February - June 2011
“I just kind of conjured them up out of my subconscious and put them in order of ascending peculiarity.” —Edward Gorey
![Edward Gorey, The Gashlycrumb tinies, or, After the outing. New York : Harcourt Brace, [1991], c1963. Edward Gorey, The Gashlycrumb tinies, or, After the outing. New York : Harcourt Brace, [1991], c1963.](/sites/default/files/ghastly_teenie.jpg)
Carnivorous plants, falling masonry, and uninvited guests fill the imaginary world of artist and author Edward Gorey. His stories and accompanying illustrations maintain a delicate balance between the hilarious and the horrific.
Gorey’s voracious consumption of literature, his love of the ballet, and his off beat and wry view of the world resulted in a sardonic and witty oeuvre. This exhibition explores the diversity of Gorey’s art through original pen and ink illustrations, preparatory sketches, unpublished drawings, and ephemera. Drawn from the holdings of the Gorey Charitable Trust, the exhibition comprises approximately 180 objects, including selections from The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Unstrung Harp, The Gilded Bat, and other well-known Gorey publications.

Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) was born in Chicago, educated at Harvard, and lived in New York. He wrote over 100 books, including The Eclectic Abecedarium, The Doubtful Guest, and The Wuggly Ump; created prize-winning set and costume designs for productions for theaters from Cape Cod to Broadway; and published illustrations in publications such as the New Yorker and the New York Times and for books by authors such as Charles Dickens, Edward Lear, Samuel Beckett, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, and H.G. Wells. His animated credits for the PBS series Mystery introduced him to millions of television viewers. His masterful pen and ink illustrations and his ironic, offbeat humor have brought him critical acclaim and an avid following throughout the world.
This exhibition is organized by the Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue by curator and critic Karen Wilkin. The exhibition at the Boston Athenæum is organized by David B. Dearinger, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings & Sculpture.

Gorey books in the Athenæum Collection
Works Written and Illustrated by Edward Gorey
Amphigorey
1972
VEA +G669
Amphigorey also
1983
+ PS3513.O614 A87
Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey: Interviews
2001
CT275.G6725 A5 2001
Awdrey-Gore legacy
1972
VEA .G669
Doubtful guest
1978-1957
PS3513.O614 D6 1978
Epiplectic bicycle
1969
PS3513.O614 E6
Gashlycrumb tinies, or, After the outing
1997-1963
PS3557.O753 .G37 1997
Haunted tea-cosy : a dispirited and distasteful diversion for Christmas
1997
PN6231.C36 G67 1997
Headless bust : a melancholy meditation on the false millennium
1999
PS3557.O753 H43 1999
Listing attic [and] The unstrung harp
1975
VEA .G669 .l
Loathsome couple
1977
VEA .G669 .lo
Merrill Moore and the American sonnet
1954
VEP .M7834 .zm
Object-lesson
2002-1958
PS3557.O753 O25 2002
Other statue
2001-1968
PS3557.O753 O84 2001
Utter zoo
1967
PS3513.O614 U8 1967
Works about Edward Gorey
Elephant house : or, the home of Edward Gorey
McDermott, Kevin
2003
+ NX512.G67 M33 2003
World of Edward Gorey
Ross, Clifford
1996
NX512.G67 R67 1996
Works with Illustrations by Edward Gorey
Case record from a sonnetorium
Moore, Merrill
1951
VEP .M7834 .ca
Chessmen of doom
Bellairs, John
2000-1989
PZ7.B413 Ch 2000
Cultural slag
Lamport, Felicia
1966
VEA .L1984 .c
Ghost in the mirror
Bellairs, John
1993
PZ7.B413 Gh 1993
Haunted looking glass : ghost stories
2001-1959
PR1309.G5 E38 2001
House with a clock in its walls
Bellairs, John
1973
PZ7.B413 Ho
Lamp from the warlock's tomb
Bellairs, John
1999-1988
PZ7.B413 Lam 1999
Light metres
Lamport, Felicia
1982
PS3523.A449 L5 1982
Mummy, the will, and the crypt
Bellairs, John
1983
PZ7.B413 Mu 1983
Old possum's book of practical cats
Eliot, T. S.
1982-1939
PS3509.L43 O55 1982
Pippin's journal: or rosemary is for remembrance
O'Grady, Rohan
1962
PZ4.O35455 Pi
Scrap irony
Lamport, Felicia
1961
VEA .L1984 .s
Shrinking of Treehorn
Heide, Florence Parry
1971
PZ7.H36 Sh
Spell of the sorcerer's skull
Bellairs, John
1997-1984
PZ7.B413 Sp 1997
Trolley to yesterday
Bellairs, John
1998-1989
PZ7.B413 Tr 1998
Works with Contributions by Edward Gorey
Classics for pleasure
Dirda, Michael
2007
PN524 .D57 2007
Costumes by Karinska
Bentley, Toni
1995
+ TT505.K373 B46 1995
Extraordinary realities
Robert M. Doty
1973
G8 no. 12