Lot 15
15
BEERBOHM, Sir MAX. Original self-caricature captioned "MR. BEERBOHM READING MRS. WOOLF," [presumably Rapallo, February 1928] pen-and-ink and black wash, approx. 180 x 150mm. (7 x 6in.) on a quarto sheet (250 x 200mm., 10 x 8in.), an autograph letter signed by Beerbohm on the verso, heavy wrinkling smoothed out leaving a number of very tiny holes and tears. The drawing is a parody or "send-up" of the front cover of the Virginia Woolf pamphlet Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown (Hogarth Press, 1924), which has an illustration by Vanessa Bell (printed in black on the white wrappers) of a woman with an open book before her on a desk. In Beerbohm's self-caricature he pictures himself dozing with an open book before him on a desk, his "improved" title for the pamphlet written in block letters above -- a witty interpretation of his "enthusiasm" for Virginia Woolf's works.

Details
BEERBOHM, Sir MAX. Original self-caricature captioned "MR. BEERBOHM READING MRS. WOOLF," [presumably Rapallo, February 1928] pen-and-ink and black wash, approx. 180 x 150mm. (7 x 6in.) on a quarto sheet (250 x 200mm., 10 x 8in.), an autograph letter signed by Beerbohm on the verso, heavy wrinkling smoothed out leaving a number of very tiny holes and tears. The drawing is a parody or "send-up" of the front cover of the Virginia Woolf pamphlet Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown (Hogarth Press, 1924), which has an illustration by Vanessa Bell (printed in black on the white wrappers) of a woman with an open book before her on a desk. In Beerbohm's self-caricature he pictures himself dozing with an open book before him on a desk, his "improved" title for the pamphlet written in block letters above -- a witty interpretation of his "enthusiasm" for Virginia Woolf's works.

On the verso is an autograph letter signed (in full) from Beerbohm to a Miss Payton, Villino Chiaro, Rapallo, 19 February 1928, one page, 4to, his address imprinted at head: "I ought long ago to have thanked you for your kindness in sending me 'Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown.' It is a delightful piece of work -- and seems to me a perfect model of how to behave as a lecturer, how to make an audience well-wishing from the outset and eager to agree with anything the lecturer may say. Arnold Bennett, I imagine, was not in the audience, and may not have been fascinated by the printed page..."