King of the Creepy Mr Edward Gorey

The first time I discovered Edward Gorey was in a friend's book called The Gashleycrumb Tinies. It's an A-Z of children who meet their fates in a variety of gruesome ways. It's also a disturbing and inspirational style bible.

Afterwards I wore smock dresses, slips and laced up boots for months. I had blue hair, but Gorey's pictures are in black and white, so it was artistic license.


Wikipedia says A-Z or Alphabet books "provide a non-threatening genre in which children engage in a variety of both fiction and non-fiction texts." There is nothing non-threatening about Gorey's take on the genre and this is why he is so fierce.

Here he is:

Edward Gorey Tumblr

I believe Q.R.V. is some sort of opiate (Gorey is not for the faint-hearted)


I adore the style of the wispy and frightened (or frightening) characters in his books. If you're a lover of Victoriana, black-and-white, the eerie, the disconsolate and the creeped-out, make Gorey your first stop.


And here is a reminder why bored people are boring (and ultimately...dead):