The 60 drawings in this book are accompanied by an essay by Bridget Elliot: Aubrey Beardsley as Performer: Fin de Siecle or Entr'acte?, which examines Beardsley's work within a modern, sociological framework. Elliot brings to the fore the social implications of the headstrong artistic stance that Beardsley took against conservatism, while also evaluating Beardsley's success in terms of the social and technological developments in the 1980s.