Print by Aubrey Beardsley, 'The Woman in the Moon', plate I from 'A Portfolio of Aubrey Beardsley's drawings illustrating 'Salome' by Oscar Wilde', published by John Lane, London, 1907, line block print on Japanese vellum

Black and white line block print on Japanese vellum depicting two figures, with a naked man and a woman in a long gown, standing to the right of the image. They look towards the moon which has the caricatured features of Oscar Wilde in its face and is superimposed with a rose as well as partially concealed by black clouds.

Given by Michael Harari, in memory of his father, Ralph A. Harari

From 'A Portfolio of Aubrey Beardsley's drawings illustrating 'Salome' by Oscar Wilde'. Second issue. Published by John Lane, London [1907]. With contents sheet in letterpress and 17 plates [E.422 to 438-1972] in a portfolio of grey-green paper boards, half bound in vellum, with green silk tapes, stamped in gold with title and the rose-bush motif from the 1894 edition. With the stamp of A. Lang Buchhandlung Moskau inside the front cover.

The plates are no longer in the portfolio but are now mounted separately.

According to Stephen Calloway in his book, Aubrey Beardsley, London: V&A Publications, 1998, p. 80: 'Although in no real sense an illustration to the action of the play, the scene is suggested by the author's poetic description of the appearance of the moon; Beardsley caricatured Wilde's broad features in the face of the moon.'

First printed in 1894; this print is from the second edition, 1907.

E.422-1972