Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Edward Gorey Betrayed Again



The Betrayed Confidence Revisited by Edward Gorey has been published by Pomegranate Books, 2014. This large (for Gorey) hardcover book has printed boards and a matching dust jacket. The original 1992 publication of The Betrayed Confidence by Parnasses Imprints (see my post from August 18, 2010) brought together seven scarce postcard sets by Mr. Gorey in one soft cover volume. This newly expanded volume illustrates the original seven sets plus three additional groupings of postcards created by Mr. Gorey. This printing has an introduction by Edward Bradford written specially for this volume.

Using the anagram Dogear Wryde, Edward Gorey published postcard sets that are humorous and often oblique. Two of the additional postcard sets included in this volume; Q.R.V. Unwmkd.Imperf., and Q.R.V. Hikuptah, are part of the standard Gorey collecting cannon often referred to as "A Collection" publications. The third addition shows thirteen cards created for Gotham Book Mart announcing National Post Card Week. Commissioned by GBM, these postcards were sent out annually to announce a postcard themed event at the bookstore. The cards were not published as part of the Dogear Wryde series and were never issued together as a "set", making it more difficult to put together a complete collection of the images.

This "revisited" collection also shows Edward Gorey's Interpretive Series in color. This postcard set was originally issued as 13 black and white images in an illustrated envelope. Mr. Gorey created a signed limited edition where he hand colored 76 complete sets of the cards (see my post from October 5, 2009). The Interpretive Series was shown in black and white in the 1992 printing.


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