The Epiplectic Bicycle – Edward Gorey 1978

Edward Gorey‘s The Epiplectic Bicycle, originally published in 1969, stands as one of the beloved author and illustrator’s most whimsical and enigmatic creations. This small-format hardcover volume, spanning approximately sixty-four pages, presents a surreal narrative chronicling the adventures of two children named Embley and Yewbert.

The story begins on an ordinary day when the siblings are occupying themselves by striking one another with croquet mallets. Their pastime is interrupted by the arrival of an “untenanted” bicycle that rolls mysteriously into their garden. Without hesitation, the pair mounts the strange vehicle and embarks on an intrepid voyage of epic proportion across turnip fields, through barns, and into bushes.

What follows is a characteristically Gorey-esque sequence of bizarre encounters and nonsensical events. The children meet a strange bird who mutters cryptic warnings, and later confront a menacing alligator that rises from a puddle shouting “Ho!” before being dispatched with a kick to the nose. The narrative skips and jumps with deliberate absurdity, including chapters that are simply missing, leaving gaps that become part of the joke. The story concludes with a characteristically unsettling twist when the children discover an obelisk erected in their memory one hundred and seventy-three years earlier.

The book is illustrated throughout with Gorey’s distinctive pen-and-ink drawings, rendered in his meticulous cross-hatched style that evokes nineteenth-century woodcuts. The illustrations alternate between full-page compositions and smaller vignettes, maintaining the perfect balance of elegance and eccentricity that defines his work. The physical volume itself is notably small, measuring approximately thirteen by nineteen centimeters in its standard editions, creating an intimate object that rewards close examination.

Subsequent editions appeared from various publishers, including Harcourt Brace in 1997 and Bloomsbury in 1999. Despite its brevity, The Epiplectic Bicycle captures the essential qualities of Gorey’s genius: dark whimsy, literary nonsense, meticulous draftsmanship, and the ability to create entire worlds of meaning from what is both shown and deliberately withheld.