View source for Edward Gorey

{{Short description|American writer and illustrator (1925–2000)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Edward Gorey
| image         = Edward Gorey takes on Henri Bendel's window.jpg
| caption       = Gorey setting up mannequins in [[Henri Bendel]]'s window, 1978
| birth_name    = Edward St. John Gorey
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1925|2|22}}
| birth_place   = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2000|4|15|1925|2|22}}
| death_place   = [[Cape Cod Hospital]], [[Hyannis, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| field         = Writer, illustrator, poet, costume designer
| training      = [[Art Institute of Chicago]], [[Harvard University]]
| movement      = [[Literary nonsense]], [[surrealism]]
| works         = ''[[The Gashlycrumb Tinies]]'', ''[[The Doubtful Guest]]'', ''[[Mystery!]]''
| awards        = [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design]]<br>[[Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis]]
}}

'''Edward St. John Gorey'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Christian |first=Maxwell |date=2020-10-27 |title=Edward Gorey |url=https://wherecreativityworks.com/edward-gorey-2/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Where Creativity Works |language=en-US}}</ref> (February 22, 1925&nbsp;– April 15, 2000) was an [[Americans|American]] writer, [[Tony Awards|Tony Award]]-winning costume designer,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dracula – Broadway Play – 1977 Revival {{!}} IBDB|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/dracula-4019#Awards|access-date=2021-10-05|website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers.<ref>{{cite news| last = Kelley| first = Tina| title = Edward Gorey, Eerie Illustrator And Writer, 75| newspaper = The New York Times| date = April 16, 2000| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/16/nyregion/edward-gorey-eerie-illustrator-and-writer-75.html }}</ref> His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] settings.

== Early life ==
Gorey was born in [[Chicago]]. His parents, Helen Dunham (née Garvey) and Edward Leo Gorey,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wargs.com/other/gorey.html|title=Ancestry of Edward Gorey|last=Reitwiesner|first=William Addams|website=www.wargs.com}}</ref> divorced in 1936 when he was 11. His father remarried in 1952 when he was 27. His stepmother was [[Corinna Mura]] (1910–1965), a cabaret singer who had a small role in ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' as the woman playing the guitar while singing "[[La Marseillaise]]" at Rick's Café Américain. His father was briefly a journalist. Gorey's maternal great-grandmother, Helen St. John Garvey, was a nineteenth-century [[greeting card]] illustrator,<ref>{{cite web |title=Gorey's Early Life and Childhood |url=http://www.lib.luc.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/gorey/childhood-and-early-life |website=Loyola University Chicago Digital Special Collections |publisher=Loyola University Chicago |access-date=7 February 2023}}</ref> from whom he claimed to have inherited his talents.

From 1934 to 1937, Gorey attended public school in the Chicago suburb of [[Wilmette, Illinois]], where his classmates included [[Charlton Heston]], [[Warren MacKenzie]], and [[Joan Mitchell]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dery|first=Mark|title=Born to Be Posthumous : The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey|date=2018|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|isbn=978-0-316-18854-8|edition=|location=New York|pages=44|oclc=1028203847}}</ref> Some of his earliest preserved work appears in the Stolp School yearbook for 1937.<ref name="Smithsonian">[[Smithsonian Institution]] [https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/surveys/chicago/wilmette-historical-museum/1937-stolp-school-yearbook-edward-gorey 1937 Stolp School yearbook with Edward Gorey juvenilia]</ref> Afterward, he attended the [[Francis W. Parker School (Chicago)|Francis W. Parker School]] in Chicago. He spent 1944 to 1946 in the [[United States Army|Army]] at [[Dugway Proving Ground]] in [[Utah]]. He then attended [[Harvard University]], beginning in 1946 and graduating in the class of 1950; he studied French and roomed with poet [[Frank O'Hara]].<ref name="HARVARDMAGAZINE2007">Lumenello, Susan, [http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/03/edward-gorey.html "Edward Gorey: Brief life of an artful author: 1925–2000"], ''[[Harvard Magazine]]'', March–April 2007</ref>  Starting in 1951, Gorey illustrated poetry books by [[Merrill Moore (poet)|Merrill Moore]] for [[Twayne Publishers]] including ''[https://archive.org/details/caserecordfromso00moor/mode/2up Case Record from a Sonnetorium]'' (many illustrations by Gorey, 1951), and ''More Clinical Sonnets'' (1953).<ref>{{cite book |title=I Never Had a Best-seller: The Story of a Small Publisher |first=Jacob |last=Steinberg |year=1992 |publisher=Hippocrene Books |isbn=9780781800495 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uo8VAQAAIAAJ&q=Edward%20Gorey |access-date=January 4, 2023}}</ref>

In the early 1950s, Gorey, with a group of recent Harvard and Radcliffe alumni including [[Alison Lurie]] (1947), [[John Ashbery]] (1949), [[Donald Hall]] (1951), and [[Frank O'Hara]] (1950), amongst others, founded the Poets' Theatre in Cambridge, which was supported by Harvard faculty members [[John Ciardi]] and [[Thornton Wilder]].<ref name="HARVARDMAGAZINE2007" /><ref name="GRANDSTREET1984">[[Nora Sayre|Sayre, Nora]], [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/25006626 "The Poets' Theatre: A Memoir of the Fifties"], ''[[Grand Street (magazine)|Grand Street]]'', Vol. 3, No. 3 (Spring, 1984), pp. 92–105. Published by: Ben Sonnenberg</ref><ref name="HARVARDMAGAZINE2002">[http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/01/obsessed-at-harvard.html "Open Book: Obsessed at Harvard"], ''Harvard Magazine'', January–February 2002</ref>

He frequently stated that his formal art training was "negligible"; Gorey studied art for one semester at the [[School of the Art Institute of Chicago]] in 1943.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Horizons/2013/0222/Edward-Gorey-writer-artist-and-a-most-puzzling-man |publisher=Christian Science Monitor |title=Edward Gorey: writer, artist, and a most puzzling man |date=February 22, 2013 |author=Aimee Ortiz}}</ref>

== Career ==
[[File:Gorey28.jpg|right|thumb|Gorey in the kitchen of his home in [[Yarmouth, Massachusetts|Yarmouth]], [[Cape Cod]], 1999]]

From 1953 to 1960, he lived in [[Manhattan]] and worked for the Art Department of [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] Anchor, where he illustrated book covers,<ref name="isbn_9780399581038">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DANIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |page=111 |title=The Look of the Book: Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature |author=Peter Mendelsund, David J. Alworth |publisher=Rodale |year=2020|isbn=9780399581038 }}</ref> added illustrations to text,<ref name="isbn_9780399581038"/> and provided [[typography|typographic]] design.<!--Reference supporting the typographic design: The 1957 New York Doubleday Anchor edition of [[George Pólya]]'s ''[[How to Solve It]]'' states on its copyright page, "Typography by Edward Gorey".--> He illustrated works as diverse as [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula]]'', [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.heavymetal.com/news/edward-goreys-illustrations-for-a-1960-edition-of-war-of-the-worlds/ |title=Edward Gorey's Illustrations for a 1960 Edition of "War of the Worlds" |date=June 18, 2015 |publisher=HeavyMetal.com}}</ref> and [[T. S. Eliot]]'s ''[[Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Old Possum's book of practical cats|first1=T. S. |last1=Eliot |first2=Edward |last2=Gorey|publisher=Harcourt Children's Books|oclc = 1272812677 |year=1967|isbn=9780547248271}}</ref> Throughout his career, he illustrated over 200 book covers for Doubleday Anchor, Random House's Looking Glass Library, Bobbs-Merrill, and as a freelance artist.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Heller|first=Steven|title=Edward Gorey: his book cover art and design|publisher=Pomegranate|year=2015|isbn=978-0-7649-7147-1|location=Portland, Oregon|pages=5}}</ref> In later years he produced cover illustrations and interior artwork for many children's books by [[John Bellairs]], as well as books begun by Bellairs and continued by [[Brad Strickland]] after Bellairs' death.

His first independent work, ''The Unstrung Harp'', was published in 1953. He also published under various pen names, some of which were [[anagram]]s of his first and last names, such as Ogdred Weary,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/arts_culture/2020/11/gorey-tales-the-stories-and-art-of-edward-gorey.html|publisher=Toronto Public Library |title=Gorey Tales: The Art and Stories of Edward Gorey|date=November 13, 2020}}</ref> Dogear Wryde, Ms. Regera Dowdy, and dozens more. His books also feature the names Eduard Blutig ("Edward Gory"), a German-language [[pun]] on his own name, and O. Müde (German for O. Weary).

At the prompting of Harry Stanton, an editor and vice president at [[Addison-Wesley]], Gorey collaborated on a number of works (and continued a lifelong correspondence) with [[Peter Neumeyer|Peter F. Neumeyer]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Neumeyer|first=Peter|title=Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey and Peter F. Neumeyer|publisher=Pomegranate Communications Inc.|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7649-5947-9|location=San Francisco, California|pages=7–21}}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]'' credits bookstore owner Andreas Brown and his store, the [[Gotham Book Mart]], with launching Gorey's career: "It became the central clearing house for Mr. Gorey, presenting exhibitions of his work in the store's gallery and eventually turning him into an international celebrity."<ref>{{cite news| last = Gussow| first = Mel| title = Edward Gorey, Artist and Author Who Turned the Macabre into a Career, Dies at 75| newspaper = The New York Times| date = April 17, 2000| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/17/arts/edward-gorey-artist-and-author-who-turned-the-macabre-into-a-career-dies-at-75.html }}</ref>

Gorey's illustrated (and sometimes wordless) books, with their vaguely ominous air and ostensibly [[Victorian era|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] settings, have long had a [[cult following]].<ref>Acocella, Joan, ''[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/edward-goreys-enigmatic-world?mbid=nl_Humor%20120618&CNDID=24468011&hasha=5ab2fd85cb9acb9ad384e84d6c6dc8a9&hashb=7ac401a5dbcbe389d32b4735d8bb59e5a9393deb&spMailingID=14746853&spUserID=MTMzMTgyNTAyMTU2S0&spJobID=1540502724&spReportId=MTU0MDUwMjcyNAS2 Edward Gorey's Enigmatic World]'', The New Yorker, December 10, 2018 print edition under the headline "Funny Peculiar", with many illustrations</ref>  He made a notable impact on the world of theater with his designs for the [[Dracula (1977 play)|1977 Broadway revival of ''Dracula'']], for which he won the [[Tony Award for Best Costume Design]] and was nominated for the [[Tony Award for Best Scenic Design]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://crimereads.com/edward-gorey-designed-the-sets-for-the-1970s-broadway-run-of-dracula/ |title=EDWARD GOREY DESIGNED THE SETS FOR THE 1970S BROADWAY RUN OF DRACULA |date=October 22, 2020 |last=Rutigliano |first=Olivia |author-link=Olivia Rutigliano }}</ref> In 1980, Gorey became particularly well known for his animated introduction to the [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] series ''[[Mystery!]]'' In the introduction of each ''[[Mystery!]]'' episode, host [[Vincent Price]] would welcome viewers to "Gorey Mansion".

[[File:Edward Gorey House 3.jpg|right|thumb|[[Edward Gorey House]], [[Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts]] (2006)]]

Because of the settings and style of Gorey's work, many people have assumed he was British; in fact, he only left the U.S. once, for a visit to the Scottish Hebrides. In later years, he lived year-round in [[Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts]], on [[Cape Cod]], where he wrote and directed numerous evening-length entertainments, often featuring his own [[papier-mâché]] puppets, an ensemble known as Le Theatricule Stoique. The first of these productions, ''Lost Shoelaces'', premiered in [[Woods Hole, Massachusetts]], on August 13, 1987.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ross|first=Clifford|title=The World of Edward Gorey|publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc|others=Karen Wilkin, Ruth A. Peltason, Edward Gorey|year=1996|isbn=0-8109-3988-6|location=New York|pages=184|oclc=33863808}}</ref> The last was ''The White Canoe: an [[Opera seria|Opera Seria]] for Hand Puppets'', for which Gorey wrote the [[libretto]], with a score by the composer [[Daniel James Wolf]]. The opera, which was based on [[Thomas Moore]]'s poem ''The Lake of the Dismal Swamp'', was performed under the direction of Carol Verburg, a close friend and neighbor of the artist, after Gorey died. Herbert Senn and Helen Pond, two renowned set designers, created a puppet stage for the opera. In the early 1970s, Gorey wrote an unproduced screenplay for a [[silent film]], ''The Black Doll''.

After Gorey's death, one of his executors, Andreas Brown, turned up a large cache of unpublished work, both complete and incomplete. Brown described the find as "ample material for many future books and for plays based on his work".<ref name="locus">"The Data File: Gorey Discoveries", ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'', December 2000, p.11.</ref>

== Personal life ==
{{Tone|section|date=July 2021}}

Gorey was noted for his love of the [[New York City Ballet]]. He attended every performance and some rehearsals for 25 years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harvey|first=Robert|date=6 October 2021|title="Gorey, Edward (1925-2000), author and artist."|url=https://www.anb.org/search?q=Edward+gorey&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true|journal=American National Biography|via=American National Biography Online}}</ref>

Critic [[David Ehrenstein]], writing in ''[[Gay City News]]'', asserts that Gorey was discreet about his sexuality in the "Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell era" of the 1950s. "Stonewall changed all that—making gay a discussable mainstream topic," writes Ehrenstein. "But it didn't change things for Gorey. To those in the know, his sensibility was clearly gay, but his sexual life was as covert as his self was overt."<ref>{{cite web |date=19 August 2019 |title=Edward Gorey's Discreet "Something" |url=https://www.gaycitynews.com/edward-goreys-discreet-something/}}</ref> 

[[Alexander Theroux]] states that when Gorey was pressed on the matter of his [[sexual orientation]] by "a rude ''Boston Globe'' reporter," he replied, "I don't even know." Theroux is referring to Lisa Solod's September 1980 ''Boston'' magazine interview with Gorey ("Edward Gorey: The Cape's master teller of macabre tales discusses death, decadence, and homosexuality"). Gorey's exact words were: "Well, I'm neither one thing nor the other particularly. I suppose I'm gay. But I don't really identify with it much. I am fortunate in that I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something. I do not spend my life picking up people on the streets. I was always reluctant to go to the movies with one of my friends because I always expected the police to come and haul him out of the loo at one point or the other. I know people who lead really ''outrageous'' lives. I've never said I was gay, and I've never said I wasn't. A lot of people would say that I wasn't because I never do anything about it." Shortly thereafter, he says, "What I'm trying to say is that I am a person before I am anything else."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dery |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzlTDwAAQBAJ&dq=Edward+Gorey+born+to+be+posthumous+%22I+suppose+I%27m+gay%22&pg=PT463 |title=Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey |date=November 6, 2018 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=978-0-316-18854-8 |page=410}}</ref>

Gorey's remark ''"I suppose I'm gay"'' was omitted from the Lisa Solod interview when it  appeared in ''Ascending Peculiarity'',<ref name="Gorey 2002">{{Citation|first=Edward|last=Gorey|year=2002|title=Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey|publisher=Harvest Books|isbn=978-0-15-601291-1}}</ref> a collection of interviews with Gorey edited by the art critic [[Karen Wilkin]].

From 1995 to his death in April 2000, Gorey was the subject of a ''[[cinéma vérité]]''–style documentary directed by [[Christopher Seufert]]. (As of 2025 the finished film and accompanying book are in [[post-production]].) His house, in Yarmouthport, Cape Cod, is the subject of two photography books entitled ''Elephant House: Or, the Home of Edward Gorey,'' by Kevin McDermott and “Memento Gorey: The Last Interviews with Edward Gorey” by Seufert. The house is now the [[Edward Gorey House|Edward Gorey House Museum]].<ref>McDermott, Kevin. ''Elephant House: Or, the Home of Edward Gorey''. Pomegranate Communications (2003). {{ISBN|0-7649-2495-8}} and {{ISBN|978-0-7649-2495-8}}</ref>

Gorey attended many adult art classes at Cape Cod Community College and served as a volunteer camera-person and master control operator at his nearby public access station, Cape Cod Community Television where he designed unique illustrations and community bulletin graphics.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} 

Gorey left the bulk of his estate to a charitable trust benefiting cats and dogs, as well as other species, including bats and insects.<ref name="locus" />

== Style ==
[[File:Willowdale Handcar.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Cover of ''The Willowdale Handcar'' (1962)]]

Gorey is typically described as an [[illustrator]]. His books may be found in the humor and cartoon sections of major bookstores, but books such as ''The Object Lesson'' have earned serious critical respect as works of [[surrealism|surrealist]] art. His experimentation—creating books that were wordless, books that were literally matchbox-sized, [[Pop-up book|pop-up books]], books entirely populated by inanimate objects—complicates matters still further. As Gorey told Lisa Solod of ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', "Ideally, if anything were any good, it would be indescribable."<ref>{{cite book |last = Dery |first = Mark |title = Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzlTDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Ideally,+if+anything+were+any+good,+it+would+be+indescribable.%22&pg=PT20 |publisher = Little, Brown and Company |date = November 6, 2018 |isbn = 978-0-316-18854-8 |page = 14}}</ref> Gorey classified his own work as [[literary nonsense]], the genre made most famous by [[Lewis Carroll]] and [[Edward Lear]].

In response to being called [[Gothic fiction|gothic]], he stated, "If you're doing nonsense it has to be rather awful, because there'd be no point. I'm trying to think if there's sunny nonsense. Sunny, funny nonsense for children—oh, how boring, boring, boring. As [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] said, there is no happy music. And that's true, there really isn't. And there's probably no happy nonsense, either."<ref>[[Stephen Schiff|Schiff, Stephen]]. "Edward Gorey and the Tao of Nonsense." ''The New Yorker'', November 9, 1992: 84–94, p. 89.</ref>

== Bibliography ==
{{See also|Category:Book covers by Edward Gorey}}

The exact number of books that Edward Gorey illustrated for other authors is unknown and estimated to be over 500. Some of the authors Gorey illustrated include [[Merrill Moore (poet)|Merrill Moore]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Edward Lear]], [[John Bellairs]], [[H. G. Wells]], [[Alain-Fournier]], [[Charles Dickens]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Hilaire Belloc]], [[Muriel Spark]], [[Florence Parry Heide]], [[John Updike]], [[John Ciardi]], [[Felicia Lamport]] and [[Joan Aiken]].<ref>[http://www.goreyography.com/west/articles/CTFCreview020916.html A review of third reprint] of [[Hilaire Belloc]]'s ''[[Cautionary Tales for Children]]'' interpreted using 61 of Edward Gorey's spare pen-and-ink illustrations</ref>

Gorey himself wrote 116 books.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Edward |url=https://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/pages/edward-gorey-biography |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=The Edward Gorey House}}</ref>

{{Div col}}
* ''The Unstrung Harp'', [[Little, Brown and Company|Brown and Company]], 1953
* ''The Listing Attic'', Brown and Company, 1954
* ''[[The Doubtful Guest]]'', [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]], 1957
* ''[[The Object-Lesson]]'', Doubleday, 1958
* ''The Bug Book'', Looking Glass Library, 1959
* ''The Fatal Lozenge: An Alphabet'', Obolensky, 1960
* ''[[The Curious Sofa]]: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary'', [[Astor-Honor]], 1961
* ''The Hapless Child'', Obolensky, 1961
* ''The Willowdale Handcar: Or, the Return of the Black Doll'', [[Bobbs-Merrill Company]], 1962
* ''The Beastly Baby'', [[Fantod Press]], 1962
* ''[[The Vinegar Works: Three Volumes of Moral Instruction]]'', [[Simon & Schuster]], 1963
** ''[[The Gashlycrumb Tinies]]''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dery |first1=Mark |title=The Birth, Death, and Long Afterlife of Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies |url=https://slate.com/culture/2018/11/gashlycrumb-tinies-history-edward-gorey.html |website=Slate Magazine |access-date=18 November 2018 |language=en|date=2018-11-14 }}</ref>
** ''The Insect God''
** ''The West Wing''
* ''The Wuggly Ump'', Lippincott, 1963
* ''The Nursery Frieze'', Fantod Press, 1964
* ''The Sinking Spell'', Obolensky, 1964
* ''The Remembered Visit: A Story Taken from Life'', Simon & Schuster, 1965
* ''Three Books from Fantod Press (1)'', Fantod Press, 1966
** ''The Evil Garden''
** ''The Inanimate Tragedy''
** ''The Pious Infant''
* ''The Gilded Bat'', Cape, 1967
* ''The Utter Zoo'', Meredith Press, 1967
* ''The Other Statue'', Simon & Schuster, 1968
* ''The Blue Aspic'', Meredith Press, 1968
* ''The Epiplectic Bicycle'', Dodd and Mead, 1969
* ''[[The Iron Tonic|The Iron Tonic: Or, A Winter Afternoon in Lonely Valley]]'', Albondocani Press, 1969
* ''Three Books from the Fantod Press (2)'', Fantod Press, 1970
** ''The Chinese Obelisks: Fourth Alphabet''
** ''Donald Has a Difficulty''
** ''The Osbick Bird''
* ''The Sopping Thursday'', Gotham Book Mart, 1970
* ''Three Books from the Fantod Press (3)'', Fantod Press, 1971
** ''The Deranged Cousins''
** ''The Eleventh Episode''
** ''The Untitled Book''
* ''The Awdrey-Gore Legacy'', 1972
* ''Leaves from a Mislaid Album'', Gotham Book Mart, 1972
* ''The Abandoned Sock'', Fantod Press, 1972
* ''A Limerick'', Salt-Works Press, 1973
* ''The Lavender Leotard'', Gotham Book Mart, 1973
* ''CatEgorY'', Gotham Book Mart, 1973.
* ''The Lost Lions'', Fantod Press, 1973
* ''The Green Beads'', Albondocani Press, 1978
* ''The Glorious Nosebleed: Fifth Alphabet'', Mead, 1975
* ''The Grand Passion: A Novel'', Fantod Press, 1976
* ''The Broken Spoke'', Mead, 1976
* ''The Loathsome Couple'', Mead, 1977
* ''Gorey Games'', Troubadour Press, 1979 (games designed by Larry Evans)<ref name=games>{{cite web |url=https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Gorey-Games-Evans-Larry-Troubador-Press/19781609838/bd |publisher=abebooks.co.uk |title=Gorey Games |access-date=November 22, 2018}}</ref>
* ''Dancing Cats and Neglected Murderesses'', Workman, 1980
* ''The Water Flowers'', Congdon & Weed, 1982
* ''The Dwindling Party'', [[Random House]], 1982
* ''Gorey Cats'', Troubadour Press, 1982 (with Malcolm Whyte and Nancie West Swanber)<ref name=games />
* ''The Prune People'', Albondocani Press, 1983
* ''Gorey Stories'', 1983
* ''The Tunnel Calamity'', Putnam's Sons, 1984
* ''The Eclectic Abecedarium'', Adama Books, 1985
* ''The Prune People II'', Albondocani Press, 1985
* ''The Improvable Landscape'', Albondocani Press, 1986
* ''The Raging Tide: Or, The Black Doll's Imbroglio'', Beaufort Books, 1987
* ''Q. R. V.'' (later retitled ''The Universal Solvent''), Anne & David Bromer, 1989
* ''The Stupid Joke'', Fantod Press, 1990
* ''The Fraught Settee'', Fantod Press, 1990
* ''The Doleful Domesticity; Another Novel'', Fantod Press, 1991
* ''La Balade Troublante'', Fantod Press, 1991
* ''The Retrieved Locket'', Fantod Press, 1994
* ''The Unknown Vegetable'', Fantod Press, 1995
* ''The Just Dessert: Thoughtful Alphabet XI'', Fantod Press, 1997
* ''Deadly Blotter: Thoughtful Alphabet XVII'', Fantod Press, 1997
* ''The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas'', [[Harcourt Trade Publishers|Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich]], 1998
* ''[[The Headless Bust]]: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium'', Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1999
{{div col end}}

[[File:Gashlycrumb Tinies.jpg|200px|thumb|''[[The Gashlycrumb Tinies]]'' (1963)]]

Many of Gorey's early works were published obscurely, making them rare and expensive.<ref>Gorey, Edward. '' [https://archive.org/details/amphigorey0000gore/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater Amphigorey]''. Perigree Books, 1972. 8.</ref> He published four omnibus editions that collect as many as 15 of his books into one volume:

* ''Amphigorey'', 1972 ({{ISBN|0-399-50433-8}}){{Spaced ndash}}contains ''The Unstrung Harp'', ''The Listing Attic'', ''The Doubtful Guest'', ''The Object-Lesson'', ''The Bug Book'', ''The Fatal Lozenge'', ''The Hapless Child'', ''The Curious Sofa'', ''The Willowdale Handcar'', ''[[The Gashlycrumb Tinies]]'', ''The Insect God'', ''The West Wing'', ''The Wuggly Ump'', ''The Sinking Spell'', and ''The Remembered Visit''
* ''Amphigorey Too'', 1975 ({{ISBN|0-399-50420-6}}){{Spaced ndash}}contains ''The Beastly Baby'', ''The Nursery Frieze'', ''The Pious Infant'', ''The Evil Garden'', ''The Inanimate Tragedy'', ''The Gilded Bat'', ''The Iron Tonic'', ''The Osbick Bird'', ''The Chinese Obelisks (bis)'', ''The Deranged Cousins'', ''The Eleventh Episode'', ''[The Untitled Book]'', ''The Lavender Leotard'', ''The Disrespectful Summons'', ''The Abandoned Sock'', ''The Lost Lions'', ''Story for Sara'' [by [[Alphonse Allais]]], ''The Salt Herring'' [by [[Charles Cros]]], ''Leaves from a Mislaid Album'', and ''A Limerick''
* ''Amphigorey Also'', 1983 ({{ISBN|0-15-605672-0}}){{Spaced ndash}}contains ''The Utter Zoo'', ''The Blue Aspic'', ''The Epiplectic Bicycle'', ''The Sopping Thursday'', ''The Grand Passion'', ''Les Passementeries Horribles'', ''The Eclectic Abecedarium'', ''L'Heure bleue'', ''The Broken Spoke'', ''The Awdrey-Gore Legacy'', ''The Glorious Nosebleed'', ''The Loathsome Couple'', ''The Green Beads'', ''Les Urnes Utiles'', ''The Stupid Joke'', ''The Prune People'', and ''The Tuning Fork''
* ''Amphigorey Again'', 2006 ({{ISBN|0-15-101107-9}}){{Spaced ndash}}contains ''The Galoshes of Remorse'', ''Signs of Spring'', ''Seasonal Confusion'', ''Random Walk'', ''Category'', ''The Other Statue'', ''10 Impossible Objects (abridged)'', ''The Universal Solvent (abridged)'', ''Scenes de Ballet'', ''Verse Advice'', ''The Deadly Blotter'', ''Creativity'', ''The Retrieved Locket'', ''The Water Flowers'', ''The Haunted Tea-Cosy'', ''Christmas Wrap-Up'', ''The Headless Bust'', ''The Just Dessert'', ''The Admonitory Hippopotamus'', ''Neglected Murderesses'', ''Tragedies Topiares'', ''The Raging Tide'', ''The Unknown Vegetable'', ''Another Random Walk'', ''Serious Life: A Cruise'', ''Figbash Acrobate'', ''La Malle Saignante'', and ''The Izzard Book''

== Pseudonyms ==
Gorey was very fond of word games, particularly [[anagram]]s. He wrote many of his books under pseudonyms that usually were anagrams of his own name (most famously Ogdred Weary). Some of them are listed below, with the corresponding book title(s). Eduard Blutig is also a word game: "Blutig" is German (the language from which these two books purportedly were translated) for "bloody" or "gory".

* Ogdred Weary{{Spaced ndash}}''The Curious Sofa'', ''The Beastly Baby''
* Mrs. Regera Dowdy{{Spaced ndash}}''The Pious Infant'', ''The Izzard Book''
* Eduard Blutig{{Spaced ndash}}''The Evil Garden'' (translated from ''Der Böse Garten'' by Mrs. Regera Dowdy), ''The Tuning Fork'' (translated from ''Der Zeitirrthum'' by Mrs. Regera Dowdy)
* Raddory Gewe{{Spaced ndash}}''The Eleventh Episode''
* Dogear Wryde{{Spaced ndash}}''The Broken Spoke/Cycling Cards''
* E. G. Deadworry{{Spaced ndash}}''The Awdrey-Gore Legacy'' and his grandson G.E. Deadworry
* D. Awdrey-Gore{{Spaced ndash}}''The Toastrack Enigma'', ''The Blancmange Tragedy'', ''The Postcard Mystery'', ''The Pincushion Affair'', ''The Toothpaste Murder'', ''The Dustwrapper Secret'' and ''The Teacosy Crime'' (Note: These books, although attributed to Awdrey-Gore in Gorey's book ''The Awdrey-Gore Legacy'', were not really written). She is a parody of Agatha Christie.
* Waredo Dyrge{{Spaced ndash}}''The Awdrey-Gore Legacy'' parody of [[Hercule Poirot]]
* Edward Pig{{Spaced ndash}}''The Untitled Book''
* Wardore Edgy{{Spaced ndash}}''[[SoHo Weekly News]]''<ref>{{cite book|title=The Strange Case of Edward Gorey|author-link=Alexander Theroux|first=Alexander|last=Theroux|publisher=Fantagraphics Books|date=2000|isbn=1-56097-385-4|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFgeDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Wardore+Edgy%22+%22SoHo+Weekly+News%22&pg=PA85}}</ref>
* Madame Groeda Weyrd{{Spaced ndash}}''The Fantod Pack''
* Dewda Yorger{{Spaced ndash}}"The Deary Rewdgo Series for Intrepid Young Ladies (D.R. on the Great Divide, D.R. in the Yukon, D.R. at Baffin Bay, etc.)"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tggJ2X9YmzgC&pg=PT132|title=Amphigorey Also&nbsp;– Edward Gorey|access-date=February 22, 2013|isbn=978-0-15-605672-4|last1=Gorey|first1=Edward|year=1993|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt }}</ref>
* Garrod Weedy - ''The Pointless Book''<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=1989 |title=The Pointless Book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/862393212 |access-date=October 25, 2022 |website=WorldCat |oclc=862393212}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Gorey has become an iconic figure in the [[goth subculture]]. Events themed on his works and decorated in his characteristic style are common in the more [[Victorian era|Victorian]]-styled elements of the subculture, notably the [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] costume balls held annually in San Francisco and Los Angeles, which include performances based on his works. The "Edwardian" in this case refers less to the [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] period of history than to Gorey, whose characters are depicted as wearing fashion styles ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s.

Among the authors influenced by Gorey's work is [[Daniel Handler]], who, under the pseudonym "Lemony Snicket", wrote the gothic children's book series ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''. Shortly before Gorey's death, Handler sent a copy of the series' first two novels to him, with a letter "saying how much I admired his work, and how much I hoped that he would forgive what I'd stolen from him."

Director [[Mark Romanek]]'s music video for the [[Nine Inch Nails]] song "[[The Perfect Drug]]" was designed specifically to resemble a Gorey book, with familiar Gorey elements including oversized urns, [[topiary]] plants, and glum, pale characters in full Edwardian costume.<ref>Interview with Mark Romanek, in the currently unreleased documentary by Christopher Seufert.</ref> Also, [[Caitlín R. Kiernan]] has published a short story entitled "A Story for Edward Gorey" (''[[Tales of Pain and Wonder]]'', 2000), which features Gorey's black doll.

A more direct link to Gorey's influence on the music world is evident in ''The Gorey End'',<ref>[http://www.tigerlillies.com/2003/index.php?main=recordings&pubId=5 The Tiger Lillies' webpage for this album] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612083500/http://tigerlillies.com/2003/index.php?main=recordings&pubId=5 |date=June 12, 2009 }}; EMI 7243 5 57513 2 4</ref> an album recorded in 2003 by [[The Tiger Lillies]] and the [[Kronos Quartet]]. This album was a collaboration with Gorey, who liked previous work by The Tiger Lillies so much that he sent them a large box of his unpublished works, which were then adapted and turned into songs. Gorey died before hearing the finished album.

In 1976, [[jazz]] composer [[Michael Mantler]] recorded an album called ''The Hapless Child'' (Watt/ECM) with [[Robert Wyatt]], [[Terje Rypdal]], [[Carla Bley]], and [[Jack DeJohnette]]. It contains musical adaptations of ''The Sinking Spell'', ''The Object Lesson'', ''The Insect God'', ''The Doubtful Guest'', ''The Remembered Visit'', and ''The Hapless Child''. The last three songs also have been published on his 1987 ''Live'' album with [[Jack Bruce]], [[Rick Fenn]], and [[Nick Mason]].

The opening titles of the [[PBS]] series ''[[Mystery!]]'' were original art by Gorey, in an animated sequence co-directed by [[Derek Lamb]].

In the last few decades of his life, Gorey merchandise became quite popular, with stuffed dolls, cups, stickers, posters, and other items available at malls around the United States. In 2002, a book of his interviews entitled ''Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey'' was released by author Karen Wilkin.<ref name="HARVARDMAGAZINE2002" />

In 2007, [[The Jim Henson Company]] announced plans to produce a feature film based on ''The Doubtful Guest'' to be directed by [[Brad Peyton]]. No release date was given and there has been no further information since the announcement. The project was later announced again in 2021, with it now also being produced by [[Amblin Entertainment]].

The online journal ''Goreyesque'' publishes artwork, stories, and poems in the spirit of Edward Gorey's work.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kogan|first1=Rick|title=Step inside Edward Gorey's weird, beautiful world|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-edward-gorey-loyola-university-exhibit-20140404-column.html|website=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=April 4, 2014 |access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref> The journal is co-sponsored by the Department of Creative Writing at [[Columbia College Chicago]] and [[Loyola University Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Chavez|first1=Danette|title=Goreyesque Wants Your Edward Gorey-Inspired Writing and Artwork|url=http://gapersblock.com/bookclub/2014/03/31/goreyesque_wants_your_edward_gorey-inspired_art/|website=gapersblock.com|access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref> ''Goreyesque'' was launched in tandem with the Chicago debut of two Gorey collections: ''Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey'' and ''G Is for Gorey''. The collections were shown at the [[Loyola University Museum of Art|Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA)]] in Chicago, Illinois from February 15 to June 15, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=Goreyesque About|url=http://www.goreyesque.com/description/|website=Goreyesque.com|access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Call for submissions: Columbia College Chicago's Department of Creative Writing seeks Goreyesque work|url=http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-literati/2014/02/call-for-submissions-goreyesque/|website=[[ChicagoNow]]|access-date=11 April 2015|archive-date=April 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415215844/http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-literati/2014/02/call-for-submissions-goreyesque/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Goreyesque'' features the work of both emerging talents and seasoned professionals, such as writers [[Sam Weller (journalist)|Sam Weller]] and [[Joe Meno]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Selling to CTA riders, veterinary house calls and another Tea2Go|url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140225/NEWS07/140229878/selling-to-cta-riders-veterinary-house-calls-and-another-tea2go|website=[[Crain's Chicago Business]]|access-date=11 April 2015|date=2014-02-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Goreyesque Issue 3|url=http://www.goreyesque.com/goreyesque-issue-3/|website=Goreyesque.com|access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Goreyesque Issue 1|url=http://www.goreyesque.com/welcome-to-goreyesque/|website=Goreyesque.com|access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref>

In 2018, Seattle based cartoonist Marc Palm illustrated  ''"The Gashlygun Tinies"'' for the October issue of Mad Magazine. Palm drew direct inspiration from Gorey's work ''"The Gashlycrumb Tinies"'' for this comic strip style parody riffing directly on Gorey's macabre illustration style and dark storyline. While the original work by Gorey lists in alphabetical order a string of horrible deaths of young children from A-Z; in this more recent parody version, Marc Palm uses Gorey's intricate black and white line-work heavy illustrative style and works alongside comedy writer Matt Cohen who applies Gorey's iconic poetically [[Alliteration|alliterative]] narrative framework as a commentary on gun violence and school shootings.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-10-09 |title=Mad Magazine’s ABCs of a School Shooting Give It a Boost of Relevance (Published 2018) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/business/media/mad-magazine-school-shootings-comic-strip.html |access-date=2025-09-15 |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Literature|New York City|Biography}}
Contemporary American cartoonists with similar [[macabre]] style include:
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order & add a short description [[WP:SEEALSO]] -->
* [[Charles Addams]]
* [[Gary Larson]]
* [[Lorin Morgan-Richards]]
* [[Angus Oblong]]
* [[Gahan Wilson]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* ''G Is for Gorey—C Is for Chicago; The Collection of Thomas Michalak''. libguides.luc.edu.
* ''The World of Edward Gorey'', [[Clifford Ross]] and [[Karen Wilkin]], Henry N. Abrams Inc., 1996 ({{ISBN|0-8109-3988-6}}). Interview and monograph.
* ''The Strange Case of Edward Gorey'', [[Alexander Theroux]], [[Fantagraphics Books]], 2000 ({{ISBN|1-56097-385-4}}). Biography and reminiscence by Theroux, a friend of Gorey. An expanded edition was published in 2011 ({{ISBN|978-1-60699-384-2}}).
* ''The Gorey Details''. BBC Radio program compiled and presented by [[Philip Glassborow]], including interviews with Andreas Brown of the Gotham Book Mart, actor [[Frank Langella]] (star of Gorey's Dracula on Broadway), [[Alison Lurie]], Alex Hand, Jack Braginton Smith, [[Katherine Kellgren]], and featuring [[David Suchet]] as the voice of Gorey.
* "All the Gorey Details", ''The Independent'', by Philip Glassborow, May 2003.
* ''Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey'', [[Mark Dery]], Little, Brown, 2018 ({{ISBN|978-0-316-18854-8}}).
* [https://lithub.com/edward-goreys-illustrated-covers-for-literary-classics/ Edward Gorey's Illustrated Covers for Literary Classics]

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Edward Gorey}}
* [https://edwardgorey.org/ Official website of the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust]
* [https://edwardgoreyhouse.org/ Official website of the Edward Gorey House]
* [https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/visiting-the-edward-gorey-house "Getting to Know Edward Gorey"]. A visit to his house museum, at [[Atlas Obscura]]
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* [http://edwardgoreyfilm.com/ ''GOREY'']—Documentary film (2025, forthcoming)
* {{Playbill person}}
* {{ISFDB name}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00631 Edward Gorey Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/gorey.html Edward Gorey Collection] at the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
* {{LCAuth|n79071184|Edward Gorey|194|}} (and multiple pseudonyms, linked)
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_12919447 Andrew Alpern Collection of Edward Gorey] at [[Columbia University Libraries]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000621133105/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/gorey.html Mystery! Edward Gorey interview] from pbs.org
* {{YouTube|0s3h_hHqboU|Gorey interviewed at his kitchen table with cats}}
* [http://www.goreybooks.com/cgi-bin/emAlbum.cgi?c=show_thumbs;p=Periodical%20Covers Periodical cover illustrations] at Edward Gorey Books (GoreyBooks.com)
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcianddeth/sets/72157623465700599/detail/ Edward Gorey Doubleday Anchor paperbacks 1953–1960]
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{Edward Gorey}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Edward Gorey
| list =
{{Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement}}
{{Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame}}
{{TonyAward CostumeDesign 1976–2004}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Artist}}
}}
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[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]
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[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
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