Beardsley, Aubrey--Aristophanes

4to, first edition, number 47 of 100 copies, 8 full-page illustrations by Beardsley [Lasner 107] [bound with:] [An Issue of Five Drawings Illustrative of Juvenal and Lucian]. [London: Leonard Smithers, 1906]. 4to, 6 full-page illustrations by Beardsley [Lasner 149]; early twentieth century black morocco, maroon morocco doublures with elaborate gilt tooling, silk free endpapers, gilt edges, spine gilt in compartments, some light browning and soiling, minor marks to morocco

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This volume collects together some of Beardsley's most explicit work. The Lysistrata is bound together with An Issue of Five Drawings Illustrative of Juvenal and Lucian although six plates are present here comprising: 'Bathyllus in the Swan Dance' [Reade 469], 'Messalina returning from the bath' [Reade 483], 'Lucian's Strange Creatures' [Reade 256], 'Birth from the Calf of the Leg' [Reade 255], 'Juvenal Scourging Woman' [Reade 468] and 'Bathyllus Posturing' [Reade 470]. The second plate, 'Messalina returning from the bath', is the additional plate. Lasner lists a 1915 pirated printing of the drawings comprising six plates but notes that the paper includes a watermark. The plates offered here are on Japan vellum and therefore more likely to be part of Smithers' original 1906 edition.

Brian Reade notes that in the eight drawings to the Lysistrata '...there was a return to something like the manner of decorations on Greek pottery... the Lysistrata series, and the illustrations to Juvenal's Sixth Satire, never completed and never published in book form, contain among them the only successful examples of true satire in all Beardsley's output. The old burlesque spirit of his schooldays was revived in the roughest of them and mixed with a controlled aggression, delivered against both sexes, and unlike anything to be found in the satirical works of other artists, since or before...' (Reade, Beardsley, London, 1967, p. 18).