De Worde, Beardsley, and the Complicated Chivalry of the Round Table

Aubrey Beardsley’s ink drawings for J.M. Dent’s 1894 edition were the first modern set of illustrations of Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur published after the anonymous woodcuts in the 1498 edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Since their publication, Beardsley’s illustrations have been criticised for their supposed unfaithfulness to Malory’s text. This article argues however that Beardsley’s illustrations of Morte d’Arthur bear great resemblance to the 1498 woodcuts. It discusses how both sets of illustrations react to Malory’s complicated understanding of chivalry and dictate a reading of Morte d’Arthur that places emphasis on the importance of Camelot’s women and Malory’s criticism of chivalry.