SeeIng Ghosts

Edward Gorey & The Gashlycrumb Tinies

Part Tim Burton long before there was Burton, part Edgar Allan Poe long after Poe, this ‘children’s book for adults’ is my new favorite thing!

The Gashlycrumb Tinies: A Very Gorey Alphabet Book was published in 1963, and is just one of more than 40 books that Gorey published in his lifetime. Meaning… I have some catching up to do! His work, which spans over six decades, is collected in four excellent volumes entitled Amphigorey — I, II, III, IV — a play on the word amphigory, meaning a nonsense verse or composition.

I cannot express how awesome I think these are! My next sewing project will be a quilt of his illustrations, maybe with a throw pillow, or two, of my favorites! The following are illustrations from A Very Gorey Alphabet Book.

 

Along with writing and illustrating his own work, Gorey would occasionally illustrate existing literature, like classic fairy tales, H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds, and T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. But Gorey, unbeknownst to many, also designed dozens of book covers, including a number for some of literary history’s greatest classics during the paperback revolution, primarily while working at the Doubleday art department between 1953 and 1960.
The amount of cool information I found, while Googling Gorey and his work, was endless! There is way too much for me to share here, but if you’re as interested as I am, you can start your search here – http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org – or just do a random Google Image search to see what you’ll find!!
Many thanks to my friend Ora Crawford, for introducing me to the wonderful world of Edward Gorey & The Gashlycrumb Tinies!