MR. POLLITT'S BOOKPLATE

Overall bookplate size: 11.1 x 6.8cm. Image size: 8.3 x 5.5cm. This design was intended as the bookplate for the Artist. However, it was not used by Beardsley, but by Herbert J. Pollitt c.1897. Pollitt was a close friend of Aubrey Beardsley and became a collector of his art alongside other examples of erotica. He was also close to Leonard Smithers, Beardsley's publisher, from whom he purchased pornography for his collection. In his last letter, written on his deathbed, Beardsley begged Smithers and Pollitt to destroy all his erotic drawings and work, a request which both men ignored. The Catalogue of the Beardsley Exhibition at the V&A Museum, 1966, edited by Reade and Dickinson, lists the proof of this bookplate as Item 551.