Monday, January 12, 2015

The Glorious Nosebleed




Edward Gorey's fifth alphabet book, The Glorious Nosebleed was published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1975 as a hardcover book in illustrated boards with a matching dust jacket. This title is reprinted in Amphigorey Also.


The Glorious Nosebleed is one of Mr. Gorey's most amusing and popular alphabet books. The individual images have been reprinted as postcards and calendars over the years. The book ends with one of EG's nicest self portraits which accompanies, "He wrote it all down Zealously". 

This title was also published as a signed limited edition of  250 numbered copies and 26 signed/A -Z copies (limitation on a tipped-in colophon page at the front of the book). All of the limited edition copies were issued in a red slipcase. I am showing numbered copy #55/250 and lettered copy K. I recently acquired the lettered edition from a dealer at the Boston Book Fair this past November.

This is one of the easiest Gorey books to spot in first printing because the binding color of the first edition (including the limited edition copies) is tomato red. When this book went into a second printing, the color of the binding changed to cherry red. I have put the two books side by side so you can see the color difference (the first edition is on the right).







No comments: