About this edition

To mark the centenary of Aubrey Beardsley's death in 1898, the Cypher Press issued this limited-edition volume containing of all of Beardsley’s mature published writings, reunited for the first time ever with all the relevant illustrations, together with the lion’s share of his “juvenilia” which, though sometimes lacking the intensity of his later work, is never without charm, and sometimes has real interest.

     With a single exception, the illustrations in the printed In Black and White have been taken from the best available impressions of the original line-blocks. In the case of “Enter Herodias”, however, since the original line-block was damaged, and since the censored version is now a much rarer image, the version we reproduce has been taken from John Lane’s 1907 large-format Portfolio of Drawings for Salome.

     In Black and White is published in a limited edition of 150 copies, bound in silk and running to 250 pages. A version in Adobe's pdf format is available for free download by clicking here (size 2.5mb). To purchase a copy, or for further information, send us an email.

Stephen Calloway is certainly the preeminent authority on the life and art of Aubrey Beardsley. In addition to his critical biography, published in 1998 to great acclaim, the exhibition on Beardsley's work which he curated at London's Victoria and Albert Museum was one of the V&A's most successful ever staged there.