Halloween Madness

Ok...I know this isn't strictly Edward Gorey related, but I had to share it with everyone. While walking our dogs this evening we came across this totally unique lawn decoration about a block from our house. It made us both laugh out loud and we wanted to get a photo before something happened to it. Happy Halloween!!

The Ghost in the Mirror

The Ghost in the Mirror was the first John Bellairs story to be completed by Brad Strickland. Published in 1993 by Dial Books for Young Readers, The Ghost in the Mirror returns Lewis Barnavelt, Uncle Jonathan, Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita Pottinger to the book series after a long absence. The story of how Brad Strickland came to work on, and eventually continue the Bellairs books is detailed on www.belairsia.com in the bibliography section.

Edward Gorey created the artwork for the dust jacket and the frontis illustration for this title. Mr. Strickland's name does not appear on the dust jacket because the cover art was completed and printed before Mr. Bellairs passed away, so "Completed by Brad Strickland" only appears on the title page.

This piece of original art by Edward Gorey is a masterpiece of suspense and terror. If you did not know that it was a piece of dust jacket artwork, you would view it as a wonderfully creepy painting by Mr. Gorey. Barely visible on the printed dust jacket are two faces which appear on the front cover inside the "O" of Ghost and Mirror. They can be seen a bit more clearly floating in the sky on the original art.

The dust jacket painting was included in Bromer Booksellers 2001 catalog of Gorey items. The hand-lettered type for the cover/spine was included as a separate piece of art. I am not aware of the frontis drawing being available from Bromer or Gotham Book Mart.

More Dracula Pillow Designs

After my posting on August 22, 2010, the folks at the Edward Gorey House were kind enough to find the pillow I showed in my posting and forward a better photo for everyone to see. Standing in the gallery, Assistant Director Duncan Gibson (on the right) and his partner Morgan are shown holding the pillow for a better view. This photo also gives a glimpse of the current exhibition and shows just how many wonderful books, artwork and objects are on display.


While taking another look at my previous posting/photo, I realized that I forgot to point out that Director Rick Jones is thumbing through a sketchbook of rough sketches for the pillows (click on the photo to enlarge). This is a good example of each step of the working methods Edward Gorey went through for this stage production. The first step was to sketch and jot down notes on his ideas in a notebook. The second step was to refine and define his ideas into a finished piece of art which was given to the theater's set crew. The final step was to use the drawings to create the life sized sets and set decorations.

The Grand Passion & The Doleful Domesticity

Edward Gorey's The Grand Passion and The Doleful Domesticity were published in 1992 by the Fantod Press. The Doleful Domesticity was first printed in the Yale Review in the Summer of 1991, and the cover has black printing on hot pink card stock (which my scanner shows as white in the photo below). The Grand Passion appeared in The New York Times Magazine in June 1976, and was included in Amphigorey Also. The cover has black printing on yellow card stock.


The two books were issued together as a signed, numbered, limited edition of 500 sets in a printed envelope (see below) and were not sold individually. Each pair of books has the same limitation number. I am showing copies #212/500. The announcement card used to promote this publication is shown at the bottom of the posting.

The Grand Passion is an operatic tale featuring a caricature Oriental couple which could have stepped straight out of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. In 1983, Mr. Gorey created sets and costumes for a production of The Mikado which was presented at Carnegie Mellon University.

In The Doleful Domesticity, what appears to be the same couple are moving house with their baby and young child. Both of these tales are wonderfully disjointed in the best Edward Gorey fashion.

The Mansion in the Mist

The Mansion in the Mist by John Bellairs features a wrap around dust jacket design and a frontis illustration by Edward Gorey. Published in 1992 by Dial Books for Young Readers, this is the fourth (and final) outing for Anthony Monday and Miss Eells. This title was also the last to be written completely by Mr. Bellairs before his death on March 8, 1991. At the request of the estate, subsequent titles from this series have been completed, expanded, or completely written by Brad Strickland.

Edward Gorey created a dust jacket design for this title that has a definite front and back which does not blend seamlessly. Because of this, the art from this title was cut in half and the two sections were sold separately by Gotham Book Mart in the mid 1990's. The rear portion of this art (the mansion) sold on eBay in July 2000 along with two other pieces of original Edward Gorey artwork. I was bidding (and won the auction) on one of the other pieces of art.

Dracula Pillow Designs

There has been a lot of cleaning going on at our house lately, and in the course of things Bill has been finding some interesting tidbits...and reminders of "things that got away"...


In 1986, Bill, myself and a friend went to New York City for a vacation. On this trip, we took many photos (a practice we have to get back in the habit of doing). This turned out to be one of our more eventful trips to NYC for many reasons, but I will stick to the Edward Gorey story for this posting.

Among the places we visited was The Gotham Book Mart in the Diamond District. In the photo above, Bill is central outside the shop window which was displaying Gorey Books and posters. The long familiar sign hung over the entrance to greet visitors. No visit to GBM was complete without a trip to the second floor gallery, especially when there was an Edward Gorey exhibition on display. To my great surprise, there were several pieces of original artwork being offered for sale. To my great disappointment, I could not afford any of the pieces at that time.


I was allowed to take a couple photos of the art offerings, and Bill ran across these pictures while cleaning. Available were three pillow designs from the set of the Broadway production of Dracula and a two part drawing from Three Ladies Beside the Sea (photo below, see my posting from January 5, 2009 for more on this book). I do not remember what the Three Ladies art was priced at, but I do remember that the pillow sketches were $400.00 each which was too rich for my pocketbook at the time.


In 2006, Bill and I visited the Edward Gorey House museum about a week before the Dracula exhibition opened. One of the items we were able to preview while visiting was a pillow from the set of the stage play. I held the pillow up (see the photo below with Gorey House Director Rick Jones) and Bill snapped a photo. Referencing the 1986 photo with the photo taken 20 years later, the pillow that was on display is one of the three designs that I saw at GBM! Now, if I only had more money back then...

The Betrayed Confidence

The Betrayed Confidence is a compilation of seven Dogear Wryde Postcard sets. Dogear Wryde is the anagram which Edward Gorey's used primarily for postcard sets. Published in 1992 by Parnassus Imprints, Orleans, MA, The Betrayed Confidence was issued as a square book in illustrated wrappers. My trade copy is signed by Mr. Gorey on the title page. To the right is the front and back of the announcement card for this book.

Even though this is book is made up of reprints of seven postcard sets from 1976 through 1990, Mr. Gorey did create new illustrations for the front cover, rear cover and the frontis page. There is also a new title illustration for the Scene de Ballet Postcards images which was not part of the original publication (see my posting from August 29, 2009).

In addition to the standard trade printing, The Betrayed Confidence was issued in a slipcased limited edition of 250 signed, numbered copies. The printing of the book was the same as the trade edition, with an additional colophon/limitation page tipped into the back of the book. The limited edition also included a loose limited edition print which was created especially for this edition (see photo to the left). The print is signed and numbered, and the numbering matches the number of the book. I am showing copy #73/250.