It's difficult to say what The Iron Tonic is about, although it is 'known the skating pond conceals a family of enormous eels', and that 'the light is fading from the day. The rest is darkness and dismay'. Whatever it is about, though, The Iron Tonic could be seen as Edward Gorey's version of a wint[...]

Gathered for the annual charity fete at Backwater Hall in Mortshire, the host Lord Wherewithal is dead, Horace Gallop cavorts with Victoria Scone, and someone has offended decorum by disembowelling a stuffed thisby belonging to the Earl of Thump in this the latest dark vintage offering from Gorey. C[...]

Edward Gorey's off-kilter depictions of Yuletide mayhem and John Updike's wryly jaundiced text examine a dozen Christmas traditions with a decidedly wheezy ho-ho-ho. This long out-of-print classic is the perfect stocking-stuffer for any bah humbug. 32 pages, smyth-sewn casebound book, with jacket.[...]

'The Hapless Child' quickly whisks readers into classic Gorey territory, where textual circumstance and happenchance collide aside ornately detailed artwork.[...]