[Original Art for the Album Cover and Liner Notes of THE HAPLESS CHILD AND OTHER INSCRUTABLE STORIES]

1976. Very good. Edward Gorey. Pen and ink and wash on paper. Printed titles and lyrics pasted to liner sheets. Approximately 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches (images), 15 x 14 1/2 inches (sheets). Cover art dated, "26.i.76-3.ii.76" (i.e., begun January 26, 1976, and completed February 3, 1976). Crop marks and other notes on all three sheets in the hand of the artist. Liner-notes sheets mounted to board. Tape remnants and residue in left margin of cover sheet (not affecting image), remnants of framing tape at top edge of cover image sheet verso; light soiling and minor stains on verso. Light soiling at edges of liner-notes sheets.

The original art accompanying (truncated) the album of Vienna-born composer Michael Mantler’s jazz-rock settings of six of Edward Gorey's tales, sung by British psychedelic rock pioneer Robert Wyatt: "The Sinking Spell," "The Object-Lesson," "The Insect God," "The Doubtful Guest," "The Remembered Visit," and "The Hapless Child."

The cover art includes images derived from each of these stories, making it the only known example of an original work showing motifs of multiple books of Gorey’s from the 1950s and 1960s in one place. (Inventory #: 933)