A Book of Fifty Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley

Elegant “near-facsimile” edition of Beardsley’s best-known works

Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) lived a desperately short life and his career spanned just seven years. Nonetheless, his output as a draftsman and illustrator was prolific. Beardsley’s subversive illustrations became synonymous with decadence: He delighted in the erotic, shocking audiences with his bizarre sense of humor and fascination with the grotesque. His work was deemed too scandalous by many publishers of the period, but found a suitably unseemly home with the notorious Leonard Charles Smithers (1861–1907). This book, published by Smithers in 1897, is as much a historic document as it is a beautiful introduction to Beardsley’s art.

About the Author

Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) lived a desperately short life and his career spanned just seven years. Nonetheless his output as a draftsman and illustrator was prolific. Beardsley’s subversive illustrations became synonymous with decadence: he delighted in the erotic, shocking audiences with his bizarre sense of humor and fascination with the grotesque. His work was deemed too scandalous by many publishers of the period, but found a suitably unseemly home with the notorious Leonard Charles Smithers (1861–1907). This little book, published by Smithers in 1897, is as much a historic document as it is a beautiful introduction to Beardsley’s art.

Alice Insley is Assistant Curator, Historic British Art, Tate Britain.