We look forward to welcoming back John Robert Smith who last visited us in January ’23 to talk about Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations. At our next meeting on September 2nd he will be talking about William Butler Yeats and his social circle.
John Robert Smith has worked in second hand bookshops for thirteen years, buying and selling antiquarian books for his entire working life. He currently manages the Oxfam Bookshop in Chichester town centre, which he was instrumental in setting up. His specialist interest is book illustration from 1880-1920, and this has led him into a deep affection for artists such as Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Aubrey Beardsley and Jennie Harbour. For the past four years, John has also managed a blog writing short articles on the greatest of book illustrators, featuring samples of their work selected by him. This can be found at https://veryimportantbook.wordpress.com