Art Nouveau and Art Deco

The Arabella & Aramina Stories by Gertrude Smith. Boston: 1895. “Embellished with XV Illustrative Designs by Ethel Reed.”

Ethel Reed was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1876. Talented, beautiful and successful, she was one of the pre-eminent book and poster artists of her time.

After becoming engaged to a Boston artist, she traveled to Europe and England, where she worked with writers and artists such as Richard le Galienne and Aubrey Beardsley. At age 24, she left for a vacation in Ireland. Nothing more is known of her life.

Maureen’s Fairing by Jane Barlow. 1895.
These endpapers show the sinuous lines and characteristic feminine and floral themes of art nouveau.

Art Deco

Accident by Arnold Bennett. 1928. Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin. 1928.