New Exhibition of First Editions and Artworks Celebrates Edward Gorey Centenary

Author, artist, and designer Edward Gorey created work that has permeated both our commercial and cultural worlds and a showcase of his 50-year career at Texas A&M University’s Cushing Memorial Library & Archives is running through September 17.

The Ubiquitous Edward Gorey exhibition features more than 600 items including books from Cushing’s extensive Gorey holdings and biographic materials, personal items, and examples of Gorey’s creative output from the Miller Family Edward Gorey Collection. On view will be largely unknown drawings and paintings from Gorey’s youth, first editions of his early primary books, and other rare materials.

“The exhibition honors the centenary of Gorey’s birth, and also provides a biographical context to explore his wide range of work,” said Beth Kilmarx, assistant university librarian for special collections and co-curator of the exhibit.

While his best-known creations include the illustrations for the animated introduction to PBS’ long-running Mystery! series and designs for the 1977 Broadway revival of Dracula, Gorey authored and illustrated more than 100 of his own books and fully illustrated, drew covers, chose typography, and designed hundreds of books by authors including T.S. Eliot, H.G. Wells, and John Bellairs who wrote The House with a Clock in its Walls.

Gorey also designed costumes and sets for the ballet and the opera, illustrated magazine stories and articles, and created advertising artwork throughout his long career.

“Rather than a gloomy, brooding hermit, as he has often been described, Gorey appreciated the company of friends and family,” according to collector and co-curator Patrice Miller. “He was a brilliant, talented, fun-loving person who left behind a vast trove of work to study and enjoy.”