The Savoy. January - December 1896 Beardsley, Aubrey [Illustrator]; Arthur Symons [Editor] Art,Illustrated Books,Literature,Literature Before 1900,Magazines & Periodicals

First edition, first issue. Complete in three volumes containing all eight issues of the renowned art and literature magazine. Bound in publisher's cobalt blue cloth with pictorial gilt stamping designed by Aubrey Beardsley, "Leonard Smithers 1896" at tail of each spine. Cover and title pages to each issue and numerous illustrations by Beardsley; Beardsley Christmas card tipped in to Volume I between first and second issues. Very Good+ with light rubbing and staining to covers, sunning to spines and dulling to spine gilt, and light toning to contents. Morocco bookplate to each front pastedown with consequent offsetting to facing page, penciled bookseller inscriptions to each front free endpaper and several interior pages. Hinges tender or starting, overopened throughout. The complete run of The Savoy magazine, a short-lived high point of the Decadent movement. Edited by Arthur Symons and published by the notorious Leonard Smithers, the magazine's eight beautifully designed issues featured stories, poems, and literary criticism. Joseph Conrad's first short story was published in the sixth issue, and other contributors included W.B. Yeats, Havelock Ellis, Edmund Gosse, George Bernard Shaw, and Max Beerbohm. The brightest start in the firmament was Aubrey Beardsley, though even his stunning illustrations didn't generate enough sales to keep the magazine going. Arthur Symons announced its cessation in the seventh issue: "We will therefore retire from the arena, not entirely dissatisfied, if not a trifle disappointed, leaving to those who care for it our year's work, which will be presented to you in three volumes, in a cover of Mr. Beardsley's designing. When we come before you again, it will be in a more luxurious form, for which you shall pay more, but less often.".