Sir Max Beerbohm Man and Writer

It is thirty-two years now since BohunLynch wrote his little book entitled Max Beerbohm in Perspective. As its subject was not quite fifty then and at the height of his creative power, the book naturally lacked the air of finality that one usually associates with studies of this kind. But even apart from the in evitable limitation imposed by the time of writing Bohun Lynch's book leaves much to be desired. It is an informal, sympathetic and well-written appreciation of certain selected aspects ofBeerbohm's art, rather than a careful and systematic analysis of all the then available facts. This is especially evident from the author's virtual neglect of such topics as Beerbohm's literary ancestry, his technique, and his place as a critic, and from the scant treatment accorded to his personality and to some of his works. Bibliographical documentation about the writings and caricatures of Sir Max Beerbohm is equally inadequate. The first important contribution in this field was made by A. E. Gallatin, whose Sir Max Beerbohm: Bibliographical Notes appeared in 1944. A revised version of part of this book, by A. E. Gallatin and L. M. Oliver, was serialized in the Harvard Library Bulletin in 1951, and published in 1952 as No. ill of the Soho Bibliographies under the title A Bibliography of the Works of Max Beerbohm.