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AUBREY BEARDSLEY AS A
DESIGNER OF BOOK-PLATES
^ ^ ^ BY A. E. GALLATIN
• •,
t . ) , >
London : Elkin Mathews : Mdccccii
Boston: Charles E. Peabody & Q).
This foot-note to the bibliography of the book-plate
has been reprinted from the December, 1902, Reader
Magazine, and is copyrighted by The Reader Pub-
lishing Company.
UBRA«<
8CH00L
AUBREY BEARDSLEY AS A
DESIGNER OF BOOK-PLATES
f
: ; - , r . C , ,. „
. . . •« 8 > •
lO arttst- has shbwrf
greaXef versatility
in his work than
Aubrey Beardsley^
His designs include illustra-
tions for many of the classics,
scenes from the operas, purely
decorative drawings, portraits,
posters, caricatures, drawings
keenly satirical, book-covers,
title-pages,book-plates» Know-
ing that he was a musical prod-
igy, an amateur actor, the
writer of considerable prose
and poetry of much merit, and
3
?26586
that his knowledge of books
was very, great, we may say
that the variety shown in his
work was a reflection of the
versatility of the artiste
The really essential view-
point for considering Beards-
ley ^s drawings is the purely
technical one of the artist and
the connoisseur* The decora-
tive qualities in his work have
never been surpassed by any
artist whose work has been in
black and white* Beardsley is
primarily an ^^ artist's artist/'
and the qualities of his won-
derful and beautiful line and
perfect arrangement of his
4
masses are the elements in his
work which will make it im-
mortal. The aesthetic qual-
ities in his drawings are not
those which mean mere popu-
larity. It is true his drawings
had a greater vogue than those
of any other artist of his age,
but just why they had seems
difficult of explanation, unless,
as one critic holds, his ignor-
ing of perspective and propor-
tion, and his freedom, to a
certain extent, of convention,
caused his works to meet with
a succes de scandale.
It seems strange that Beards-
ley is not better known than
5
he is as a designer of Ex Libris^
In what I suppose may be
called an exhaustive and monu-
mental work, *^ Artists and En-
gravers of British and Ameri-
can Book-Plates'' (London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner
& Co^, Ltd-, I897),byHenry W.
Fincham, about 5,000 book-
plates by more than J, 500
artists are catalogued* Mr»
Fincham, however, only knew
of the plate Beardsley designed
for John Lumsden Property
While it is true that Beards-
ley designed but comparatively
few book-plates, this phase of
his art is a very interesting one*
6
Not taking rank with his very
finest work, his book-plates
nevertheless compare very fa-
vorably with the best examples
of the pictorial style of plate^
The first book-plate Beards-
ley designed was the one for
Dr» John Lumsden Propert,
the famous collector of minia-
tures* It was executed in 1 893,
as we can see from the date
on the drawing placed beneath
the artistes signature device*
The plate is a characteristic
example of one of Beardsley^s
various manners — the phase
of his work in which he de-
lighted in depicting pierrots and
7
candles guttered by unseen
gusts of air*
Another book-plate designed
by Beardsley at this time was
merely one of his elaborate
border designs for ^^ Le Morte
d' Arthur'' (J893-4), convert-
ed into an Ex Libris* The
late Gleeson White made note
of this, in a paragraph or so
devoted to Beardsley's book-
plates in his essay on British
book-plates* (Vide ''Modern
Book-Plates and their Design-
ers/' London and New York :
John Lane, 1898-90 This
is all the data he gave, and
I am unable to add to this
8
meagre information. In the
same way Mr* White listed a
Savoy Magazine prospectus
made into a plate* There
were two Savoy prospectuses,
and they were printed in J 895*
Unlike several other drawings
made into book-plates, these
two may be authorized, says
Mr. White. Another design
of this nature I know of, which
has never been mentioned in
print, is the drawing ^^ The
Scarlet Pastoral'' with ''The
Book-Plate of H. F. W. Man-
ners-Sutton '' written on it. I
do not know whether this was
added by Beardsley or not.
9
Aside from its value as a
book-plate, Beardsley^s ^* Ex
Libris Olive Custance ^^ is per-
haps the most notable of his mi-
nor drawings^ As a book-plate
it is certainly most charming*
The drawing entitled ^^ Au-
brey Beardsley^s Book-Plate/^
reproduced in the first ^^ Book
of Fifty Drawings by Aubrey
Beardsley/^ is in reality no
book-plate at alL It is even
doubtful if Beardsley ever used
it as such*
Gleeson White, in the essay
I have already referred to, also
speaks of book-plates designed
by Beardsley for Alaister Crow-
10
ley and Gerald Kelly, adding
that they have not been repro-
duced — probably using this
word as meaning published*
A short time ago I came into
possession of these plates, and
find they are reproductions of
the portrait of Madame Re-
jane drawn by Beardsley in
1893, and reproduced on page
78 of ^^The Early Work of
Aubrey Beardsley'' (t899)
and of the drawing represent-
ing Flosshilde (J 896). To
these drawings have been
added, with a pen, ^^ Ex Libris
Alaister Crowley'' and ^^Ex
Libris Gerald Kelly/'
II
J^ Eighty-five copies of this
book have been printed on
hand-made paper and three on
Japanese vellum duringDecem-
ber, 1902, at the De Vinne
Press, New York, United
States of America.
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