Snow

We had the first snow of the season last night.

Be careful when wandering out into the snow!

Another Edward Gorey Review

After my last post, I have heard about a couple of reviews and written pieces by Edward Gorey that appeared in newspapers. These are very difficult to come across, and I must thank a reader of this blog for the scan below. In this book review dated November 5, 1967, Edward Gorey writes for the Chicago Tribune about a book titled Animal Gardens by Emily Hahn.

The book discusses the subject of keeping animals in a zoo environment and presents the pros and cons of this practice, along with interesting animal facts. Animal welfare is a concern that Edward Gorey was passionate about, and his estate is dedicated to promoting the welfare of all creatures, great and small.

 

Edward Gorey - Book Reviewer

While studying some Edward Gorey - related scans of magazine articles, I ran across this piece which was published in the May 1986 issue of Vogue.

This is interesting not only for the illustration created for the article, but even more so because Mr. Gorey has been persuaded to write the book review himself. The book series he reviews is the Lucia series by E. F. Benton which are a particular favorite of his. This series gets mentioned numerous times in interviews with Mr. Gorey as a favorite of his, even though he describes the books as being, "Written with great good nature and the lowest possible view of human nature".

On This Day In History...

Here is an odd coincidence...

On Friday October 20, 1882 Bela Lugosi is born. The famed Hungarian actor is best remembered for his starring role in Dracula, both on Broadway in 1927 and the classic 1931 film. Edward Van Sloan also appears in both the stage and screen versions portraying Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. The 1927 Broadway version opened on Wednesday October 2, 1927 and ran for 261 performances, closing on Saturday May 19, 1928.

Fast forward to Thursday October 20, 1977 for the Broadway opening of Edward Gorey's Dracula starring Frank Langella. This production will play 925 performances before closing on Sunday January 6, 1980.

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.