45 / 172
61
60
●
EDWARD GOREY.
“Gorey Stories,” Playbill cover sketch mock-up. Pen and ink and graphite on paper with
graphite overlay. 172x130 mm; 6
3
/
4
x5
1
/
8
inches, image, on 266x193 mm; 10
1
/
2
x7
5
/
8
inches,
sheet. Unsigned. Overlay contains numerous marks and indications by the printer but the
drawing itself, which features the frame of the image with butterfly Shar Pei dogs holding
the title banner (but before illustrations of cast members) is unmarked in image, tipped to
card stock with additional notes. A copy of the October 1978 Playbill and loose photome-
chanical details for the remaining cover illustration accompany the lot.
[3,000/4,000]
A SCARCE PIECE OF GOREY ART EPHEMERA
from the famed but doomed stage play “Gorey
Stories.”The play opened October 30, 1978 and due to terrible critical reviews, the producers shut
down the show the very next day. Gorey created the cover design and interior illustrations on page 98,
the photographic mechanicals for which are included in the lot along with a copy of the Playbill issue.
61
●
EDWARD GOREY.
“and the premier showing of the Edward Gorey fur collection for men.” Pen and ink on
paper. 89x114 mm; 3
1
/
2
x4
1
/
2
inches, image, on 183x263 mm; 7
1
/
4
x19
3
/
8
inches, sheet. Signed
in brown ink, lower right. Faint toning around image, registration marks and a measure-
ment in Gorey’s hand, lower margin.Archivally matted and framed. 1979.
[3,000/4,000]
This drawing is one of two illustrations created for the exhibition brochure for Ben Kahn Furs Corp.
The famous NewYork furrier commissioned Gorey, a Kahn fan most always found wearing his ubiq-
uitous fur coat, to design a line for them. Gorey designed 30 coats for the 1979 Edward Gorey Ben
Kahn Fur show which was introduced in September 1979 and premiered at Sardi’s Restaurant in
NewYork City.While some designs were fairly conventional, a few reflected the illustrator’s more cre-
ative instincts including a “red-dyed collegiate-letter sweater made nutria”—Sarasota Herald Tribune,
August 26, 1979.All drawings for this show are scarce as they were sold by Gorey through Gotham
Book Mart in the 1990s.