Search results for ""Author Aubrey Beardsley""

An essential collection of chivalric romance, swordplay, wizardry and brutal feats of courage, Malory’s 15th century Morte d’Arthur is one of the world’s greatest pieces of myth-making, with most gothic and modern fantasy finding its roots in this splendid mix of history, magic and literature. This selected edition features all the best stories and many of Aubrey Beardsley’s classic illustrations. Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore, epic literature and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

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Salomé, the haunting one-act tragedy that marks Wilde’s first great success in the theatre, retells the Biblical story in which the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas demands the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for her dancing for her stepfather’s amusement. Written in 1891, and prepared for its first run in 1892, rehearsals of Salomé had to be cancelled when the play was banned by the Lord Chamberlain due to its depiction of religious characters. Undaunted, Wilde moved on to the drawing-room and society comedies he is today best known for, wowing London audiences with Lady Windermere’s Fan and A Woman of No Importance, and it was only in 1894 that Salomé saw the light of day in an English translation, with a series of specially commissioned illustrations by the up-and-coming Aubrey Beardsley.

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'To critics who said that the full-lipped so-called 'Beardsley mouth', which adorned many of his women, was 'inexpressive and ugly', the artist countered, 'Well, let them criticise. It's my mouth and not theirs. I like big mouths. People like the little mouth - the "Dolly Varden" mouth, if that describes it better. A big mouth is the sign of character and strength. Look at Ellen Terry with her great, strong mouth. In fact, I haven't any patience with small-mouthed people.' 'The popular idea of a picture is something told in oil or writ in water to be hung on a room's wall or in a picture gallery to perplex an artless public.' 'To my mind, there is nothing so depressing as a Gothic cathedral. I hate to have the sun shut out by the saints.' 'What a nice ample creature George Sand is: like a wonderful old cow with all her calves.' And other witty, urbane insights on life, art, and culture, illustrated with selected drawings from his Grotesques series.

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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE GEEA hideous crime is committed at a fashionable London society gathering. The victim is the beautiful, innocent Belinda, her attacker is the dastardly Baron, and his weapon of choice is a pair of scissors...Pope's mock-epic is the sharp and witty tale of the most famous bad hair day in the history of literature.

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