Leonard Smithers
Encyclopedia
Leonard Smithers was a London publisher associated with the Decadent movement
. Born in Sheffield, he worked as a solicitor, qualifying in 1884, and became friendly with the explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton
. He published Burton's translation of the Book of One Thousand and One Nights in 1885. He collaborated with Burton in a translation from the Latin of the Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus
and Priapeia
, a collection of erotic poems by various writers. He also published a limited edition of the Satyricon
of Petronius Arbiter.
Smithers published works by Aubrey Beardsley
, Max Beerbohm
, Aleister Crowley
, Ernest Dowson
, Arthur Symons
and Oscar Wilde
and lesser known figures such as Vincent O'Sullivan
and Nigel Tourneur
. With Symons and Beardsley, he founded The Savoy
, a periodical which ran to eight issues in 1896. In partnership with Harry Sidney Nichols
, he published a series of pornographic books under the imprint of the "Erotika Biblion Society
": he was notorious for posting a slogan at his bookshop in Bond Street
reading "Smut is cheap today".
When Beardsley converted to Catholicism
he asked Smithers to “destroy all copies of Lysistrata and bad drawings...by all that is holy all obscene drawings." Smithers ignored Beardsley’s wishes, and continued to sell reproductions as well as forgeries of Beardsley's work.
He went bankrupt in 1900, and died in 1907 from drink and drugs.
Decadent movement
The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement of Western Europe. It flourished in France, but also had devotees in England and throughout Europe, as well as in the United States.-Overview:...
. Born in Sheffield, he worked as a solicitor, qualifying in 1884, and became friendly with the explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
. He published Burton's translation of the Book of One Thousand and One Nights in 1885. He collaborated with Burton in a translation from the Latin of the Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
and Priapeia
Priapeia
The Priapeia is a collection of ninety-five poems in various meters on subjects pertaining to the phallic god Priapus. It was compiled from literary works and inscriptions on images of the god by an unknown editor, who composed the introductory epigram. From their style and versification it is...
, a collection of erotic poems by various writers. He also published a limited edition of the Satyricon
Satyricon
Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...
of Petronius Arbiter.
Smithers published works by Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His drawings, done in black ink and influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A....
, Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
, Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, Ernest Dowson
Ernest Dowson
Ernest Christopher Dowson , born in Lee, London, was an English poet, novelist and writer of short stories, associated with the Decadent movement.- Biography :...
, Arthur Symons
Arthur Symons
Arthur William Symons , was a British poet, critic and magazine editor.-Life:Born in Milford Haven, Wales, of Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy...
and Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
and lesser known figures such as Vincent O'Sullivan
Vincent O'Sullivan
Vincent O'Sullivan was an American-born short story writer, poet and critic. Born in New York City to Eugene and Christine O'Sullivan, he began his education in the New York public school system and completed it in Britain. His works dealt with the morbid and decadent...
and Nigel Tourneur
Nigel Tourneur
Nigel Tourneur was a fin de siecle writer known for one work only - Hidden Witchery. a collection of seven short stories and a short prose drama. Set in the indeterminate past, these sensually charged stories are concerned with obsessive love, often given a macabre or supernatural twist.In an...
. With Symons and Beardsley, he founded The Savoy
The Savoy (periodical)
This article is about the former British magazine, for other uses, see Savoy The Savoy was a magazine of literature, art, and criticism published in 1896 in London. It featured work by authors such as W. B. Yeats, Max Beerbohm, Joseph Conrad, and Aubrey Beardsley. Only eight issues of the magazine...
, a periodical which ran to eight issues in 1896. In partnership with Harry Sidney Nichols
Harry Sidney Nichols
Harry Sidney Nichols was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, son of a "Glass Merchant". He was an antiquarian book dealer, but he made his fortune as a Sheffield publisher and printer of high-end erotica in partnership with Leonard Smithers which included such works as Sir Richard Francis Burton's...
, he published a series of pornographic books under the imprint of the "Erotika Biblion Society
Erotika Biblion Society
The Erotika Biblion Society was a pornographic publishing imprint in Victorian London formed by Harry Sidney Nichols and Leonard Smithers in 1888. One of their most notable publications was Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, thought to have been written by Oscar Wilde. The venture ended in...
": he was notorious for posting a slogan at his bookshop in Bond Street
Bond Street
Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...
reading "Smut is cheap today".
When Beardsley converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
he asked Smithers to “destroy all copies of Lysistrata and bad drawings...by all that is holy all obscene drawings." Smithers ignored Beardsley’s wishes, and continued to sell reproductions as well as forgeries of Beardsley's work.
He went bankrupt in 1900, and died in 1907 from drink and drugs.
Sources
- James G. Nelson, Publisher to the Decadents: Leonard Smithers in the Careers of Beardsley, Wilde, Dowson. Pennsylvania State University Press, May 2000. ISBN 0-271-01974-3 ISBN 978-0-271-01974-1
- John Sutherland, "The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction", Stanford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8047-1842-3, p.591.
- Bruce S. Harris (ed.), "The Collected Drawings of Aubrey Beardsley", Crown Publishers, 1967, p.v
- Rachel Potter, "Obscene Modernism and the Trade in Salacious Books", Modernism/modernityModernism/modernityModernism/modernity is a peer-reviewed academic journal founded in 1994 by Lawrence Rainey and Robert van Hallberg. Since 2001 it has been the official publication of the Modernist Studies Association and each September issue presents papers from their annual conference.The journal is...
, Volume 16, Number 1, January 2009, pp.87-104 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modernism-modernity/v016/16.1.potter.html