Charming ALS by Caricaturist Max Beerbohm

Born in London, Beerbohm attended Oxford where he became known as a dandy and made the acquaintance of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, the latter publishing Beerbohm’s essay A Defence of Cosmetics in The Yellow Book in 1894, a piece which made Beerbohm’s reputation. Two years later he published his collected essays for The Yellow Book in The Works of Max Beerbohm. It was followed by his short story “The Happy Hypocrite: A Fairy Tale for Tired Men.” In 1898, Beerbohm succeeded George Bernard Shaw as drama critic for The Saturday Review. In handing over the reins, Shaw wrote: “The younger generation is knocking at the door; and as I open it there steps spritely in the incomparable Max,” bestowing upon him his lifelong nickname. His only novel, set at Oxford, was Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story, published in 1911.

Beerbohm was also a popular caricaturist whose work first appeared in 1892 in The Strand Magazine, which published his humorous drawing “Club Types” – including one dubbed “Savile” showing a slender man with receding hairline standing in profile and attired in morning dress. In 1913, The Times called Beerbohm “the greatest of English comic artists,” and his caricatures were published in Caricatures of Twenty-five Gentlemen (1896), The Poets’ Corner (1904), Fifty Caricatures (1913), and Rossetti and His Circle (1922).

In excellent condition.