BEARDSLEY (Aubrey).

The Savoy.

London, Leonard Smithers. January - December. 1896. First edition. Eight volumes. Original pink pictorial boards (Nos. 1 and 2 only), original green pictorial wrappers (Nos. 3 - 8). Preserved in three green slipcases. 4to. Lasner 103; Nelson 1896 1A. Nos. 1 - 2 as a quarterly, January and April 1896; Nos 3 - 8 as a monthly, July to December 1896. The complete set including the loosely inserted Christmas card in volume one and a loosely inserted publisher's slip in volume seven announcing that the last issue, volume eight, would appear in December. Edited by Arthur Symons and Beardsley. Smithers's reason for establishing 'The Savoy ' was chiefly to give Beardsley a chance to fulfil his potential as an artist. Beardsley produced some of his most outstanding work, submitting twenty-nine drawings as well as the front cover designs, the back cover publisher's device (two designs) and the title-page designs and also some literary contributions all while struggling with his failing health. The arrest of Oscar Wilde and the dismissal of Aubrey Beardsley as the art editor of 'The Yellow Book' created difficulties for the artists and writers of the 1890s. Smithers's enterprise was therefore most timely. However, employing Beardsley was not without its problems, his cover illustration for No. 1 having to be suppressed, for example, as it depicted a young boy urinating on the 'Yellow Book'. The role of Arthur Symons was vital as he was particularly good at recruiting writers of distinction such as Yeats and Conrad. He stated that "no verse which has not some close relationship with poetry, no fiction which has not a certain sense of what is finest in living fact, no criticism which has not some knowledge, discernment, and sincerity in its judgement" would be included. Although the response to 'The Savoy' was initially lukewarm it was praised by the "Sunday Times" reviewer who wrote "the audacious 'decadence' of Aubrey Beardsley cannot blind the critic to the splendid decorative effect of his composition, his pattern, his idea." Holbrook Jackson described 'The Savoy' during its brief year as "the most satisfying achievement of "fin de siècle" journalism in England." Some of the most notable artistic contributions were made by Walter Sickert, William Blake, Will Rothenstein, Joseph Pennell, W. T. Horton, Max Beerbohm, Rossetti and Charles H. Shannon. Other literary contributors included Bernard Shaw, Edmund Gosse, Ernest Dowson, George Moore, John Gray, Lionel Johnson, Paul Verlaine and Vincent O'Sullivan. Half-inch chip at foot of spine of volume 8, other spines very lightly rubbed, but overall a fine, fresh set.

• GBP 2,200.00 > autres monnaies
• Commande nro.: 6532

• libraire: John Hart (GREAT BRITAIN)