104. White Nights in Philadelphia

The SHARP conference on the history of authorship, reading and publishing, held in Philadelphia this year, was a memorable event, not only because of the high temperatures and the impressive university buildings, but mostly of course thanks to stimulating talks in a rapid succession of parallel sessions. 

There were tours to quite a few libraries. I was at a presentation at the Rare Book Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and before that I walked into the room of the Print and Picture Collection to ask for works by Ricketts and Shannon.

Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia, 18 July 2013

I did not have an appointment - I was an hour early for the tour - but the people of the Free Library immediately checked the catalogue for Ricketts and Shannon material in the fine art prints and in the book arts collection, and came up with one lithograph by Charles Shannon. It is signed in the lower right corner: 'Charles Shannon R16', referring to Ricketts's catalogue of the lithographs of Shannon, in which 'White Nights' (1893) is listed as number 16.

Charles Shannon's lithograph 'White Nights' on a table in the Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia, 18 July 2013

A few minutes later I had the lithograph in front of me on one of the large tables. It is printed in an edition of 50 on Van Gelder paper (the lithograph was also published in The Dial, number 3, 1893, and for these copies an unwatermarked cream laid paper was used). The overall condition of this subtle lithograph with a late preraphaelesque and almost surrealist scene was not brilliant, the paper was browned at the edges. However, the print had a surprise in store for me.

Charles Shannon, 'White Nights' (lithograph, 1893) [Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia]

Ricketts describes the image as follows: 'Two girls in long shifts stand to the left of the picture. The one who is washing her hands turns to kiss the other who holds a candlestick. Their companion is preparing a low narrow bed.'

Turning over the leaf I saw a sketch in pencil of a naked male figure wearing a helmet, perhaps a representation of Hermes. The helmet, or possibly, a hat, is reminiscent of other figures in Shannon's lithographs, such as the shepherd in 'The Shepherd in the Mist' (1892) and a group of nude children in 'The Ruffled Sea' (1893).

Sketch in pencil on the verso of Charles Shannon, 'White Nights' (lithograph, 1893) [Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia]

The young artist that Shannon was at the time would of course never waste a good piece of paper, and why not print a lithograph on the verso of an unfinished sketch? The signature, and certainly the reference to R16, will have been added later (Ricketts's bibliography was published in 1902). This might have been a proof of the lithograph.

Works by Charles Ricketts were found in other Philadelphia collections.