From 1953 to 1960, he lived in New York City and worked for the Art Department of Doubleday Anchor, illustrating book covers and in some cases adding illustrations to the text. He spent 1944–1946 in the Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and then attended Harvard University from 1946 to 1950, where he studied French and roomed with future poet Frank O'Hara.Īlthough he would frequently state that his formal art training was 'negligible', Gorey studied art for one semester at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1943, eventually becoming a professional illustrator. He attended a variety of local grade schools and then the Francis W.

John Garvey, was a popular 19th century greeting card writer/artist, from whom he claimed to have inherited his talents. Gorey's maternal great-grandmother, Helen St.

One of his step-mothers was Corinna Mura, a cabaret singer who had a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. Rough sketches and unfin- ished panels show an ironic and singular mind at work.Ĭontains The Galoshes of Remorse, Signs of Spring, Seasonal Confusion, Random Walk, Category, The Other Statue, 10 Impossible Objects (abridged), The Universal Solvent (abridged), Scenes de Ballet, Verse Advice, The Deadly Blotter, Creativity, The Retrieved Locket, The Water Flowers, The Haunted Tea-Cosy, Christmas Wrap-Up, The Headless Bust, The Just Dessert, The Admonitory Hippopotamus, Neglected Murderesses, Tragedies Topiares, The Raging Tide, The Unknown Vegetable, Another Random Walk, Serious Life: A Cruise, Figbash Acrobate, La Malle Saignante, and The Izzard Bookīorn in Chicago, Gorey came from a colourful family his parents, Helen Dunham Garvey and Edward Lee Gorey, divorced in 1936 when he was 11, then remarried in 1952 when he was 27. Figbash is acrobatic, topiaries are tragic, hippopotami are admonitory, and galoshes are remorseful in this celebra- tion of a unique talent that never fails to delight, amuse, and confound.Īmphigorey Again contains previously uncollected work and two unpublished stories-'The Izzard Book,' a quirky riff on the letter Z, and 'La Malle Saignante,' a bilingual homage to early French silent serial movies. This latest collection displays in glorious abundance the offbeat characters and droll humor of Edward Gorey.

Amphigorey by Edward Gorey