Away On A Visit

This past weekend, Bill and I took a quick trip to Los Angeles, California for our stained glass business and had a free day on Saturday. We decided to take a day trip to the Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena to see the artwork on display in the several museum buildings and stroll the grounds. The grounds are extensive, and visitors need a good pair of comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen and a sense of adventure! The variety of the themed gardens include Rose, Australian, Japanese, Sub-Tropical, Lily Pond, Children's, and Cactus gardens.

So what does this have to do with Edward Gorey, apart from the impressive Gorey display in the gift shop? Whenever I visit a new place I bring along my influences and inspirations with me. For our trip to the Huntington, I was forcibly reminded of many books and drawings by Edward Gorey! In the photo at the top of the post, if you remove the palms, you have a Gorey vista complete with manicured lawn and statues - a perfect setting for a mischief to occur.

Anyone who wonders what it would be like to visit The Evil Garden, Edward Gorey's fantastically deadly park where the foliage is forbidding and getting out alive is practically impossible, should visit the Huntington's Cactus Garden! This is one garden where you definitely do not want to stray from the paths. Located to the left of the entrance, one of the first things we ran across on our way into the garden was a lush plant with bright red, juicy berries...and a sign saying NOT to eat them as they would certainly disagree with you!

The further we went into the Cactus Garden, the more we felt like the plants were allowing us to pass, only to lure us into a false sense of security while they picked the right time to pounce! This is not a small cluster of interesting cactus, this garden is a maze of walkways with rare and beautiful plants of jaw-dropping proportions and quantities. We were happy we picked up a map when we entered the grounds, because we found ourselves wandering the paths of this garden without knowing where we were exactly.

The Lily Ponds were beautifully choked with water plants, fish and even turtles. I kept an eye out for Little Zooks to go flying past on his trajectory.

When next in Pasadena, visit the spectacular Huntington Library and Gardens and look at things with a Gorey perspective! Who knows what you may see...

I'll Be Back!

I will be back to blogging soon! It has been a hectic month...Hope you will tune back in!

A Halloween Treat & Edward Gorey's Ghosts

A Halloween Treat/Edward Gorey's Ghosts is the first "new" book by Edward Gorey to be published since 1999's The Headless Bust. The book is published by Bloomsbury USA, and is now available.

A Halloween Treat is a short piece, obviously created by Mr. Gorey for a periodical or similar publication. The ten delightful illustrations - each accompanies one letter for the word Halloween plus one additional picture - feature children and Mr. Gorey's signature cats in various disguises out Trick or Treating. The "cat bat" for the second "e" is particularly memorable. The participants occasionally comment on their adventures.

When the book is flipped over, Edward Gorey's Ghosts can be read from the other side.  This "book" features 24 illustrations, each of which includes a ghost. Culled from Mr. Gorey's vast illustration career, the images come from the Bellairs book series (which is full of ghosts!), pictures made for posters and pamphlets, obscure drawings, and Mr. Gorey's own books. While many of the images may be familiar to his fans, there are several wonderful surprises in this book.

Pomegranate Books

Can you still get a new first edition book by Edward Gorey at a bookstore? The answer is YES! If you know what you are looking for!

Over the past couple years, the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust has been working with Pomegranate Books to publish a number of Edward Gorey's books. While many of these books are reprints of titles previously offered, a handful of the titles are actually the first hardcover trade editions - not reprints or second printings.

Edward Gorey privately printed many of his stories as small, limited edition volumes under his Fantod Press imprint. These books were offered for sale through Gotham Book Mart and select book dealers. Many of the limited edition books were never printed in regular, or "trade" hardcover editions...until now.

First edition Edward Gorey books published by Pomegranate include: The Black Doll, The Evil Garden, The Lost Lions, Thoughtful Alphabets (The Just Dessert & The Deadly Blotter), The Sopping Thursday and The Osbick Bird. These titles represent the first trade hardcover printings of the books, and thus are not reprints, but first editions!

An Interesting Article

The following article appeared in the New York Review of Books on August 4, 2012: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/aug/04/collecting-edward-gorey This well written article tells about the Edward Gorey exhibition at Columbia University in New York City. The only strange thing about this article is that it was so late. The show closed less than a week after the article appeared.

Mohonk Mountain House Mystery Weekends

Annual Murder Mystery Weekends at the Mohonk Mountain House resort began in 1977 and continue today. Located in the Caskill Mountains near New York City, guests arrive at the hotel where actors, some posing as guests, provide an interactive weekend in which a murder takes place and everyone is encouraged to help solve the mystery. The final solution is provided, along with brunch, on Sunday morning. Also present at these weekends are mystery authors who provide talks about their work.

Edward Gorey was commissioned to provide a brochure illustration for the very first of these weekends, and continued to do so for many years. Mr. Gorey created classic images for each brochure, my favorite being the killer posing as a snowman from 1979. I am not sure how many brochures he illustrated, but I know my set is incomplete. I have six brochures and each is hand signed by Mr. Gorey. The first two brochures are printed in two colors, the others in black and white.

A theme is picked for each mystery weekend, and after the first two January outings, the event seems to have moved permanently to March.

Edward Gorey in TV Guide

During his long career, Edward Gorey created covers and spot illustrations for many periodicals, some popular and some obscure. Mr. Gorey was often hired by TV Guide to provide spot illustrations for the weekly magazine, which was appropriate since he was an inveterate television viewer. I do find it odd that a magazine such a this would commission work by Mr. Gorey, but that is why he had an agent!

Between 1974 and 1993, Mr. Gorey's work appeared in TV Guide over 20 times.  Due to the small format of the magazine, Edward Gorey's TV Guide pieces were drawn larger than the finished printed size, and were almost always created in color. I have two TV Guide spot illustrations in my collection, both of which appeared in many issues of the magazine in the 1980's and '90s.
 

The first pen, ink & watercolor image is a delightful, tiny drawing of a detective making notes for the Insider section. This small drawing is only 1.5" x 1" and is flawlessly executed. A fellow collector pointed out that there are two versions of this drawing that appeared in the magazine in different issues. The first version shows more of the detective's face and appears in issues up to 1989. The drawing in my collection is appears in several issues beginning in 1990. Obviously, Edward Gorey was asked to recreate the same drawing for continued use in the magazine.

The next piece of art is 3" x 5" and was used on the last page of the magazine for the Review section. It is a self portrait of Mr. Gorey sitting in front of an abnormally large television set, dressed in the style of comfortable clothing he often wore around the Cape - shorts, baggy knit sweater, hat and scarf. Notepad in hand, and with provisions nearby for a long viewing session, the most entertaining and inexplicable part of the drawing is the large green alligator who is present.

In the magazine, the illustration was used for a review of Dolly, a musical variety show featuring Dolly Parton which lasted 22 installments. This was Ms. Parton's second attempt at a weekly TV show. A photographic image of Dolly along side Kermit the Frog appears on the television screen. The drawing is positioned at the top of the page, is poorly printed and cut off (at least in my copy).