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Hard cover, 8 vo in yellow trade cloth, titles to spine in black, with the original illustrated dust jacket of yellow, pink and black, 312 pp. First edition, first printing. CONDITION: Fine, like new. Now in a mylar protector. **An interesting exploration of the "nature versus nurture" dynamic as reflected in the differing life experiences and relative successes of some of nineteenth-century Britain's literary and artistic sibling pairs. Through narration of the overlapping social circles of his three subjects, Sturgis sketches a wide, sometimes international web of the fin-de-siécle artists, their patrons and various impresarios of publishing, journalism, the law and theatre who command from the drawing rooms, gardens and vacation villas. Mabel Beardsley and Howard Sturgis come in for particular notice as influential social managers who often enhanced the careers and reputations of their more famous siblings at the expense of their own. They were also true "influencers" of their generation with unique aesthetics any modern instagrammarian would be impressed with. (Cue the burnt- orange and black Beardsley living room...) William (Willie) Wilde, older brother of the Aesthetic poet, novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde, a spendthrift journo bon vivant whose own early promise as a poet, columnist, reviewer and playwright devolve into a miasma of money troubles, personal and professional retrenchment, is colorfully brought to life with the bon mots of spectators such as Max Beerbohm among many others. Willie's journalistic contacts (The Telegraph, Vanity Fair et al) however prove to be a key conduit to the early publishing efforts of his younger brother, Oscar. The denouement of these eccentric personal histories encapsulate the boundaries of creativity. Potential sources of non-traditional behaviors, manners and sexualities are explored. Edgar Burne-Jones, Yeats, Mrs. Oliphant, Charles Shannon, Charles Ricketts, J.M. Barrie, and so many more are part of these interwoven biographical explorations.**Oscar Wilde scholar AUTHOR Matthew Sturgis has published previous biographies of Aubrey Beardsley and Walter Sickert, with his 2019 title "Oscar, a Life," picked as a Times Literary Supplement and Sunday Times book of the year. (AMJ)
Ref: LITC 9844
$30.00