Looking For a Good Book

I suspect that, like most people who might recognize the name of Edward Gorey, it is for his very unique art. Mostly famous for his illustrations for T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which was the basis for the long-running hit musical Cats and perhaps his for his illustrations for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Edward Gorey had a long career that included illustrating books and book covers, writing, and a great deal of theatre work, including writing, and designing sets and costumes.

I was not aware of the amount of theatre work that Gorey did. On the one hand this is a little surprising given my own background in theatre. On the other hand, much of what is presented here shows that a great deal of this work was with a smaller, regional theatre company – one whose work I generally wouldn’t have been familiar with back in the Midwest.

It seems as though Gorey’s theatrical ventures veered to the unique and unusual, just as his artwork did. This would be consistent with the era. Sometimes such work managed to break out, as was the case for Gorey’s production of Dracula which won him the Tony award for his costume designs.

While not ignoring his more famous accomplishments, this book dives deep into all of his theatrical works – author Carol Verburg was a close friend and often collaborator on his projects – providing an insight into his art that we otherwise wouldn’t have access to. The book is packed full of gems – artwork, sketches, script pages, and photos. It is an absolute treasure trove of material that any fan of Gorey’s work, as well as any student of theatre history, will relish.

My preview copy of this book is a digital copy – a PDF – which is generally fine, but I sought out a physical copy of this book in a local store and enjoyed it so much more. Being able to easily flip back and forth and really look at some of these sketches and script pages made this even more enjoyable for me.

Looking for a good book? Part biography, part theatre history, part art book and coffee-table book, The Theatrical Adventures of Edward Gorey by Carol Verburg is an extraordinary presentation of a unique artist’s work in the theatre.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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 The Theatrical Adventures of Edward Gorey: Rare Drawings, Scripts, and Stories

author: Carol Verburg

publisher:  Chronicle Books

ISBN:  9781797229539

hardcover, 256 pages