Beardsley (Aubrey).- Symons (Arthur) The Savoy: An Illustrated Quarterly, 8 vol., first edition, plates and illustrations by Beardsley, Sickert, Rothenstein, Beerbohm, Rossetti, Shannon etc., loosely inserted Christmas card in volume 1. without publisher's slip in vol.7, some foxing, vol.1 and 2 in original pink pictorial boards, the rest in original green pictorial wrappers, some light rubbing, soiling and fraying, vol. 4 with tear to head of upper cover, but generally a sharp and excellent set, with the original pink-wrappered suppressed prospectus, preserved in custom drop-back box, [Lasner 103 & 103a], 4to, Leonard Smithers, January-December, 1896.

⁂ An excellent set of what Holbrook Jackson called "the most satisfying achievement of 'fin de siecle' journalism in England." The arrest of Oscar Wilde and the dismissal of Aubrey Beardsley as the art editor of The Yellow Book created difficulties for the artists and writers of the 1890s. Smithers's enterprise was therefore most timely. However, employing Beardsley was not without its problems - his cover illustration for no.1 having to be suppressed, for example, as it depicted a young boy urinating on The Yellow Book. Symons' editorship was crucial in recruiting writers such as Yeats, Conrad, Shaw, Verlaine, Ernest Dowson and John Gray.