DOI article:
The editor's room
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17294#0252
THE EDITORS ROOM
. m „ _ that met the eye of those entering by the end door
NEW PUBLICATIONS. , , ,/ ™ . . • • , .
or the building. 1 heir huge size is somewhat
Le Morte tTArthur. Illustrated by Aubrey against their use as framed pictures ; but whether
Beardsley. Vol. II. (London : J. M. Dent & kept in a portfolio, or hung on the walls, they are
Co.)—In noticing the completion of this sumptuous worth possessing. Unfortunately the set, which
book, it would be tempting to discuss the work of costs £6 ios., may not be broken, so that the large
the singularly talented artist whose name must number of people who would willingly choose a few
always be associated with it. Despite the many examples are doomed to be disappointed. The
directions in which he has experimented since this style of the majority may be easily suggested, by
began to be issued, and with full recognition of the saying that they are not unlike plates from
greater originality of many of these later drawings, VEstampe Original, only four to six times the
yet one deliberately prefers this on the whole, for size.
among the hundreds of designs herein are evidence Macmillaris Literary Readers, Parts I., II., III.
of nearly all Mr. Beardsley's best intentions, and Illustrated by Charles Robinson. (London :
little of the morbid fantasy which has at times Macmillan & Co.)—It is not often one has the
outraged the canons of art and humanity alike, opportunity of criticising school-books as works of
Whether you like it or not, it is by way of being art, but, unless we are greatly mistaken, first copies
epoch-making, nearly all decorative black and of these little volumes will be appreciated and
white since, not only here but on the Continent carefully preserved by collectors. For the naivete
and in America, has been more or less influenced and direct humour of their illustrations, the fecund
by him ; and, having granted so much, if for good or invention they display, combined with the exag-
evil, you have granted that he has in his own way geration that appeals to a child's fancy, are all
left a permanent mark on the " black and white " brought into the field of art by a very pleasant
work of his day, as no single artist since Rossetti personality of line and a really admirable sense of
has done in equal degree. No historian of the last decoration. An illustrated paper on the work of
decade of the nineteenth century will
be able to talk of the illustration of
the period without reference to
Aubrey Beardsley, and when you
think of the other artists who are
absolutely essential in such a record,
it is not easy to find one who modi-
fied the work of his contemporaries
to anything like the same extent.
A set of very powerful lithographs,
LEstampe Murale, sold in this
country by E. Bella, 113 Charing
Cross Road, are the largest and in
. some respects the most important
lithographs the present revival of that
long-neglected craft has offered. They
include over a dozen subjects, most
in monochrome, by Besnard, Willette,
Raffaelli, Dillon, and other well-known
Parisian artists. Visitors to the huge
exhibition of Le Livre, at the Palais
des Industries^ last autumn, will re-
member that they were being printed
at a press which was the first item illustration from macmillan's "literary readers'
IX
. m „ _ that met the eye of those entering by the end door
NEW PUBLICATIONS. , , ,/ ™ . . • • , .
or the building. 1 heir huge size is somewhat
Le Morte tTArthur. Illustrated by Aubrey against their use as framed pictures ; but whether
Beardsley. Vol. II. (London : J. M. Dent & kept in a portfolio, or hung on the walls, they are
Co.)—In noticing the completion of this sumptuous worth possessing. Unfortunately the set, which
book, it would be tempting to discuss the work of costs £6 ios., may not be broken, so that the large
the singularly talented artist whose name must number of people who would willingly choose a few
always be associated with it. Despite the many examples are doomed to be disappointed. The
directions in which he has experimented since this style of the majority may be easily suggested, by
began to be issued, and with full recognition of the saying that they are not unlike plates from
greater originality of many of these later drawings, VEstampe Original, only four to six times the
yet one deliberately prefers this on the whole, for size.
among the hundreds of designs herein are evidence Macmillaris Literary Readers, Parts I., II., III.
of nearly all Mr. Beardsley's best intentions, and Illustrated by Charles Robinson. (London :
little of the morbid fantasy which has at times Macmillan & Co.)—It is not often one has the
outraged the canons of art and humanity alike, opportunity of criticising school-books as works of
Whether you like it or not, it is by way of being art, but, unless we are greatly mistaken, first copies
epoch-making, nearly all decorative black and of these little volumes will be appreciated and
white since, not only here but on the Continent carefully preserved by collectors. For the naivete
and in America, has been more or less influenced and direct humour of their illustrations, the fecund
by him ; and, having granted so much, if for good or invention they display, combined with the exag-
evil, you have granted that he has in his own way geration that appeals to a child's fancy, are all
left a permanent mark on the " black and white " brought into the field of art by a very pleasant
work of his day, as no single artist since Rossetti personality of line and a really admirable sense of
has done in equal degree. No historian of the last decoration. An illustrated paper on the work of
decade of the nineteenth century will
be able to talk of the illustration of
the period without reference to
Aubrey Beardsley, and when you
think of the other artists who are
absolutely essential in such a record,
it is not easy to find one who modi-
fied the work of his contemporaries
to anything like the same extent.
A set of very powerful lithographs,
LEstampe Murale, sold in this
country by E. Bella, 113 Charing
Cross Road, are the largest and in
. some respects the most important
lithographs the present revival of that
long-neglected craft has offered. They
include over a dozen subjects, most
in monochrome, by Besnard, Willette,
Raffaelli, Dillon, and other well-known
Parisian artists. Visitors to the huge
exhibition of Le Livre, at the Palais
des Industries^ last autumn, will re-
member that they were being printed
at a press which was the first item illustration from macmillan's "literary readers'
IX