Description

“I don’t know but what somebody will do something.” Original art and lettering on two sheets for “A Dogear Wryde Postcard” featuring a drawing of Lizzie Borden on the recto and a poem on the verso by “Addée Gorrwy, the Postcard Poetess.” Pen and ink on Strathmore paper, poem on matching paper pasted to second sheet, first sheet approximately 7¾ x 6 inches, second sheet 7¼ x 6¼ inches. Original ink crop marks in margins. Light graphite sketching and guidelines evident. Small light stain on second sheet, not affecting text. Near fine.

Dogear Wryde was Edward Gorey’s anagrammatic pseudonym for various postcard series, including The Broken Spoke, Tragédies Topiares, and Neglected Murderesses. The postcard for the not-neglected accused murderess Lizzie Borden was published in 1994, independent of a series.

Gorey’s portrait includes a line reportedly uttered by Borden the night before the murders, as stated at her trial by her friend Alice Russell.

The verse “by Addée Gorrwy” (another anagram) lettered for the back of the postcard reads as follows:

“The daughter of Andrew Borden christened Lizzie / Was said to have been all of a tizzy / The night before her stepmother and her father were victims of fatal attacks / By an axe.”

Fine Print

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