BFFs
Review of the Pomegranate Communications hardcover (2012) reissue of the 1970 original.

This is a tale of two friends,
From beginning to the end.
One was called Emblus Fingby,
A man who looked somewhat kingly.
The Osbick Bird will make you laugh,
A puffin's head it seemed to have,
But the long legs were like a heron.
For this gift I thank friend Karan.

See sample page at https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0528/0297/7982/products/A212_10_904x835.jpg?v=...
A sample panel from "The Osbick Bird". Image sourced from Pomegranate Communications. ( )

It's Edward Gorey, so minimal text, lots of space in the illustrations, but where there is something, it's painstakingly cross hatched and detailed. Rhyming couplets of apparent nonsense, Edwardian effeteness, fur coats, silk smoking jackets and drives in an open-top jalopy, with the inevitable Goreyesque death and ambiguous ending to round it off.

On one level, a whimsical tale of the relationship between a bird and a man, but Gorey leaves that space for his readers to fill with their own meaning. On an initial read, I took an allegory of living with terminal illness, of the frustrations, anger and denial of coming to terms with mortality, and the sharpened appreciation of a life that has a clear sense of being finite and bounded. ( )

Bitter sweet story of a friendship between a man and a bird......as only Edward Gorey could tell. ( )

Bitter sweet story of a friendship between a man and a bird......as only Edward Gorey could tell. ( )

Bitter sweet story of a friendship between a man and a bird......as only Edward Gorey could tell. ( )