Thoughtful Alphabets (2012)

Thoughtful Alphabets: The Just Dessert / the Deadly Blotter (2012)
Edward Gorey
H136 x W136 mm, 118 pages. Acquired from Revaluation Books, 1 August 2021.
Photos of the work: Books On Books Collection.

No serious collection of alphabet books or alphabet-related artists’ books can be complete without some representative of Edward Gorey’s work. This volume brings together Thoughtful Alphabets XI and XVII, two detective stories in which the plots must be deduced from pithy alphabetized directions or alphabetized descriptions underlying static black-and-white cartoon tableaus.

Figbash Acrobate (1994)
Ædwyrd Goré (Edward Gorey)
Softcover. H113 x W75 mm. 40 folios. First edition, 500 numbered copies, of which this is #11. Acquired on eBay, 20 August 2022.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Just two representatives — even if one of them is two for one — seems hardly adequate though for a serious collection. Surely another is needed to qualify. Or perhaps some variants in homage? To judge for yourself, click

Further Reading

“Abecedaries I (in progress)“. Books On Books Collection.

“Patrice Miller“. 26 July 2022. Books On Books Collection.