Gorey, Edward, 1925–2000, American illustrator and writer, b. Chicago, grad Harvard. He lived and worked in New York City and Cape Cod until 1986 when he moved permanently to the Cape. Gorey is celebrated for his more than 100 small volumes of gothic fables, meticulously hand-lettered and intricately illustrated, most of them in verse. His works are remarkable combinations of the eccentric, the witty, and the macabre and are illustrated lavishly and with superb technique in dark and abundant Edwardian detail. Odd, mysterious, cool, oblique, and very funny, Gorey's works have a completely unique appeal. Many of his early books, published in small editions, have become collector's items; they include The Unstrung Harp (1953) and The Object-Lesson (1958). His later single works include The Awdrey-Gore Legacy (1972), a spoof on English murder mysteries; The Lavender Leotard (1973), concerning ballet; Amphigorey (1975); Amphigorey Too (1980); Amphigorey Also (1983); and The Eclectic Abecedarium (1985).

Bibliography

See the interviews in Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey (2001), ed. by K. Wilkin.

Gorey, Edward (St. John)

(born Feb. 22, 1925, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died April 15, 2000, Hyannis, Mass.) U.S. writer, illustrator, and designer. He studied at Harvard University and worked as an illustrator before publishing his first children's book, The Doubtful Guest, in 1957. In this and later books such as The Hapless Child (1961) and The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1962), his arch nonsense verse and mock-Victorian prose accompany pen-and-ink drawings of beady-eyed, blank-faced individuals in Edwardian costume whose dignified demeanour is undercut by silly, often macabre events. His work has been anthologized in Amphigorey (1972), Amphigorey Too (1975), and Amphigorey Also (1983).

Gorey, Edward (St. John) (Eduard Blutig, Mrs. Regera Dowdy, Raddory Gewe, Hyacinthe Phypps, Edward Pig, Ogred Weary, among many pen names) (1925– ) illustrator, writer, designer; born in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard (1950) and by 1953 was working in New York City as a magazine staff artist. To publish his own distinctive work with its macabre subjects, gothic illustrations, and black humor, he established his own Fantod Press (1962). As his books garnered a wider public, he was able to divide his time between New York and Cape Cod, Mass. In later years he became a stage designer—as for the play Dracula (1977).