Apart from the sketches in ‘Past and Present Vol XII No. 2’ of June 1887, these are the earliest reproductions of Beardsley’s work. He took the part of Mercury in the Prologue and Herr Kirschwasser in the Comic Opera ‘The Pay of the Pied Piper’. The preface to the programme states ‘our regret is, that lacking experience in the preparation of Drawings [by A.V. Beardsley] for the photo-engraver, the reproductions should fall so far short of the original sketches’.