As time breezes by, the occasional set of photos, ramblings, notes and drafts gets left wayside. I’m now going back over the great unpublished and sharing things from my past that are interesting beyond their immediacy. Behold, the retro blog.
E is for Edward who authored many books.
Anyone who has heard of Edward Gorey seems to hold a significant deal of affection for his books. He’s an author and an illustrator, but his categorization seems to end there. His picture books aren’t graphic novels, they’re quite different from those. Gorey made a career out of small picture books in a way that few have outside of children’s literature. I adore his books, Gorey managed to perfect the art of creating a convincing, seamless and believable world – an artistic talent I value above any other. Set in Edwardian times, in some fictional place that manages to transcend ties to reality, many of Gorey’s books are dark and whimsical while often remaining humorous and cute.
When visiting the United States in 2007 our friend Henry took us on a day trip to Cape Cod in order to visit the Edward Gorey House – his Massachusetts home turned museum after his death. We don’t have many snowy towns in New Zealand, and arriving at Strawberry Lane with the Gorey House covered in snow, the doubtful guest in the yard was about as magical as it gets.
Though I did wonder just how much Edward Gorey stuff could be made into a Museum, I didn’t have doubts and the experience was well worth the visit. The collection on display ranged from his personal items, to original artwork from unpublished books and props created in honor of his works – the Gashlycrumb Tinies in particular are great. There stands a mannequin draped in his eclectic clothing purchases and a collection of the many rings he wore on his hand. Even the resident cat is rather absurd, much in the fashion of Gorey’s cartoon cats. The rather curious character of Edward Gorey is enough to drive the interest in the museum. When we visited, the museum was helmed by his personal friends who added an extra touch to paying homage to an admired author.
Cool stuff. I remember this all vividly. The weekend you arrived we were subject to some amazingly crap weather. We had planned to go to Gorey’s home and do some shooting at the gun club. Unfortunately, we were only able to see the Gorey home. It wasn’t a disappointment either. We were the only people there at the time and I remember the docents being particularly indulgent and friendly. I also remember you indulging Kate’s every request and fascination. Then, later on that night as I prepared dinner, I walked into the living room and my 3 year old daughter had you tied up in jump ropes. Come on back whenever you like!
Really cool words and photos, Jason. It’s great to finally see pics of this visit – I remember Kate telling me about it and how much she enjoyed it.
Wow. I’d forgotten about my kidnapping that night. I really didn’t/don’t know what to do with kids, but I figured letting them do what they want is a good start. Lyla just wanted to sit there and smile, that worked pretty well. The photo of No. 8 Strawberry Lane really does make me want to go back there, but I guess that is one of the nicer winter days huh?
[...] 2007 we stayed with Henry and his family in Fall River. The evening after Henry had taken us out to Cape Cod his wife Michelle kindly showed us around some of the local houses decorated for Christmas. There [...]