"A collection of twenty illustrations by artist Edward Gorey"--

A look at the artist and his work, including his illustrations for T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and the animated credits for the Mystery! series on public television.

Called "a small masterpiece" by the "Times Literary Supplement, " this book, originally published in 1953, takes a look at the literary life and its attendant woes: isolation, writer's block, professional jealousy, and plain boredom. Illustrations.

A rare and irreverent, previously unpublished story by the late author of The Wuggly Ump profiles offbeat Saint Melissa, whose canonization occurred despite her Miracles of Destruction, through which she would induce migraines, refine lust and set supernatural traps that have yet to be sprung. 15,000 first printing.

Wickedly funny and delightfully sad, Three Ladies Beside the Sea is a tale of love found, love lost, and love never-ending. Edward Gorey’s off-kilter Edwardian maidens are the perfect accompaniment to Rhoda Levine’s lilting rhymes.The place is remote:Three houses beside the sea.The Characters are Few:Laughing Edith of Ecstasy,Edith so happy and gay.Smiling Catherine of Compromise,She smiles her life away.And then there is Alice of Hazard,A dangerous life leads she.The question in the plot is quite simple:Why is Alice up in a tree?The answer can be discovered:Edith and Catherine do.

The delightful tales and theatrical drawings of Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000) reflect a special kind of genius for what is left unwritten and unseen. In Gorey's vaguely Victorian world of well-tended gardens and opulent estates, smoke-belching factories and fog-shrouded streets, nothing seems certain or quite as it should be. Chaos lurks just beneath life's tidy surface, occasionally erupting in surprising events with unexpected, often horrific consequences. But when tragedy befalls Gorey's quirky cast of characters-hapless waifs, dusty dowagers, scheming tycoons, and unhinged maidens-somehow we can't keep from laughing. Far from casting us into the abyss, Gorey reminds us to contemplate mortality with a smile. In Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey, more than 175 reproductions include samples from Gorey's books, illustrations produced for other writers, theatrical sets and costume designs, and a wealth of individual pieces, many never before published. Sketches, typewritten manuscripts, doodles, and musings join the generous selection of finished works. Published on the occasion of the first retrospective of Edward Gorey's work, at the Brandywine River Museum, Elegant Enigmas is a tribute to a master artist and writer, who with murderously dry humor created a body of work singular in its brilliance and charm.

"This book celebrates the 100th birthday of Wayne Thiebaud. Best known for his tantalizing paintings of cakes and pies, Thiebaud has long been affiliated with pop art, though his body of work is far more expansive. This book includes pieces drawn from both the holdings at The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, and from the collection of the Thiebaud family, many of which have never been published or shown publicly"--