BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; Lewis C. HIND (introduction). The Uncollected Work of Aubrey Beardsley.

Beardsley from Cradle to Grave

BEARDSLEY, Aubrey; Lewis C. HIND (introduction). The Uncollected Work of Aubrey Beardsley. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd. [1925.]

4to. Publisher’s cream cloth with 1895 architectural design by Beardsley gilt to upper board, spine and upper board lettered in gilt, in the green printed dust-jacket repeating the same design, top-edge gilt; pp. [4], xxvi, [4], 162 numbered plates (including photogravure frontispiece), of which four double-page, preceded by numbered letterpress leaves, a further 6 unnumbered plates bound at end (see below); a few small nicks to dust-jacket with small areas of loss to head and foot of spine; light toning to text leaves; a very good copy.

First edition, no. 79 of 110 special-issue copies printed on Japan vellum and with six additional illustrations not present in the ordinary issue.

The additional illustrations comprise five pieces from An Issue of Five Drawings Illustrative of Juvenal and Lucian (1906), and a variant version of ‘A Snare of Vintage’ from the special issue of Lucian’s True History (1894). The Uncollected Work of Aubrey Beardsley, with a touching introduction by journalist and art critic Lewis C. Hind, co-founder of The Studio, is particularly rich in Beardsley’s early works, with a vast array of his schoolboy drawings; there are also childhood photographs of the artist at the ages of two, ten, and thirteen. Also of note are numerous previously unpublished illustrations, including sketches from his letters to Beardsley’s mentor and former schoolmaster A.W. King, and to the poster illustrator G.F. Scotson-Clark.

This copy, with Dodd, Mead & Co. printed to the foot of the spine, was for distribution in the United States.

Gertner Zatlin A3–A5, A8, A10, A13, A17 (for sketches from Beardsley’s letters); Samuels Lasner 177.

SKU: 2124731