Instant Lives

[GOREY, Edward]. Instant Lives. [By] Howard Moss. Drawings by Edward Gorey. NY: Sunday Review/ E.P. Dutton [1974]. 8vo, [x] 86pp. Beige quarter-cloth stamped in orange with orange boards. Orange endpapers; 25 half-page b&w illustrations. Slight rubbing to spine ends and lower corners, else a fine copy in original pictorial dust jacket. Signed by the artist, Edward Gorey.

First edition. A series of delightful absurd vignettes (mostly imagined encounters with family members, friends and bitter enemies) about the lives of 34 famous figures from throughout history including Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Sappho, Gertrude Stein, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Edward Gorey’s deadpan illustrations highlight the playful menace of these “half-informed and half-baked tales.” A perfect pairing of talents!