?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
AUBREY BEARDSLEY (1872-1898)
THE SAVOY. 1896.
12 3/4x10 inches, 32 1/4x25 1/2 cm. C.F. Kell, London. Condition A / A-: small repaired tear at upper left edge; archival tape on verso; slight rippling in image. Paper.
Leonard Smithers, a libertine, book dealer and publisher of erotica, founded the magazine Savoy in 1896. For his principle illustrator, he employed Beardsley, who had recently lost his position at the Yellow Book due to intense criticism of his mores. In Victorian England, such a publication did not last long - only 8 issues were published. Beardsley designed all the covers and numerous illustrations for the articles, as well as some stories himself. This image, referred to by Beardsley as a 'posterette,' was his design for the cover of the last issue, and after the magazine's demise, it became the cover for the complete three-volume set of Savoy.
