Description

Watercolor and pen and ink on paper, 9 x 5½ inches (sheet). “S/S” inscribed in artist’s hand in lower-right corner (indicating “same size” dimensions to the printer). Paper mildly toned and lightly smudged in margins; early pencil inscriptions, masking tape residue, and light soiling on verso. Very good, with colors fresh and vibrant.

Original art for the cover of THINGS : Stories of Terror and Shock by Six Science-Fiction Greats, edited by Ivan Howard and published by Belmont in 1964. The image shows the letters of the title emerging from darkness in a form suggesting both hot stalagmites and glowing wood, with the “I” topped by a skull-faced, bat-like demon. The art appeared both on the front cover in color and in a black-and-white negative version on the rear cover.

The printed cover appears in Edward Gorey : His Book Cover Art and Design (Pomegranate, 2015) beside that of another collection of science-fiction tales of horror published by Belmont the same year, The Dark Beasts, by Frank Belmont Long. The art for Dark Beasts holds the record for the greatest amount paid at auction for a drawing by Edward Gorey: $27,500 at Swann Galleries in December 2021.

Fine Print

Yay! No fine print