"GOREY'S WAS A MAGIC THAT WAS BLACK, WHITE, AND SILENT"

GOREY, Edward. Les Urnes Utiles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Halty-Ferguson, 1980. Oblong octavo, original wrappers. $600.

Signed limited first edition of this collection of uncaptioned drawings of urns, number 172 of 400 copies signed by Edward Gorey on the limitation page.

"Looking at the wordless tableaux in Gorey's most gothic-surrealist works, such as The West Wing, Les Passementeries Horribles, Les Urnes Utiles and The Prune People, we can see… their brooding inaction, their inexpressible mystery… Gorey's was a magic that was black, white, and silent" (Dery, Born to Be Posthumous, 170). Also issued in a signed lettered limitation of 26 copies "for the use of the author and publisher" and not for sale. Toledano A80b.

Fine condition.