The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock
Alexander Pope
Illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley
Published by Leonard Smithers, Arundel Street , London 1896
£450
1st. edition thus, small quarto (265x200x14mm), original blue cloth, gilt blocked with Beardsley design, gilt lettered spine, slight wear to gilt, minor wear to caps, bevelled boards,slight browning on a few pages, nine drawings by Beardsley, two contemporary bookplates on front paste down and front free endpaper, a good copy.
“It was at the suggestion of Edmund Gosse that Beardsley undertook to illustrate this poem. But he seldom illustrated anything literally: rather he made graphic comments on the text....which explains the use of the word 'embroidered' on the title page.” Beardsley Brian Reade
Beardsley, a true original, an influence on (or should we say copied by) so many.