Karen Wilkin, the Brandywine River Museum and Pomegranate team up to bring us Elegant Enigmas: the Art of Edward Gorey. It’s a hefty hardcover book, doubling as catalog and checklist for the exhibition by the same name being held at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, from March thru May this year. The museum is famous for its collection of art and association with several Wyeth families: notably N.C., Andrew, Jamie and Carolyn. With Andrew Wyeth’s recent passing last January, there seems to be a stronger interest in American art, and the Wyeth’s’ work may be a good contrast to the draftsmanly pen & inks of Goreys’. Like the book, this review precedes the actual exhibition. A report of the exhibit will appear here in Goreyography in the coming weeks.

In Elegant Enigmas, Wilkin presents an essay in the beginning entitled Mildly Unsettling -- Gorey has used it to describe his persona and his work. Mildly Unsettling has a some biographical information, but focuses largely on Gorey’s output in relation to possible influences. Nearly everything is covered – art, literature, movies - silent and non-s, and cats. This essay isn’t as in-depth as Wilkin’s previous work in The World of Edward Gorey (Abrams, 1996), but it does have a broader perspective. And maybe less implied cause and effect. It was good to go back and forth between the two books, as years and later works brought new subject matter to assimilate.

The collection of plates representing the artwork shown in the exhibit is very nicely done. Extra attention to the finest details in Gorey’s artwork is evident; gradations are preserved, and not a line is lost. I’d seen a few of these original works in the From Prodigy to Polymath exhibition in San Diego five years ago, and those reproduced here are indeed very close. The inclusion of concept sketches, character studies and pages of typed text finalized before illustration work was started provides a glimpse at the skillful side of Gorey’s creative process. It endows each project with a sense of time and flow, and face it, the toil involved.

Further along the pages, there’s a neat little surprise that really brought a smile, as if a new discovery had been made. Of minor import at first glance, this artwork pulls a part of Gorey’s life to the fore, showing how his developing talent also lived in a more private realm. This artwork also shows how joyful and fresh and spontaneous Gorey’s work can be. I won’t spoil it by saying what it is, but it’s nearly worth the price of the book alone. ‘Wow!’ was all I remember saying at the time.

Now, if I can only get Karen Wilkin to sign and maybe personalize my copy of Elegant Enigmas at the opening day of the exhibit, it may take a bit longer to go back to my usual ‘mildly unsettled’ disposition. But I won’t complain when I finally do.

Upon my fourth, maybe fifth reading of The Black Doll, I fell upon my diversion. Or should I say, my digression. Either way, the diversion was all mine, and I wallowed in it. Even after several hours, I'd not only collected a mini-mound of data from the Net, but reveled in the newly found sense of enjoyment to be had at the hands of our mysterious, enigmatic author-illustrator. Clever you, Mr Gorey.

There’s a lot of assistance included in this edition of The Black Doll. An interview by Anne Nocenti, of DC Comics fame, notes from Karen Wilkin and some pointers by Andreas Brown, all to bring perspective to this unusual work.