A binding by Aubrey Beardsley for ‘The Yellow Book.’ (original) (raw)

Cloth binding

Aubrey Beardsley

1898

A blue cloth with a gilt pattern impressed using a brass die

11½ x 8¼ inches

The most ostentatious of Beardsley’s bindings. Issued in green and blue cloth and in vellum, it is one of the masterworks of late Victorian book-design. The flowing composition asserts the Art Nouveau emphasis on the organic while suggesting the Jacobean splendour of the play’s original context.

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Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

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