Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley 1892-1898 MS.1997.011
Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley 1892-1898 MS.1997.011 http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1193
Archives and Manuscripts Department John J. Burns Library Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill 02467 library.bc.edu/burns/contact URL: http://www.bc.edu/burns Table of Contents
Summary Information ...... 3 Administrative Information ...... 4 Biographical note ...... 5 Scope and Contents ...... 5 Collection Inventory ...... 5
Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley MS.1997.011
- Page 2 - Summary Information
Creator: Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872-1898 Title: Boston College collection of Aubrey Beardsley Collection Identifier: MS.1997.011 Date [inclusive]: 1892-1898 Physical Description 1.25 Linear Feet (1 container) Language of the English Material: Abstract: This collection documents the work of nineteenth-century English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley through an ink drawing, prints, a proof, and clippings of journal illustrations. It includes prints for an 1898 edition of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories, advertisement designs, and a scrapbook containing clippings documenting the last six years of Beardsley's career as an illustrator. There are also two obituaries. Preferred Citation
Identification of item, Box number, Folder number, Boston College collection of Aubrey Beardsley, MS.1997.011, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley MS.1997.011
- Page 3 - Administrative Information
Publication Information Processed by Processed by Dana Lawton, 2005. Updated by AnneMarie Anderson in 2010. This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace.
Restrictions on access Collection is open for research.
Provenance Because the current accessioning system was not used until January 1986, it is not possible to know exactly the dates of acquisition of materials received before that time.
The scrapbook was a gift of Mark Samuels Lasner, 1998.
Restrictions on use These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Processing Information Earlier description of this collection mis-indentified the Poe illustrations as original pen-and-ink drawings.
Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley MS.1997.011
- Page 4 - Biographical note
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was born on August 21, 1872, in Sussex, England, the son of Vincent Paul Beardsley (c. 1840-1909), and Ellen Agnus (1846-1932). At the age of seven, Beardsley was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that would plague him for the remainder of his life. In 1888 Beardsley worked as a clerk in London. His artistic aspirations led him to enroll in the Westminster School of Art, beginning in 1891.
Following his artistic training, Beardsley began illustrating for art journals. His intricate drawing style was well captured by the hard surface of metal engraving blocks, which were a recently-introduced printing technology. His work was noticed by J. M. Dent, who asked him to illustrate a new publication of Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Beardsley went on to illustrate several other literary publications including Oscar Wilde's Salome (1894), Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock (1896), Aristophanes' Lysistrata (1896), and Ben Jonson's Volpone (1898). The controversial nature of some of his illustrations, combined with his decadent social life, drew much critical speculation about his own personal lifestyle. In 1897, in the face of his declining physical health and at the urging of his sister, Beardsley converted to Roman Catholicism and subsequently demanded that his friends and family destroy his drawings. His demands were ignored and his work was preserved.
Aubrey Beardsley died of tuberculosis on March 16, 1898, at age twenty-five.
Source:
Crawford, Alan. "Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent (1872-1898)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 2 Nov. 2005.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of reproductions of images by nineteenth-century English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. It contains printed illustrations from an 1898 edition of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories and their original gold-stamped vellum folio. It also includes an original sketch for the logo for the Pierrot's Library book series; an American release of a publisher's advertisement designed by Beardsley; and a scrapbook with over 100 clippings of Beardsley's black and white illustrations.
Collection Inventory
Gold-stamped vellum portfolio, originally containing the Poe box 1 folder 1 illustrations, circa 1898
Black and white prints illustrating Edgar Allen Poe short stories, box 1 folder 2 circa 1898
Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley MS.1997.011
- Page 5 - "Ornament for Pierrot's Library" ink drawing, circa 1896 box 1 folder 3
Obituaries from The Times (London) and The Tablet, photocopies, box 1 folder 4 1898 March 18-19
Print illustration for publisher's advertisement for "Children's box 1 folder 5 Books", with note, circa 1894
Proof for cover of The Studio: an Illustrated Magazine of Fine and box 1 folder 6 Applied Art, No. 1, 1893
Scrapbook of clippings of Beardsley's black and white illustrations, box 1 folder 7 1892-1898
Boston College Collection of Aubrey Beardsley MS.1997.011
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