernous Mill City Museum venue swallows up much of the dialogue, making it difficult to decipher whether their collaborative script adaptation coheres or not. But playing railroad trains and animals is a sure bet for laughs. Best of all, musicians Chris Hepola, Steven Hobert and Paul Fonfara capture the circus spirit.

Aug 12, Fri. at 7:00 pm
Aug 13, Sat. at 4:00 pm
Aug 13, Sat. at 7:00 pm
Aug 14, Sun. at 2:30 pm
Aug 14, Sun. at 5:30 pm

Mill City Museum
704 S. 2nd St.
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 872-1212
www.fringefestival.org/2011

Memoirs

To date, there have been three published memoirs about Edward Gorey written by his friends and associates. The first, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey by Alexander Theroux (2000 Fantagraphic Books), appeared in print very shortly after Mr. Gorey's death. The next to appear was Elephant House or, the Home of Edward Gorey by Kevin McDermott (2003 Pomegranate Books). A third memoir has recently become available, Edward Gorey Plays Cape Cod; Puppets, People, Places & Plots by Carol Verburg (2011, BOOM Books).

Of the three volumes, my personal favorite is Elephant House by Kevin McDermott. I have written about this book in a previous post (May 29, 2011), and find the combination of photographs and text to be interesting, informative, and inviting.

The earliest memoir, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey by Alexander Theroux, is liberally illustrated and includes the most personal information about Edward Gorey. Presented as a combination of biography and personal memoir, this is my least favorite of the three books, mainly due to the tone of the writing... more than one person has referred to this book as inaccurate and bitchy!

The most recent published memoir is Carol Verburg's Edward Gorey Plays Cape Cod. While on the whole I like this publication, my main disappointment is its extreme brevity. At what amounts less than 20 written pages (when you remove the illustrations), this piece reads like a fleshed-out outline for a larger work. Ms. Verburg states that she will be publishing the scripts for Mr. Gorey's theatrical works - hopefully, in the upcoming book she will be telling us more about the shows themselves alongside the scripts, and possibly including interviews with others involved in the productions.

Fine Art Prints, Part 8

We continue with Gotham Book Mart's 2002 list of prints created by Edward Gorey. Most of the prints shown on this post are available for purchase from The Edward Gorey House - edwardgoreyhouse.org - although some editions are sold out.

#26 Free Fall Elephant - 35/95 prints were hand signed.
#27 Elephant and Prostrate Passenger - 35/95 prints were hand signed.
#28 Elephant on Precipice Facing Left with Broken Trunk - 20/95 prints were hand signed.
#29 Elephant in Backstroke (Printed in deep blue/black ink) - 20/95 prints were hand signed.
#30 Floating Blotted Line Elephant - 45/95 prints were hand signed.
#31 Elephant on Three Legs, Trunk Aloft - 45/95 prints were hand signed.
#32 Pink Elephant in Handstand - 95/95 prints were hand signed. I have #66/95 in my collection. This is one of my favorite Gorey prints...the elephant looks very happy!
#33 Seated Green Elephant - 34/95 prints were hand signed. I have #25/95 in my collection.
#34 Elephant on Two Legs with raised trunk - 20/95 prints were hand signed.
#35 "E" Elephant - 37/95 prints were hand signed.

The Deadly Blotter

The Deadly Blotter, Thoughtful Alphabet XVII by Edward Gorey was published in 1997 using his Fantod Press imprint. This title was issued in olive green wrappers in an signed limited edition of 750 numbered and 26 lettered (A to Z). I am have copies #8/750 and #H/26. This title is included in Amphigorey Again.

At the time of publication, I was thrilled to see a hand illustrated book rather than the clip art-illustrated publications Mr. Gorey had seemed to have gotten so fond of creating. While Mr. Gorey has given up his extensively crosshatched backgrounds, there are flower urns throughout this book with great designs on them. This is the one title where Mr. Gorey forgot to add his signature calling card to one of the drawings.

The announcement card (shown above and to the left) for The Deadly Blotter gives information on which Thoughtful Alphabets have already been published, noting the gaps in the numbering sequence. Presumably, Edward Gorey had written all of these alphabets, but had not gotten around to publishing them.

Lilliput Magazine

Lilliput was a small format British monthly publication founded in 1937. The magazine featured short stories, humor, and arts related subjects. In the 1950's is was also known for publishing fairly daring pictures of female nudes. It ceased publication in 1960 when it merged with the pornographic magazine Men Only.

Until 1949, every issue had a front cover illustration by Walter Trier, which showed a scene that always included a man, a woman and a small terrier dog. Somewhere around 1949/52, Edward Gorey created a cover design for the magazine. I do not know if this cover art was actually used for the magazine, but the art is spectacular.
I recently acquired the original artwork for this cover. The image appears as a stained glass window and features three men in an old fashioned car who are obviously lost. The line work on this piece is breathtaking, many lines being mere whispers of the pen on paper. Much care has been taken to modulate the colors of the pieces of "glass", exactly as this style of window would be created. The price symbol for One Shilling is shown in the upper right hand corner. The signature in the lower right hand corner is early and fairly unusual, being signed EStJG for Mr. Gorey's full name ~ Edward St. John Gorey.

The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge

The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge by Brad Strickland was the final book in the John Bellairs's series with a dust jacket and frontis illustration by Edward Gorey. Published by Dial Books for Young Readers in 2000, this was probably the last illustration project completed by Mr. Gorey before his death in April of that year.

The preliminary art for the "beast" was still on his drawing table when Kevin McDermott photographed Mr. Gorey's home just days after he died. It can be seen in Mr. McDermott's book Elephant House, The Home of Edward Gorey (see my posting from May 29, 2011 for information on this book).
The dust jacket painting and the black and white frontis illustration were included in the 2001 Bromer Booksellers catalog. I really like the frontis art for this title, with the stained glass window in the stairwell.