Initial Letter V (Elephant)

1894–1896

His health sharply declines

Between 1894 and 1896, at the height of his success, his health sharply deteriorated. “I know my illness is incurable,” he wrote to Raffalovich, “but I am sure measures can be taken to slow its course.”

April 1895

Wilde's arrest costs him The Yellow Book

When Oscar Wilde was arrested in April 1895, a journalist mistakenly wrote that he had taken “the yellow book” to prison rather than simply a yellow-covered book. For Victorian England that was enough: Beardsley lost his place at the magazine and his livelihood.

December 1896

A violent haemorrhage

In December 1896 Beardsley suffered a violent haemorrhage, which left his health precarious.

31 March 1897

Received into the Catholic Church

On 31 March 1897 Beardsley was received into the Catholic Church. His close friends included both Anglican clergymen and Catholic priests, who acknowledged the sincerity and depth of his faith.

April 1897

Moves to Menton

By April 1897 his failing health prompted a move to the French Riviera, to Menton. There he was cared for by his mother and his sister Mabel, while his chief financial support came from the writer and patron Marc-André Raffalovich.

16 March 1898

Death in Menton

Beardsley died of tuberculosis at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Menton, fully conscious, with his mother and sister at his side; he was twenty-five. The next day, after a requiem Mass in Menton Cathedral, he was buried in the Cimetière du Trabuquet.