Mr Pollitt's Bookplate designed by Aubrey Beardsley c1896

BEARDSLEY, Aubrey (1872–1898). Mr Pollitt’s Bookplate. [c.1896.]
Wood-engraved bookplate, 115 × 70 mm, on thin wove paper.
 
A near fine impression with full margins and light, even toning. A strip of darker toning along the top edge on the reverse. 
 
This design was prepared c.1896 and associated with Herbert J. Pollitt (1871–1942), the Manchester actor, collector, and close friend of Beardsley. Although apparently conceived for the artist’s own use, it was adopted by Pollitt, whose name appears prominently within the plate. The composition — a nude female figure seen from behind presenting a stack of books to a Pierrot-like attendant — is enclosed within a ruled border and bears Beardsley’s monogram at lower left.
 
It is thought Beardsley designed only two or possibly three bookplates, and surviving impressions are comparatively uncommon. The plate is recorded in the Victoria and Albert Museum Beardsley exhibition catalogue (Read and Dickinson, 1966, no. 551) and discussed in Maas, Duncan and Good, Letters of Aubrey Beardsley (p. 372).