Set of Eight Engravings to Illustrate Lysistrata
1905.
Eight large paper (352 x 278 mm) plates on japon, housed in a brick-red publisher's card portfolio, title in black on the upper cover. A near fine set with the spine of the portfolio internally reinforced.
A rare early portfolio of Beardsley's Lysistrata plates, probably printed by Leonard Smithers at the turn of the century. Smithers had published the first edition of Beardsley's Lysistrata in an edition of 100 copies in 1896, which brought both artist and publisher a great deal of notoriety for the bawdy and erotic nature of the illustrations.
Smithers went bankrupt in 1900 and thereafter led a shadowy life, on the edge of the publishing world, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books with the boast: 'I will publish the things the others are afraid to touch'. Being in possession of Beardsley's plates, these were often unauthorised editions of his work.
Stock ID: 36155
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