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James G. Nelson. Publisher to the Decadents: Leonard Smithers
in the Careers of Beardsley, Wilde, Dowson.
University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press,
2000. 430p.
Linda White
University of Nevada, Reno
Nelson has spent a career explicating the importance of the
nineteenthth-century small publishers and their contribution to the field
of literary publishing. Publisher to the Decadents was
preceded by The Early Nineties: A View from the Bodley Head
and Elkin Mathews: Publisher to Yeats, Joyce, Pound. For
those whose research usually targets a book's content, Nelson
creates a fascinating, detailed history of a man whose contacts
and interests irretrievably affected the publishing world not
only of his own era, but of the twentiethth century as well.
Nelson also provides a new perspective on the Victorian Decadents
-- Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, and Ernest Dowson -- and on the
struggle to preserve the works of Sir Richard Burton. A thorough
study and skillful usage of passages from personal correspondence
illuminate the relationships between Smithers and each of these
individuals without any need on the part of the author to inject
glaring twenty-first-century labels or explanations. In fact, Nelson
writes so well that only the tell-tale superscript numbers remind
the reader that he has segued from his own voice to that of the
long-dead correspondents.
In note 29 of Chapter One, Nelson comments on Burton's disdain for
works without notes and index (355). His own work would have
earned Burton's praise for its exacting detail, uncluttered yet
informative notes, reassuringly complete index, and sixty-five
pages of appendices (four in all) itemizing Smithers' publications.
"Appendix A: Smithers and the Erotic Book Trade" was written by
Peter Mendes, and Nelson and Mendes collaborated on "Appendix D:
Checklist of Smithers's Publications." The checklist is supremely
useful, as indicated by the note to the entry on Priapeia:
As originally printed (probably by Nichols), Burton's collaboration
was openly acknowledged in Smithers's Introduction, but Burton
asked for this to be removed and the relevant pages were quickly
canceled and replaced by a passage denying rumors of his
involvement. According to Penzer, only 2 copies containing
the canceled pages seem to have escaped, one now in a private
U.S. collection. (Nelson 318)
Nelson maintains a non-judgmental distance throughout with regard
to the works mentioned, saving his editorial acid for the
restrictive morality of the world in which Smithers lived and
worked. The historical information provides a counterpoint to the
jaundiced ho-hum modern view of a publishing world where
Playboy and Hustler are considered mainstream
publications and "porn" is badly written, poorly printed, and
miserably bound. Smithers devotion to the creation of artistic
showcases of the works of those he deemed worthy of publication
incurred considerable risk.
... shops having pornographic materials on the premises were at
hazard of being visited by harmless-looking gentlemen who would
evince an interest in purchasing erotic books only to turn out
to be undercover policemen. Once caught with such materials for
sale, a dealer could be sentenced to twelve months at hard
labor. (53)
Nelson has carved a niche for his work at the point where
publishing history, literary history, and gay studies converge.
This work will be a reference point for anyone interested in the
historical era, the artists, the publishing industry, or the mores
of the period.
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