The Venture

A rare literary and arts magazine published early in the 20th century. The 1903 volume was edited by Laurence Housman and W. Somerset Maugham. But Maugham appears not to have been involved in editing the 1905 volume. The 1903 volume contains Maugham’s first play, ‘Marriages are Made in Heaven’, along with contributions from G.K. Chesterton (first publication of 'The Philosophy of Islands'), Alice Meynell, Thomas Hardy (first publication of 'The Market- Girl'), A.E. Housman (first publication of 'The Oracles', Laurence Housman (‘Proverbial Romances’) John Masefield, Laurence Binyon et al. This volume is illustrated with woodcuts by Charles Hazlewood Shannon, Charles Ricketts, T. Sturge Moore, Lucien Pissarro, E. Gordon Craig, Paul Woodroffe, and Laurence Housman (who also designed the front cover).

The 1905 volume is particularly significant in containing the first appearance in book form of a work by James Joyce (‘Two Songs’). Other literary contributors included W. Somerset Maugham, Arthur Symons, T. Sturge Moore, G. K. Chesterton, and Thomas Hardy. Artists included are Charles Ricketts, Charles Haslewood Shannon, Lucien Pissarro, E. Gordon Craig, J. Singer Sargent, J. M. Whistler, Frank Brangwyn, Augustus John, William Orpen and Arthur Rackham. Published by John Baillie, Pear Tree Press, 1903 and 1905.