Hamlet: Prince of Denmark

William Shakespeare|Selwyn & Blount, Ltd.|John Archibald Austen|Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ltd.

[1922] · Illustrations: process prints · Drawings and Prints

Influenced by the innovative graphic artist Aubrey Beardsley, Austen devised striking black-and-white illustrations for this luxury edition of Hamlet. These two images, placed at the start of act 5, encapsulate the tragedy’s dramatic conclusion. At left, Hamlet stands in a trance by the grave of his rejected lover, Ophelia, with disembodied heads of the departed floating above near the skull he famously contemplates in the play. At right, the bodies of the prince and Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, lie limply together after their fatal duel.

Artist

William Shakespeare|Selwyn & Blount, Ltd.|John Archibald Austen|Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ltd.

Date

[1922]

Medium

Illustrations: process prints

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1966