That Time of Year...

Would you like to have your fortune told? Edward Gorey Fantod Pack readings now through Halloween!!

A Trip To NYC

A recent trip to New York City had us running from one end of Manhattan to the other in pursuit of art, books, exhibitions, friends and theater. One highlight of the trip was a visit to the New York Public Library where there is a special exhibition on the history of children's books entitled The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter. The exhibit showcases many examples of famous and lesser known authors and illustrators and will be on display until March 23, 2014.

Unfortunately, Edward Gorey was not included in the line-up, but the display gives visitors a chance to see many of his influences and inspirations. Of particular interest to Goreyphiles is an example of an early moral primer which inspired The Eclectic Abecedarium.

Also on display is a book of original drawings and limericks by Edward Lear (see photo at the top of the post) and four original John Tenniel pencil drawings from Alice in Wonderland, which are so finely drawn as to be almost non-existent on the paper - the precision and line control really reminded me of original artwork by Edward Gorey.

 

There are too many other books and pieces of artwork to list. The exhibition is free and is well worth a visit.

Goreyana Turns Five!

"Welcome to my Edward Gorey blog." This was the first sentence of my first post on October 5, 2008. I began Goreyana ~ my collecting blog devoted to the works of Edward Gorey five years ago today and as of this morning, my blog has just topped 200,000 visits.

I could not be more thrilled and I would like to thank everyone who has visited this blog and has enjoyed my posts. I have especially enjoyed hearing from others with an interest the work of Edward Gorey. Your comments and questions keep me writing and researching topics of interest. I look forward to the next five years.

The Bell, The Book and The Spellbinder Original Artwork

The Bell, The Book, and the Spellbinder by Brad Strickland (continuing the stories by John Bellairs) was published in 1997 and features a wrap around dust jacket design by Edward Gorey.

It is always exciting to see Edward Gorey's original paintings from the Bellairs series. As with most of Mr. Gorey's original artwork, in person the images appear to be larger than the printed versions, when in fact they are executed 100% to the final printings. As can be seen in the image above, the painted background on this piece extends well beyond the crop marks which indicate the dimensions of the jacket and where the spine will be positioned.

Mr. Gorey usually stays close to the crop marks when painting the outside edges of the art, and the crosshatched parts of this image do just that. The watercolor background swirls and fairly bursts at the edges giving the painting a wild, stormy look. Because of this, the original artwork has much more movement than the cropped image on the printed dust jacket.

Mr. Gorey always hand drew the typography for the Bellairs covers as a separate piece of art. This way he was able to work with India Ink and have the type reversed to appear white on the final printing. Working this way allowed him more freedom to paint, while keeping the type crisp on the final dust jacket. When designing the artwork, Mr. Gorey also had to consider the practical needs of the publisher. The lower left corner of the back was left free for the UPC code, and while he hand wrote "Dial" on the spine, he had to leave room for the official publisher's logo.

Cabaret Macabre

Happenstance Theater is a professional theatrical company which performs in various venues in and around Maryland. In what is becoming a highly anticipated Fall tradition, the company will be performing an all new Cabaret Macabre~ a theatrical piece inspired by "Edward Gorey, Victorian nightmares, dangerous croquet, Gothic romance, afternoon tea, and the perils of the deep".

Now in its 4th year, this annual excursion will be performed in Silver Spring, MD in October & November, and will also be part of the New Orleans Fringe Festival in November. To find out more about this unusual theatrical event, click here. Be sure and watch the Dangerous Croquet video from last year's show!

Who Would You Like To Meet?

On Sunday September 8, The New York Times Sunday Book Review interviewed Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. One of the questions put to her was "If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be?" Click here to read her answer...

Writing a Collecting Blog

I was asked by The Edward Gorey House to provide a short piece about writing this blog. They have published my piece on their website, which can be read here.