Today I’m sharing a few of the smaller portraits from the book. The last illustration is one of my favourites. Beardsley uses negative space brilliantly, and his simple line drawings create compellingly complex faces.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork via: Enchanted Booklet
Many of the figures in Beardsley’s work are androgenous, and as you can imagine, this created quite a stir during the Victorian times in which they were published. Despite the controversy, or perhaps because of it, Beardsley’s work was well-considered in art circles and the book sold moderately well. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting some of the more well-known figures in the book, but I wanted to introduce a few select examples today as a signpost to the overarching theme of androgyny.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur.
Artwork via: Enchanted Booklet
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Le Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. LeMorte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork via: Enchanted Booklet
Today it’s a peek at the Kingdom and a few courtiers.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Plus a bonus taste of some page headers.
Artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork via: The Enchanted Booklet
Sir Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur. Illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. Limited First Edition, J. M. Dent and Sons, 1893.
Sir Thomas Mallory. Le Morte Darthur. Illustrations by Aubrey Bardsley. Limited First Edition, J. M. Dent and Sons, 1893.
Marcus submitted this book a very long time ago and I’ve been holding off using it because there is so much more to this book than its very beautiful cover. The book is filled with the most incredible illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley and I’d like to showcase them, so I’ve decided to change things up a bit. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to dive into this book and savour it, a few delightful illustrations at a time. The book has been republished many times, but in the above photos, Marcus is holding his very rare, limited edition (only 300 copies made).
Bearsley was only 19 when he began the artwork for this book and was working as a clerk in an insurance firm at the time. Dent saw the artist’s potential and hired him on cheaply, hoping to produce a high-quality edition that was affordable for the masses. Beardsley’s artwork exceeded all expectations. In all, there are over 1,000 illustrations and decorations in the book and many have gone on to live in fine art collections around the world. Beardsley died of tuberculosis a mere 4 years later, but he left behind an incredible body of work. I can’t possibly show all 1,000 decorations in the book, but I will show you the best of the full and double-page illustrations plus a selection of borders and chapter headings to give you a good overall flavour of the grotesque, macabre, erotic world that Beardsley created.
edit, July 7/20. The edition that Marcus is holding is from 1893 and not 1927, as I had originally noted, and I’ve made the correction. Thanks to Flex for the wealth of information.
Le Morte Darthur, Dent and Sons, 1927.
Let’s start with a look at the detail of a few monograms and full-page border decorations.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. Morte Darthur. Dent and Sons, 1927.
Artwork via: Enchanted Booklet
Olive Beaupre Miller, ed. Various authors and illustrators. The Latch key of My Bookhouse. Chicago, The Bookhouse for Children, 1922.
This is a curious book about the origin of shared stories and fairy tales. I found the most exciting part of the book to be its several indexes. Located at the end of the book, they are organized by author, character, historical era, geographical location and ethical themes, such as cleanliness, compassion, honesty, and faithfulness. Christian faithfulness that is. The book casually assumes a white, protestant readership, and the Values Index reads as a How-To book for raising quiet, compliant children who become hard-working, modest, reserved, compliant adults (living in a racist, xenophobic, patriarchal, misogynistic society) who don’t question authority. Bah! Teach your kids to question everything, to value learning new things and new perspectives, to seek equanimity and fairness, to speak with confidence, and to actively create a world that everyone wants to live in. A sampling of the illustrations is attached below the fold.
Harriot E Orcutt. A Modern Love Story. Chicago, C. H. Kerr & company, 1894.
Carnegie Simpson. Love Never Faileth. New York, Chicago [etc.] F. H. Revell company, 1902.
Irving Bacheller. Eben Holden’s Last Day- a-Fishing. New York Harper, 1907.
via: The Internet Archive
Annie S. Swan. Doris Cheyne; The Story of a Noble Life. Cincinnati, Cranston and Stowe; New York, Hunt and Eaton, 1890.
via: The Internet Archive
More allegory than a fairy tale, this book is a delightful dog story filled with the imaginative and charming artwork of Arthur Rackham, one of the great artists of the golden age of book illustration, which lasted from about 1880 to 1920. There are many line drawings throughout the book, but only 4 full-colour illustrations, all of which I’ve attached. Enjoy.
Christopher Morley. Where the Blue Begins. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1922.
Frontispiece, Where the Blue Begins.
Page 28, Where the Blue Begins.
Page 92, Where the Blue Begins.
Page 148, Where the Blue Begins.
via: The Internet Archive
Cover Photo via Abe Books
Barry Pain. Another English Woman’s Love Letters. New York & London, Putnam, The Knickerbocker Press, 1901.
