This book cover has prompted me to go through an Edward Gorey phase. My favorite (and possibly the most famous) of his picture books is The Doubtful Guest, a story that features a weird little creature in Converse and scarf who turns up at the house of his standard late Victorian family and stays for dinner, promptly eating the plates. Then, just as suddenly as he (or it perhaps) arrived, he leaves. Gorey wrote and illustrated many similar books by himself as well as works by other authors during his brief spell working in the art department at Doubleday in New York - including, unsurprisingly, Dracula, by Bram Stoker. He died in 2000, aged seventy five. There's an obituary for him just over here. Claiming predominantly to be self taught, Gorey's illustrations largely focus on strange, gothic and macabre subjects, but always with wit and charm, similar to Maurice Sendak, making him one of the twentieth century's best loved authors.
I mean, how can you not love this little dude??
you've always reminded me of the doubtful guest. especially the way you eat plates like there's no tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI know. I gotta eat those plates, gotta eat them all.
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