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The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary
 
 
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The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Alice was eating grapes in the park when Herbert, an extremely well-endowed young man, introduced himself to her..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
List Price: $10.00
Price: $8.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  Hardcover, September 14, 1997 $8.00 $3.25 $1.99
  Paperback, October 19, 1999 -- $6.01 $4.28
  Unknown Binding, December 31, 1972 -- -- --

Frequently Bought Together

The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary + The Gashlycrumb Tinies + The Doubtful Guest
Price For All Three: $25.00

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  • This item: The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary by Edward Gorey

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  • The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey

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  • The Doubtful Guest by Edward Gorey

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As the New York Times writes of Edward Gorey, "His satires (often of tawdry Victorian mysteries) are not mere commentaries on the manners and mores of a distant age; they are inventive narratives about evil adults, mischievous children, illicit lovers and improbable beasts." Or, in the case of The Curious Sofa, improbable furniture. As Gorey tells us on the cover, this is "a pornographic work" (pornographic horror, in fact) with a picture on every page. And yet there's nary a nipple (nor a drop of blood) in sight. (For those who want some extras to pass around there's a 10-copy assortment with The Gashlycrumb Tinies.)


Product Description

Gorey’s naughty, hilarious travesty of lust-now reissued in a special gift edition. “A master of the genre of graphic storytelling and a brilliant draftsman” (New York Times Book Review).
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 64 pages
  • Publisher: Harcourt (September 15, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0151003076
  • ISBN-13: 978-0151003075
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #86,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #14 in  Books > Arts & Photography > Drawing > Pen & Ink

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More About the Authors

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Edward Gorey
Edward Gorey
Ogdred Weary
Ogdred Weary

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Alice was eating grapes in the park when Herbert, an extremely well-endowed young man, introduced himself to her. Read the first page
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The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary
47% buy the item featured on this page:
The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary 4.3 out of 5 stars (25)
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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151 of 152 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sex and violence - I think, May 29, 2000
By "lexo-2" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
A particularly miniature gem from a master miniaturist, The Curious Sofa tells of the delightfully open-minded Alice who, approached one day in the park while she's eating grapes, takes a taxi ride with a young gentleman during which she does something that she's never done before. The story then proceeds to a country house, during which various upper-class folk introduce Alice to a dizzying variety of fun, variously involving a French maid, a Countess, a married couple who each have a wooden leg, numerous "exceptionally well-formed" gentlemen and an enthusiastic Old English sheepdog. You don't actually see anything, thanks to Mr. Gorey's discreet placing of trees, bushes, clothed persons and screens between us and the action, so fans of genuine porn can expect to be disappointed. But this is still a highly titillating book. It climaxes, as it were, when the whole party encounters the eponymous and somewhat sinister sofa, at which point events get rather beyond Alice's control in a way that I'll leave to your imagination.

I don't know what kind of tea Mr. Gorey drinks but I'd quite like to try some. If you wanted to explain to somebody what the word "suggestive" means, and were for some reason allergic to dictionaries, you were best off lending them this book. It's all good fun until the last page - which I find extremely worrying. And yet I'm afraid that says more about me than it says about the book.

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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Several reasons to beg loving relatives for this book.., December 2, 1999
By The Inscrutable (Oh, here and there.) - See all my reviews
Every slightly Disturbed Person should have at least one example of Goreyhood on their shelves.. in case your loving relatives find this too distressing to buy for you, here are some sensible reasons to throw at them..

*Victorian orgies are cool

*It's a party accessory: read it aloud.

*It's a storybook for young, impressionable children.

*You can hit people with it and it will sting.

*Or, Whatever..

It's just so droll and vague and cheery. Besides, Victorian orgies are cool.

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Volume Eleven Of The "Encyclopedia Of Unimaginable Customs", November 20, 2004
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In a typically odd work by Edward Gorey, the protagonist, Alice, gets her eyes opened to many new experiences by companions of various sorts (including Colonel Gilbert and his wife Louise, both of whom have wooden legs, and Donald, a sheepdog). All these new activities are strangely suggestive, but not what most people would actually call pornographic; after all, the book is only illustrated with Gorey's discreet little drawings.

The sofa itself is contained in a room lined in polar bear fur, is upholstered in scarlet velvet, and has nine legs and seven arms; when the machinery starts within it Alice shudders and the book concludes in a delightfully ambiguous manner, in what may well be one of the strangest endings of any of Gorey's books.

I like Gorey, and this is a good little book, but is not actually one of my favorites, as I think there are others more whimsical, and a few are even stranger. For Gorey lovers this is a great little book, but understand that it is quite small, which makes it a questionable value, particularly in light of the excellent compilations available.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as I had hoped.
This book is small but not short, and it's very very funny for adults who know anything at all about victorian literature.
Published 1 month ago by smartypants

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorey is delightful.
I have always loved Gorey's work, but The Curious Sofa is probably my favorite. It is funny and twisted and everything you would expect from Gorey, and it made me laugh out loud... Read more
Published 11 months ago by S. D. Splitt

3.0 out of 5 stars not curious
The sofa isn't very curious and the story isn't pornographic, but it's an interesting little book from Gorey. Only for die-hard fans.
Published 15 months ago by Virginia Price

5.0 out of 5 stars In the land of the well-endowed...
What do adults get up to when their parents aren't around? Here in the land of the well-endowed a cast of wanton and wayward characters will involve themselves in a series of... Read more
Published on July 11, 2007 by Mylz

5.0 out of 5 stars For People Who Like to Read Too Much Into Everything
Well honestly, I fully enjoyed where the book allowed my imagination to roam, until the very end. By the end I was terrified. Read more
Published on May 13, 2007 by Kitten chan

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark humor and delightful drawings
...with a large splash of innuendo, this book has content that is more adult in nature, but still clever and amusing - although those who buy it because of the title will be... Read more
Published on May 7, 2007 by William C. Adamson

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing for a Recently Initiated Gorey Fan
I admit, the only other Edward Gorey work I have read was "The Gashliecrumb (sp?) Tinies", which I found devilishly hysterical, but this one just left me cold. Read more
Published on March 8, 2007 by Bryan W. Young

3.0 out of 5 stars An original and admirable work, but not entirely typical of Gorey
THE CURIOUS SOFA: A Pornographic Work by Ogdred Weary is one of Edward Gorey's works in which the story is told through delightful pen-and-ink drawings with witty captions. Read more
Published on March 21, 2006 by Christopher Culver

5.0 out of 5 stars Gerald did a terrible thing to Elsie with a saucepan....
Though definitely not for everyone, this is probably the creepiest little thing I've read in a LONG time, this being accomplished entirely by subtle insinuation and suggestion... Read more
Published on July 15, 2004 by Yronimos

3.0 out of 5 stars Anyone up for a game of Thumbfumble?
Hardly pornographic at all, this small and simple book is filled with insinuations of events that could quite possibly be indecent or tawdry, but remain veiled, allowing the... Read more
Published on July 5, 2004 by Schtinky

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