More Events

Another online talk for the Viktor Wynd Cabinet of Curiosities has been arranged for the evening of Thursday 9 October. The subject will be Decadent London, a profile of the city in the 1890s.

More details and booking here

The Whistler walk for the Sohemian Society on Sunday 8 June has sold out.

Copies of my latest book Mansion of Gloom: The Unsettling Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher can be purchased here.

Further events to promote the book are in the pipeline.

Upcoming gigs:

Jazz Hastings at East Hastings Sea Angling Association: Byron Wallen's Four Corners (great musicians including brilliant Rob Luft on guitar and Rod Youngs on drums. See here

I was intending to see Throwing Muses in Hastings last night but the gig has been rescheduled owing to Kristin Hersh losing here voice. See here

Lost Crowns at Alphabet Brighton see here

Barry Humphries Sale at Christie's

While in London last week I popped into Christie's to see the exhibition devoted to the incredible collection of the late Barry Humphries prior to going for auction on 13 February.

See here for Christie's sale.

What a treasure trove for the decadent and symbolist enthusiast:

a small work by Fernand Khnopff, many paintings by Charles Conder, a letter from Beardsley, many signed editions of Oscar Wilde, rare books including several by Aleister Crowley (Diary of a Drug Fiend with dust jacket), Bodley Head books with sumptuous covers, first yellow 1897 edition of Dracula, as well as Dame Edna Everage dresses (including the Munch Scream dress) and glasses. 

Apparently I bought the very last catalogue (sorry). Not everything was extravagantly priced, so it might be worth bidding for some items, although I imagine they will net much more than their estimated prices.  

Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain

 

Good news about the Aubrey Beardsley exhibition at Tate Britain.

According to the gallery's website they will be reopening on 27 July.

The Beardsley exhibition has been extended to 20 September. It's a great show and I can thoroughly recommend it. The gallery should also be selling copies of Decadent London in the shop.

Decadent Lockdown

There has been a significant increase in viewings of various blog posts from the Antonine Itineraries recently. It's always interesting to see which ones attract the most interest, often not the ones that I would have thought would be popular - also posts I thought would gain attention have hardly been viewed - I imagine this is not unusual.

Book orders have returned to pre-lockdown levels. As some copies are running low, I am having to consider future publications and priorities. Post is understandably slower that usual, but everything has arrived at its destination so far.

One unfortunate consequence of the lockdown for me was that Tate Britain bought a large number of copies of Decadent London (with the expectation that they would order more) to coincide with the major Aubrey Beardsley show, which then closed after a couple of weeks, together with the rest of the UK's museums and galleries. Fortunately, I did have a chance to visit the exhibition in the first week and really enjoyed it - I've no idea whether it will be extended when the Tate reopens. You can visit remotely here.

Some recent decadent links:

A Dandy's Guide to Decadent Isolation here

Peter Wollen on Dandyism, Decadence and Death in Performance here

A repost of Saxon Henry's A Decadently Yellow London here

Decadent London News

News about the revised and expanded edition of Decadent London.

It's now stocked by the following bookshops:

Treadwells

Watkins

Gay's The Word

The Brick Lane Bookshop

Tate Britain will be stocking Decadent London in their bookshop. As there is a major Aubrey Beardsley exhibition about to open this is wonderful news and I would hope that sales will be good if the book is prominently displayed.

It's the largest exhibition of Aubrey Beardsley drawings for 50 years and runs from 4 March to 25 May.  As well as his own distinctive works the exhibition includes artworks that were important inspirations for him including those by Edward Burne-Jones and Gustave Moreau.

More about the Beardsley show here.

I'm doing some talks about Decadent London:

Thursday 20 February   Treadwells Bookshop here

Thursday 9 April City of Westminster Archives Centre (details to follow)

Also a non-decadent talk about underground folklore of England

Thursday 27 February Kensington Central Library here (part of Fantasy February)