The Vein in the Marble is a book of verse, tales and illustrations formed through a collaboration between Stephen and his mother Pamela Grey, published in 1925. Pamela provided a series of short poems and morality tales for modern life. Stephen contributed the accompanying illustrations, peopled with a mix of Regency courtiers, nymphs and fairy tale characters. Stephen’s biographer Philip Hoare aptly describes the book as 'pure period whimsy'.

 

 

"The whole has a tendency towards sentimentality but Stephen's drawings and watercolours have a decorative, ethereal quality reminiscent of Beardsley." Stephen dedicated the book to his mother - 'To the most perfect of collaborators in great as in little things - my Mother." On receiving their first copies of the book Pamela and Stephen were filled with joy. "We almost wept with excitement as we each finished our book! The child of our endeavours at last launched upon literature's perilous seas!"