Edward Gorey

Known for: macabre alphabetical illustrated books; The Gashlycrumb Tinies

Edward Gorey produced more than 100 books of meticulously cross-hatched Victorian and Edwardian drawings of sinister, inexplicable, and frequently fatal events described in deadpan alphabetical or counting sequences. The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963), in which children meet alphabetically arranged ends, is the most widely reprinted of his works. He studied at Harvard alongside Frank O'Hara and was also a devoted student of Japanese art, which influenced the compressed, atmospheric quality of his drawings.