The Museum Collection

Aubrey Beardsley Illustrations for Poe's Works

ID #:	92.40.23
Creator:	Aubrey Beardsley
Date:	Drawn ca.1894, Printed ca.1925
Format:	Print on Paper
Dimensions:	8.5" x 6" sheet, 5" x 3.25" image
Source:	Museum Purchase
Collection:	Poe Foundation, Inc.
Publisher:
Place of Publication:
Publish Date:

Image 1 of

Description:

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) was an English artist considered a leader of the Aesthetic movement. Though Beardsley executed these drawings around 1894, they were not published until after the artist's early death. The first known printing was in the 1925 book The Uncollected Work of Aubrey Beardsley published by John Lane of The Bodley Head, London, so it is likely the present prints date to some time between 1925 and the original owner James H. Whitty's death in 1937.

The prints were found in 1991 by Poe scholar Richard Kopley in a group of Whitty's possessions at Collectors Old Book Shop in Richmond. The Poe Museum purchased the items on May 10, 1991.