In 1892, the unknown Aubrey Beardsley was commissioned to illustrate an elaborate edition of Sir Thomas Malory\u2019s tales of King Arthur and the Round Table. Published first in \u201cparts\u201d and then in multi-volume form, the massive work helped put the young artist on the map. This original design, very much a work of art nouveau, is one of Beardsley\u2019s early masterpieces.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sir Max Beerbohm, 1872\u20131956. A Christmas Garland, woven by Max Beerbohm.<\/em> London: William Heinemann, 1912<\/p>\n This is a truly extraordinary book\u2014the this first edition copy of his matchless collection of parodies of contemporary writers Beerbohm embellished specially as a donation to a Red Cross charity sale held during World War I. The sixteen elaborate drawings, in pencil and watercolor, include caricatures of H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Hardy, and Joseph Conrad, among others, along with illustrations. Unlocated for more than a century, the book is now reunited in the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection with the copy in which Beerbohm drew \u201ctry out\u201d versions of the sketches and presented to his mother.<\/p>\n Reginald Baliol Brett, Viscount Esher, 1852-1930. Foam.<\/em> London; New York: Macmillan and Co. 1893<\/p>\n It is not surprising that this key volume of gay verse was published anonymously. The author, married with children and an Establishment figure who moved in the most exalted circles, needed to hide his lifelong homosexual inclinations. Known as the premier political \u201cfixer\u201d during the reign of Queen Victoria (whose letters he edited), Lord Esther served a a courtier to three monarchs. Foam<\/em> is an extremely rare book, with but five copies recorded in other libraries. Escher inscribed this copy to his future daughter-in-law, the music-hall star and actor Zena Dare.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Coventry Patmore, 1823\u20131896. Amelia: An Idyll<\/em>. [London: Chiswick Press, 1878]\n Reputedly Patmore\u2019s favorite among his own poems, Amelia<\/em> was a follow-up to the author\u2019s famous The Angel in the House. <\/em>The private edition consisted of\u00a0 just 25 copies\u201420 on paper, 5 of vellum. This is one of two recorded vellum copies illustrated on every page with elaborate paintings in quasi-medieval style by the author\u2019s daughter, Bertha. Born in 1855, and tutored and greatly praised by none other than John Ruskin, Bertha Patmore was one of the most remarkable artists associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement.\u00a0 The Saturday Review <\/em>described this work when it was shown at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society\u2019s 1891 exhibition as \u201cilluminated with a genius worthy of the monastic masters of the fourteenth century.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828\u20131882. Sir Hugh the Heron: A Legendary Tale in Four Parts. <\/em>London: G. Policori\u2019s Private Press, 1843<\/p>\n The poet-partner\u2019s first work, a poem (inspired by reading Sir Walter Scott he later referred to as \u201cabsurd trash\u201d) printed when he was 14 by his grandfather, Gaetano Polidori. This copy has provenance through three generations of the Rossetti family; it first belonged to Rossetti\u2019s sister, Maria, who inscribed the title “Sir Hugh the Heron\u201d on the front wrapper; a manuscript\u00a0 note by brother William Michael Rossetti indicates his ownership follows on the verso, indicating the book came to him from their mother, Frances Mary Lavinia Rossetti; a further inscription presents the volume to William\u2019s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Made Rossetti.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n W. T. (William Thomas) Stead, 1849\u20131912. Portraits and Autographs: An Album for the People.<\/em> London: [Office of the Review of Reviews], 1890<\/p>\n An assemblage of images and facsimile signatures of the great, the famous, and the creative in Britain (starting with Queen Victoria herself and encompassing aristocrats, politicians, writers, and actors, among others) this complication by the reformist journalist and editor, W. T. Stead, is a prime example of late-Victorian celebrity culture. This is Stead\u2019s own copy, accompanied by two dozen letters from friends (including the philosopher and scientist Thomas Henry Huxley and the feminist Millicent Fawcett) to whom he sent the book as a Christmas present.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sylvia\u2019s Annual, 1893, edited by Graham R. Tomson.<\/em> London: Ward, Lock & Bowden, [1893]\n This clothbound volume collects eleven of the first twelve monthly issues, December 1892\u2013October 1893, of a magazine aimed at women readers. What is most interesting is that Sylvia<\/em>\u2019s Journal <\/em>was pseudonymously edited by the poet, Rosamond Marriott-Watson, who included significant literary work in its pages. The contributors (apart from the editor herself) included Florence Farr, Gleeson White, Violet Hunt, Katherine Tynan, Louise Imogen Guiney, Louise Chandler Moulton, Katherine de Mattos, Jane Barlow, Clementina Black, Nora Hopper, and William Sharp. A set of color plates of women\u2019s fashion is bound in at the back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Special Collections librarians welcome opportunities to collaborate with faculty and promote the use of our primary sources. Requests for instruction or faculty recommendations for new acquisitions can be sent to Special Collections: https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/contact-us\/askspec\/ Collections Committee Special Collections and Museums April …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-acquisitions"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 18:37:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9899"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10602,"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions\/10602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/library.udel.edu\/special\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2022\/03\/Beerbohm_Christmas-Garland.jpeg\")
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