| Publisher
to the Decadents chronicles the experiences of Leonard Smithers
(1861-1907), a key figure in the literary culture of late Victorian
England. In his day he was known primarily for publishing books of
upscale pornography. He became the publisher of choice for the Decadents,
including most notably Oscar Wilde and Audrey Beardsley.
While a young solicitor in his native Sheffield, Smithers established
a correspondence with the famed explorer and translator of exotic
texts, Captain Sir Richard Burton. Burton translated The Thousand
Nights and a Night (popularly known as The Arabian Nights),
which was published by Smithers in 1885. Smithers collaborated with
Burton in the publication of two Latin texts, the Priapeia and
the Carmina of Catullus, both of erotic cast. After the death
of Burton in 1890, Smithers continued a significant involvement
with his work, serving as an adviser to Lady Isabel Burton. During
this time Smithers formed a partnership with Harry Sidney Nichols,
and together they produced a series of pornographic books under
the imprint of the Erotika Biblion Society.
The years between 1895 and 1900 were Smithers's glory years when
he managed to publish a number of books illustrated by Beardsley,
a magazine known as the Savoy, and books of verse by Ernest
Dowson and Arthur Symons that have proved to be the finest expression
of the Decadent Movement. Throughout his career Smithers sought
to produce attractive, well-made books that were tastefully designed
and printed.
This book provides expansive insight into the prizes and pitfalls
of an early English publisher of the decadent Nineties. It is the
final volume in a trilogy of books on a group of publishers who
contributed much to the literary and artistic movements of the 1890s
in England. The two previous books are The Early Nineties: A
View from the Bodley Head (Harvard, 1971) and Elkin Mathews:
Publisher to Yeats, Joyce, Pound (Wisconsin, 1989). |
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