Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000), artist, ballet fan, and Tony Award-winning costume designer, is well known for creating the animated title sequence of  PBS’s Mystery, but Gorey is also the author and illustrator of over 100 beloved, humorous, and sometimes macabre books.

The library of English author, playwright and literary critic Graham Greene (1904-1991), now owned by the John J. Burns Library, contains fifteen of Gorey's works, including Why we have Day and Night, Dancing Cats and Neglected Murderesses, and pop-up book The Dwindling Party, as well as boxed sets The Vinegar Works: Three Volumes of Moral Instruction and An Ominous Gathering, and three of Gorey’s omnibus editions, Amphigory, Amphigorey Too, and Amphigorey Also.

The Gorey Greene Halloween Books will continue our holiday show-and-tell, which began on International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th), with books featuring pirates from our Nicholas M. Williams Ethnological Collection. The Burns Library invites one and all to visit, and take a peek into the world of Edward Gorey. These books are always available to researchers, but in honor of Halloween, they are now awaiting your use in our Reading Room until November 7th. Please bring a photo ID when you come. We hope to see you!

The John J. Burns Library is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am-5pm, Wednesday 9am-8pm and Saturday 10am-2pm.  Please check our hours for holiday closings.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please call the Burns Library Reading Room at 617-552-4861 or e-mail us at burnsref@bc.edu.