Edward Gorey: Of Fireplaces and Fruitcake

Another boxed set of holiday cards by Edward Gorey comes with twenty cards in four designs. These sets are available from Pomegranate for $16.95.

https://www.pomegranate.com/products/edward-gorey-holiday-card-assortment

Gorey's skills as a writer are every bit as remarkable as his artistic talent.

While the fireplace is being decorated, should the fire beneath be lit? Edward Gorey's sleeping Christmas cat has the absurdly difficult name of the king of the Hittite Empire.

Gorey also contemplates what to do with the Christmas fruitcake. The origin of the airborne cake at top right is, it seems, a mystery.

On second thought, the flaming punch seems far more hazardous than the cozy fireplace.

Inside the Suppiluliumas card

ebay.com/itm/273957032834?....

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Claude's Stout Poet

Some prefer their poets thin and starving. Claude Smith's New Yorker cartoon from the April 24, 1954 issue raises the question of just how we size up creative people.

Charles E. Martin
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954

"I hardly think I'd care for a stout poet."
Claude Smith
Original art
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954, page 39

Detail

Detail

Charles E. Martin
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954

Verso detail

Detail

Detail

"I hardly think I'd care for a stout poet."
Claude Smith
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954, page 39

Verso detail

"I hardly think I'd care for a stout poet."
Claude Smith
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954, page 39

Claude Smith
eBay Listing Ended October 5, 2016

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Yorker-Magazine-SIGNED-ORIGINAL-Art-Work-APRIL-24-1954-Orig-Magazine-Too-/262651870589?hash=item3d27457d7d%3Ag%3Ap68AAOSw-kdX0vB8&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Claude Smith
eBay Item Description

"I hardly think I'd care for a stout poet."
Claude Smith
Original art
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954, page 39

"I hardly think I'd care for a stout poet."
Claude Smith
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954, page 39

Drawings by Alfred Frueh and Claude Smith
The New Yorker, April 24, 1954, pages 38-39

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1954-04-24#folio=038

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Charles E. Martin

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Doris Matthews: Signs of Spring

How do we know when spring is finally here? Cartoonist Doris Matthews has an unusual answer.

"The signs are about right for spring planting. I saw two poets in the lower pasture this morning."
Doris Matthews, original cartoon art

Detail

Detail

Verso

Verso stamp

Doris Matthews
eBay Listing Ended November 7, 2015

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Doris-Matthews-1950s-Cartoon-The-New-Yorker-Original-Art-Cartoonist-Signed-Ink-/252155102002?hash=item3ab59d8332%3Ag%3AfjAAAOSwo6lWKntB&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Doris Matthews
eBay Item Description

"The signs are about right for spring planting. I saw two poets in the lower pasture this morning."
Doris Matthews, original cartoon art

Note:  Surely someone knows when and where this was published. If it's you, step forward, please. If not, never mind.

This is the first time original art by Doris Matthews has appeared on this blog. Anyone with access to other drawings who would like to share them here should get in touch.


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Has it sprung yet?

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