"JANE, ANNE, GEORGE, AND WILLIAM PAINTED ALL THE ORNAMENTS A DULL BLACK": THE WATER FLOWERS, SIGNED BY EDWARD GOREY
GOREY, Edward. The Water Flowers. New York: Congdon & Weed, (1982). Small oblong quarto, original pictorial paper boards, original dust jacket.
First edition, signed by Gorey on the title page, of this "curious culinary adventure incorporating a caveat against Lesser Literature and an instance of startling Sensibility."
Edmund Wilson described Gorey's work as "surrealistic and macabre, amusing and somber, nostalgic and claustrophobic, poetic and poisoned." Gorey's is a "distinctive, instantly recognizable style: intricately detailed pen-and-ink drawings capture characters, fur-coated, turtle-necked, or dressed in 1920s or Edwardian garb, frozen in moments of stoicism. Somewhat Gothic and ostensibly grim, these images are usually accompanied by macabre stories of death, dread, and gore or by humorous verses detailing situations of horror" (Silvey, 278). Toledano A84a.
A fine copy.