Sir Max Beerbohm

Born in London on August 24, 1872, Max Beerbohm first made his name in the 1890s as a humorist and dandy with a gift for noticing pretension and turning it into graceful comedy. He studied at Oxford, contributed to The Yellow Book, and built a reputation as an essayist, parodist, and caricaturist whose work was admired for its polish and wit.

Beerbohm succeeded George Bernard Shaw as drama critic for the Saturday Review in 1898, and he remained a lively presence in English literary life for decades. His only novel, Zuleika Dobson (1911), became his best-known book, while his caricatures and essays helped define his public image: amused, sharp-eyed, and rarely cruel.

Later he settled in Rapallo, Italy, where he lived for many years, and he was knighted in 1939. He died there on May 20, 1956. Though often associated with the late Victorian and Edwardian worlds, his style still feels fresh because it is so controlled, funny, and alert to human vanity.