posted on 17 Aug 2017

Edward Gorey: His book cover art & design with an essay by Steven Heller

Edward Gorey died in 2000 at the age of 75 and I think it’s fair to say that he’s now a bigger cult figure than he was even when he was alive and producing his idiosyncratic books. His house in Cape Cod has become a museum devoted to him and his work and his often morbid and macabre inventions are very collectible in their first editions. For quite some time he seemed to get categorised in book shops as an illustrator and occasional writer of children’s books but his appeal is really to an older age group and his sensibility which is often characterised as ‘Gothic’ clearly resonates with older teenagers and those in their early twenties.

Steven Heller’s informative and mercifully brief essay (I like these books to get on with the main course – the illustrations – as quickly as possible) sums up Gorey’s reputation very well:

Deliciously and subversively cryptic, Edward St. John Gorey’s iconic books, plays, postcards, toys, stage sets and costumes – indeed an entire lifetime of utterly sublime, mockingly apprehensive artistry and authorship – are duly celebrated and critically acclaimed by everyone from cultural pundits to Goth cultists.

The aspect of Gorey’s output that is perhaps least well-known and probably the least regarded is his work as a book jacket artist and book designer – Gorey would often insist that he should take control of all aspects of a book’s design from cover illustration, internal layout and even how the book was presented spine outwards.

His book cover artwork is characteristic of what would become the Gorey trademark ‘style’ and it shows the influence of other illustrators that he was fond of. Heller tells us that:

As far as draftsmanship goes, he was inspired by early twentieth century  English artist, illustrator and author Edward Ardizonne, whose own nineteenth-century-inspired, crosshatched, linear and watercolour styles, though somewhat looser than Gorey’s, graced the covers and interiors of many early to mid-twentieth century books that were mainstays of Gorey’s own library.

This book, published in 2015, marks a re-evaluation of Gorey as a book cover artist and designer and I think that’s a good thing. He clearly read copiously and has a genuine feel for the books he produces covers for. I find that he’s an artist best appreciated in relatively small amounts and the book jacket provides the perfect canvas for his talents.

Although critics have given comparatively little time to this aspect of Gorey’s early career, he was quite prolific and he produced well over 200 cover designs for both paper and hardback books – including many of his own.

Towards the end of his life and in conversation with Steven Heller, it was clear Gorey was reassessing the role book jacket design had played on his career overall. Heller reports it this way:

A few years before his passing, Gorey suggested to me in an interview that his covers and jackets were as much part of his creative grand plan – the building of an inter-connected oeuvre – as any other of his more authorial metiers.

This is a lovely book to browse through with superb full page colour reproductions of many of his book jackets and it’s worth lingering over them for the detail and for the evidence that Gorey had not only produced a great illustration but an illustration informed by an understanding of the text. It really is marvellous stuff.

Copies of the book can be found on the internet for a little under £20 and if you’re interested it might be sensible to strike while the iron is hot because this is exactly the type of book you’ll be paying well over double that for once it’s out of print.

 

Terry Potter

August 2017