A Very Gorey Alphabet Guide – The Marginalian

It’s no secret I’ve a large comfortable spot for alphabet books. In 1963, prolific illustrator and writer Edward Gorey (February 22, 1925–April 15, 2000) revealed an alphabet guide so grimly antithetical to the very premise of the style — making kids really feel comfy and provoking them to study — that it took the macabre humor style to a brand new stage. “A is for Amy who fell down the steps,” The Gashlycrumb Tinies begins. “B is for Basil assaulted by bears. C is for Clara who wasted away. D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh…”

Half Tim Burton lengthy earlier than there was Burton, half Edgar Allan Poe lengthy after Poe, the guide exudes Gorey’s signature grownup image guide mastery, not merely adorned by the gorgeously darkish crosshatched illustrations however narratively pushed by them.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies is available in a string of greater than 40 gems Gorey revealed in his lifetime, together with favorites like The Epiplectic Bicycle and The Uncertain Visitor. His work, which spans over six many years, is collected in 4 wonderful volumes entitled Amphigorey — I, II, III, IV — a play on the phrase amphigory, that means a nonsense verse or composition.