‘Lafcadio’s Adventures’ (1953) by André Gide.
Edward Gorey claimed that he had “negligible” training as an artist—one semester at the Art Institute in Chicago in 1943 just before he enlisted in the army. He served his time at the Dugway Proving Grounds, a kinda hush-hush operative center where the military tested “biological and chemical weapon defense systems in a secure and isolated environment” which makes me wanna know what he got up during his time there—probably guard duty…. After the war, he studied French at Harvard and was roommates with poet Frank O’Hara.
At Harvard, Gorey started developing his artistic talents—designing sets for theatrical productions, drawing posters, cartoons, and illustrations for various varsity publications. He amassed enough of a portfolio to impress the bigwigs at Doubleday’s new imprint Doubleday Anchor in New York. He was also lucky enough to know Harvard alumnus Barbara Epstein who was then married to the publisher at Doubleday Anchor Jason Epstein, who helped shoehorn him into a job at the company’s art department. Sometimes it’s who you know that helps a career flourish.
‘Bleak House’ (1953) by Charles Dickens.
‘The Wanderer’ (1953) by Alain Fournier.
‘Loving’ (1953) by Henry Green.
‘The Secret Agent’ (1953) by Joseph Conrad.
‘Lucky Jim’ (1953) by Kingsley Amis.
‘What Maisie Knew’ (1954) by Henry James.
‘Amerika’ (1955) by Franz Kafka.
‘My Mother’s House’ and ‘The Vagabond’ (1955) by Collette.
‘Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque’ (1955) by Edgar Allan Poe.
‘Pleasures and Days’ (1957) by Marcel Proust.
‘Chance’ (1957) by Jospeh Conrad.
‘Tales of Good and Evil’ (1957) by Nicolai Gogol.
‘The Captain’s Daughter and Other Stories’ (1957) by Alexander Pushkin.
‘A Hero of Our Time’ (1958) by Mihail Lermontov.
‘The Awkward Age’ (1958) by Henry James.
‘St. Peter’s Day and Other Tales’ (1959) by Anton Chekhov.
‘The Masters’ (1959) by C. P. Snow.
‘The Sot-Weed Factor’ (1960) by John Barth.
‘The War of the Worlds’ (1960) by H. G. Wells.
H/T Literary Hub and { fueilleton }.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Edward Gorey’s ‘anxious, irritable’ tarot card set is predictably perfect
When Edward Gorey took on the Martians
It’s alive! The continuing cultural influence of Edward Gorey, master of the macabre
Science fiction in its infancy: Fantastic illustrations for ‘The War of the Worlds’ from 1906
The strange allure of PAN Books: Vintage cult film, TV tie-in and fab fiction book covers
The vivid erotic psychedelia of Essex House book covers