The Gashlycrumb Tinies

"A is for Amy who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil assaulted by bears. C is for Clara who wasted away. D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh..." The rhyming couplets of this grim abecedarian are familiar, of course, to devotees of macabre humor, but the darkly crosshatched drawings are (as Poe put it) "the soul of the plot." Several years went by during which The Gashlycrumb Tinies: Or, After the Outing was not available in a small hardcover edition like this one, which is the true format for Edward Gorey's specialty, the adult picture book. (For those who wish to share the gloom there's a 10-copy assortment with The Curious Sofa.)

• The Doubtful Guest
• The Evil Garden
• Amphigorey: Fifteen Books
• The Epiplectic Bicycle
• The Hapless Child
• Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey
• 12 Terrors of Christmas
• Amphigorey Too
• Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey
• The Willowdale Handcar: or the Return of the Black Doll