1. Grotesque Vignettes and the “All Margin” Book

Chapter 1, Grotesque Vignettes and the Book “All Margin,” showcases the vignettes decking three tiny volumes of witticisms known as Bon-Mots, which Beardsley illustrated in 1893–94 on the side of his major commission for Le Morte Darthur. The chapter argues that the foundational spirit of such an early grotesque nucleus in the artist’s work has been unduly neglected and discusses its meaning, uses and origins. It flags up the grotesque vignettes, set in a variety of paradoxes and plays on words, as a crucible of themes and graphic styles. They free Beardsley from influences, supply him with flexible penmanship, and stimulate new relations of art with language. The chapter shows how Beardsley treats closely contemporaneous artworks (Pre-Raphaelites, Whistler, Redon) with subversive brio; how he remodels the earlier grotesque tradition beyond recognition; how he relates calligraphic grotesques to adjacent quips and stresses the relation between grotesque vignettes and bodies. Marginal creation becomes central in fin-de-siècle print culture with Beardsley contributing to wry illustration and down-to-earth use of language. The paradigm spreads to the illustrated press. It bridges print categories, bringing bibelot refined booklets alongside periodicals, and inventively illustrates the witty idea of a book “all margin.”