719. Charles Ricketts and The Vasari Society (3)

The brief articles Ricketts wrote for the Vasari Society featured artists he often mentioned in his books The Prado or Titian, or in reviews and articles in magazines and newspapers. However, there are a few names that do not appear elsewhere in his work.  

Alfred Stevens

The British sculptor Alfred Stevens (1817-1875) was not an irregular topic of conversation for Ricketts and Shannon, but he never wrote an article about his work. In 1915, D.S. MacColl wrote the introduction to an exhibition catalogue for the National Gallery: Catalogue of Cartoons, Paintings and Drawings by Alfred Stevens for the Decoration for the Dining Room at Dorchester House. These works were lent by George Holford and Alfred Drury.

The Dining Room in Dorchester House
with the chimneypiece by Alfred Stevens on the left side of the room (c. 1905)

The drawing reproduced in the first part of the Second Series of The Vasari Society was lent by Alfred Drury, ‘Study of a Nude Women’, and Ricketts's piece was a cautious one:

This drawing is late in the career of the artist; it may have been done in preparation for some part of the decoration intended for Dorchester House: the workmanship approximates to that period of Stevens's activity. The figure holds an indefinite object -- possibly and urn.

Gravelot

A name that doesn't seem to show up anywhere else in Ricketts's work (including letters) is that of the late 18th-century French rococo book illustrator, engraver, painter and draughtsman Hubert-François Bourguignon, commonly known as Gravelot (1699-1773). He worked in London from 1732 to 1745.

For The Vasari Society, Ricketts discussed a drawing from the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland, 'Man in Flowing Wig Showing a Picture to a Lady with Fan':

This graceful sketch combines something of the France of Watteau and the England of Hogarth, and evokes, in its manner and technique, something which Gainsborough will realize better and with a more spontaneous ability; it might illustrate the De Goncourt's definition of a portion of Gravelot's works, 'touchés dans une manière de dessin légère et claire, dans un esprit d'Hogarth coquet.' It is more than probable that this drawing was executed in England, the character of the lady's dress pointing to this.

Nowadays, the undated drawing is called 'A Fair Connoisseur'.

Hubert-François-Bourguignon Gravelot, 'A Fair Connoisseur' (undated)
[Photo: National Gallery of Scotland,
see: National Gallery of Scotland website]

718. Charles Ricketts and The Vasari Society (2)

From the moment the Vasari Society for the Reproduction of Drawings by Old Masters presented its first portfolio in 1905 until the publication of Part VIII of the Second Series in 1926, Ricketts wrote commentaries on several reproductions. His notes did not concern works from his joint collection with Shannon, but rather works from other collections. 

Antoine Watteau, 'Three Studies of a Black Man's Head'
[auction catalogue of the collection of Max J. Bonn, 1922]

Out of 27 notes, sixteen are about drawings form various institutions:

• Ashmolean Museum (4 notes);
• British Museum (10 notes);
• Collection Royal Library, Windsor Castle (1 note); 
• National Gallery of Scotland (1 note).

Eleven other notes describe works from private collections:

• Max J. Bonn (1877-1943), economist, collector of old master drawings (collection sold at Sotheby's, 14 February 1922) (1);
• Duke of Devonshire  (Victor Cavendish, 1868-1938), collection of Chatsworth House (1);
• Alfred Drury (1856-1944), sculptor (1);
• Alfred E. Gathorne-Hardy (1845-1918), politician, a catalogue of his collection of drawings was published in 1902 (1);
• John P. Heseltine (1843-1929), stockbroker, artist and art collector, sold his collection to Colnaghi & Obach, 1912 (auctions followed in Amsterdam and London, 1913-1920) (1);
• Arthur Hungerford Pollen (1866-1937), journalist, businessman, inventor (1);
• Henry Oppenheimer (1859-1932), collector of prints, drawings, medals and antiquities (3);
• Edward G. Spencer Churchill (1876-1964), army officer, art collector, Trustee of The National Gallery (1).

In his twenty-seven notes, Ricketts discussed works by fifteen artists.

 

• Goya Sec.Ser.II-19
• Gravelot, Hubert François VIII-33
• Leonardo da Vinci Sec.Ser.III-3/4; Sec.Ser.III-5
• Leonardo da Vinci (Manner of) II-3
• Mantegna, Andrea III-6
• Michelangelo Sec Ser.II-6
• Pisanello I-10
• Pisanello (School of) I-11
• Raphael Sec.Ser.I-3; Sec.Ser.III-6; Sec.Ser.IV-6; Sec.Ser.IV-8; Sec.Ser.IV-9; Sec.Ser.V-7; Sec.Ser.VII-6
• Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Sec.Ser.V-20
• Rubens, Peter Paul I-20; II-22; II-23
• Stevens, Alfred Sec.Ser.I-19
• Van Dyck, Antony II-27
• Venetian School V-11
• Watteau, Antoine VIII-32; IX-27; Sec.Ser.IV-17; Sec.Ser.V-16

717. Charles Ricketts and The Vasari Society (1)

The Vasari Society for the Reproduction of Drawings by Old Masters was founded in 1905, and a first portfolio was probably issued in January 1906. Chairman of the committee was Sidney Colvin (1845-1927), Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. 

Sidney Colvin
[from: Memories & Notes of Persons & Places, 1852-1912. 
London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1921

Charles Ricketts described him as follows in a letter from December 1911: 

[...] years have passed and transformed the journalist he then was, into a student; he is besides a gentleman [...]

Ricketts also spent cultural evenings organised by his wife, Frances Jane Colvin. In 1915, for example, he attended a recital by Muriel Lee Mathews and was impressed by her performance.

In 1905, the Committee of The Vasari Society consisted of Martin Conway (art critic, politician, cartographer and mountaineer), Charles Holroyd (painter and director of the National Gallery), Laurence Binyon (poet and curator, working at the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum), Campbell Dodgson (art historian and curator, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum), Roger Fry (painter and art critic), Charles J. Holmes (Slade Professor of Fine Art and c0-editor of The Burlington Magazine), Sid Montague Peartree (art historian and collaborator of The Dürer Society), Claude Phillips (art historian, Keeper of the Wallace Collection), Charles Ricketts and Robert Ross (manager of the Carfax Gallery and literary executor of Oscar Wilde).

With Binyon, Dodgson and Fry, Ricketts (the only member without a university education) formed the Executive Committee. Over the years, the composition of the committees would change, but Ricketts remained an active member until the end of his life.

The reproductions were executed in collotype at the University Press, Oxford. A 'Note' in the first volume explained: 'They are of the same size as the originals, except in the case of drawings exceeding 12 x 10 inches (30.5 x 25.5 centimetres) in size, which have been reduced. The drawings selected are such as admit of reproduction without the employment of more than the two colours usual in collotype, so that the renderings may be regarded as practically exact facsimiles.' 

The reproductions were accompanied by descriptions, 'intended rather as a guide to the student than as definitive critical notices'.

The first series ran from 1905 to 1915, when the World War I caused an interruption. The second series began publication in 1920. On 7 January 1910 The Times reviewed one of the annual issues, and reported 'that the position of the society may be regarded as satisfactory, though the number of subscribers remains more or less stationary.' The newspaper added: 'Needless to say, the more subscribers the society obtains the more drawings it will be able to reproduce. The drawings are very judiciously chosen from all schools, and some of them will probably be new even to students.'

Ricketts contributed to the series in two ways: some drawings from the joint collection of Ricketts and Shannon were reproduced, and Ricketts wrote a number of descriptions to accompany the drawings (these contributions remained unnoticed in his bibliography until now).

Drawings from the Collection of Ricketts and Shannon

Part II (1906) contains a reproduction of Wolfgang Huber's 'The Crucifixion', a pen and ink drawing on white paper, 32 x 21.5 cm. The drawing is listed as number 137 in All for Art (Fitzwilliam Museum, 1979): 'The drawing has been dated c. 1525. It may be connected with a lost altarpiece which Huber painted in Passau during the 1520s.' This information is not given in The Vasari Society edition for which Campbell Dodgson wrote the description.

Wolfgang Huber, 'The Crucifixion' (c. 1525)
[Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge]
[Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND)]

In the years that followed, nine more drawings from their collection were selected for The Vasari Society edition: 

Index of Drawings from the Collection of CR and CHS [with links to the Fitzwilliam Museum Collection]

 

Barye, Antoine Louis Sec.Ser.VIII-15

Florentine School (Andrea del Sarto?) IV-5

Wolfgang Huber II-20

Lorenzo di Credi IV-1

North Italian School Sec.Ser.VIII-2

Rembrandt Sec.Ser.I-7

Verrocchio (School of) Sec Ser.III-2

Watteau, Antoine III-33, III-35; V-37

The second drawing (Florentine School) is now attributed to Fra Bartolomeo. The fifth drawing (North Italian School) is now attributed to Francesco Francia. The seventh drawing (Verrocchio) is now attributed to Fra Bartolomeo.

For Lorenzo di Credi, see also All for Art, number 111.

For Rembrandt, see also All for Art, number 165.

For Verrocchio, see also All for Art, number 203.

For Watteau (III-35), see also All for Art, number 204.

For Watteau (V-37), see also All for Art, number 206. 

Antoine Watteau, 'Reclining Lady seen from Behind' (undated)
[Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge]
[Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND)]

716. Charles Ricketts From A to Z

With the deadline for the copy of The Collected Letters of Charles Ricketts fast approaching, John Aplin and I, as editors, are working feverishly to dot the i's and cross the t's. One of the major tasks was the general index compiled by John, which I have just finished reading. Some people (myself included) enjoy reading indexes. They always tell the story in a different way. I won't spoil the surprise of how this works with Ricketts's letters; you'll want to discover that for yourselves. For now, let's just look at the A and the Z. What is the first keyword in the index and what is the last?

Abbey Theatre, Dublin I. 268 n.4, 384 n.2, 468 n.6, 524 II. 860 n.6
The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is mainly mentioned in the footnotes of letters from Ricketts to W.B. Yeats and Katharine Bradley in which he comments on certain actors or plays, such as Frank Fay and Lady Gregory, both co-founders of the theatre. At the end of 1905 Ricketts wrote to Yeats:

We hope you are well & all your friends in Ireland 'the nation of the Drama' and that Dublin thinks of nothing else but plays.

In a letter to the Editor of The Times (21 February 1912) Ricketts mentioned the Abbey Theatre in his plea for 'Municipal Drama and Opera'.

Zoffany, Johan III. 1433, 1446

The name of Zoffany came up in two letters to Eric Brown of the National Gallery in Ottawa when Ricketts was appointed their advisor in December 1923. Ricketts wrote:

In the mean time, realizing that you have £1,000 till March, I have made some enquiries concerning a most exceptional life size full length by Zoffany (woman in blue silk dress, book in hand sitting under a tree) which sold last year for £600. The name Zoffany does not convey the exceptional merit of the work which recalled an early Gainsborough with something more explicit (almost French) in the workmanship. The Dealer had purchased it on commission.

Johann Zoffany,
'Self-portrait as David with the head of Goliath' (1756)
[National Gallery of Victoria]

However, soon it turned out that the painting was unobtainable, because a collector did not want to part with it. Johann Zoffany (Johannes Josephus Zaufallij) was a German neoclassical painter who was born in 1733 and moved to England in 1760. He died in Chiswick in 1810.

715. Sculpture at Auction: Deposition

It is not often that one of Charles Ricketts's statues comes up for sale. He did not make many sculptures in the early 1910s and the editions are very small, if you can even call them that; he probably only had them cast when there was a demand or if he wanted to exhibit them.

Charles Ricketts, 'Deposition' (sculpture, c.1908)

'Old Masters & 19th Century Art' at Chiswick Auctions lists Lot 164:

CHARLES DE SOUSY RICKETTS, RA (SWISS, 1866-1931)
Deposition
inscribed 'CR' (lower)
bronze with a dark brown patina
40cm high

Provenance: Private Collection UK

Estimate £4,000 - £6,000

There is a lot to be said about this description, but I will exercise restraint. 

Ricketts may have been born in Geneva, but that did not make him Swiss.

Secondly, this is not a work from the '19th century', but from the early 20th century.

The deposition was one of Ricketts's favourite subjects which he painted regularly. To find it as a statue is quite rare.

Charles Ricketts, 'Deposition' (sculpture, c.1908): monogram 'CR'

714. A Lecture about Ricketts: Our Collection

Last Friday I gave a lecture to the visitors of the National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague about Charles Ricketts, simply because I had not completed any other research by the time they asked a title (in November last year) and my Ricketts research is ongoing. There are a number of works designed by Charles Ricketts in the library (KB, National library) and I have written previously about our holdings. However, there is always more to discover. 

The Rowley Poems of
Thomas Chatterton (1898):
KB The Hague

In May 2012 I wrote a blog (No. 43 'Rik was talked off his feet by Ricketts') about a visit by the Dutch artist Richard Roland Holst to Ricketts.

At the time, I reported that the national library had acquired Ricketts related books in three batches, in 1900, in 1954, and in 1988. However, as always, history is more complicated.

After my lecture there was a gathering in the Special Collections reading room where I was able to show examples from our collection: pre-Vale books, Vale Press books, commercial books designed by Ricketts, books designed for his friends and others. One of the guests asked me if such a Ricketts collection was still being maintained, now that the library's acquisition policy has changed drastically.

A good question. The KB has decided years ago to primarily collect the national heritage: everything that is published in the Netherlands, and a selection from what is published about the Netherlands.

But I realized that the selection on display was not a Ricketts collection at all. Most of the books were purchased for their literary content, and, examining them more closely after the visit was over, I discovered that there were more than just three batches of Ricketts acquisitions.

1900

The library ordered books from Hacon and Ricketts as stated in the acquisition books:

• Michael Field, The World at Auction (1898) in the flame binding. Received by 1 November 1900.
• John Milton, Early Poems (1896). Received by 5 December 1900.
• Charles Ricketts, A Defence of the Revival of Printing (1899). Received by 5 December 1900.
• The Rowley Poems of Thomas Chatterton (1898), two volumes in the flame binding. Received by 10 December 1900.

KB The Hague, acquisition ledger for November 1900

KB The Hague, acquisition ledger for December 1900

1904

The Poems & Sonnets of Henry Constable (1897). Received by 14 December 1904

The acquisition ledger does not mention a dealer or price.

KB The Hague, acquisition ledger for December 1904

Earlier, Charles Ricketts's first art historical monograph had been added to the collection: The Prado and Its Masterpieces (1903), received on 17 September 1904.

1908-1909

Oscar Wilde, The Duchess of Padua. A Play (1908) and ten other volumes from the first collected edition. Received by 20 February 1908, except for The Picture of Dorian Gray which was received in April 1909.

KB The Hague, acquisition ledger for 1908 and 1909

Michael Field and W.B. Yeats (1908-1947)

The library did not acquire other plays by Michael Field published by the Vale Press. Four later books of poetry for which Ricketts designed the cover were acquired in the year of publication: Wild Honey (in May 1908), Poems of Adoration (June 1912), Mystic Trees (April 1913), however, Dedicated (1914) was acquired after the World War I had ended, in June 1920. W.B. Yeats's collected works were sometimes acquired in later or American editions. Early Poems and Stories was bought in the year of publication (1925), Autobiographies was acquired in a later American edition from 1927 and joined the library twenty years later in 1947. 

1936

In 1936 the library received The Pageant, of which two yearly issues were published in 1895 and 1896 (for 1896 and 1897). Only the second volume is part of our collection.

1939

Just before World War II the librarian selected books from two private collections: the library of Ricketts's friend R.N. Roland Holst and the private collection of poet and critic Willem Kloos. Both had died in 1938.

R.N. Roland Holst's books were given by his widow, Henriette Roland Holst-van der Schalk and bear a bookplate with her name (produced by the library):

• Oscar Wilde, De Profundis (ninth printing, 1907). Signed by R.N. Roland Holst.
• The Bard of the Dimbovitza. Roumanian Folk-Songs. Collected from the Peasants, edited by Hélène Vacaresco. Translated by Carmen Sylva and Alma Strettell (second edition, 1892).
• Lord de Tabley, Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical (third edition, 1896).

The books owned by Willem Kloos included two works designed by or written by Ricketts. These books have a similar bookplate produced by the library, bearing the name of Willem Kloos:

• W.B. Yeats, Later Poems (reprint, 1924)
• Charles Ricketts, Oscar Wilde. Recollections (1932)

1954-1961

In the run-up to the 1960s, the KB began to purchase more and more books with a view to establishing a museum of the book, which later became Museum Meermanno (now Huis van het boek). However, it is completely unclear why some books were included in the collection and others were not. There are now copies from private presses such as Kelmscott Press, Vale Press and Eragny Press in both the KB and the Huis van het Boek.

In 1954 the library acquired the Vale Press edition of The Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson (1900), containing the Lyric Poems, this copy printed on vellum and bound by Zaehnsdorf. It was acquired from F. Hammond, Sutton Coldfield for fl. 230,-.

In 1955 the library acquired a copy of Charles Ricketts, Beyond the Threshold (1929) with an inscription by A.J.A. Symons for the collection of bookbindings. 

In 1961 a copy of Charles Ricketts and Lucien Pissarro's De la typographie et de l’harmonie de la page imprimée; William Morris et son influence sur les arts et métiers (1898) was bought at the Internationaal Antiquariaat for fl. 45 (invoice paid on 10 April 1961). 

1988

Finally, in 1988, the library received a large collection of books from the library of poet Adriaan Roland Holst, nephew of R.N. Roland Holst - these were donated by the Letterkundig Museum (now Literatuur Museum) in The Hague. These included works that Adriaan had been given by his uncle Rik:

• The Dial, No. 2-5 (1892-1897), with the name stamp of Adriaan Roland Holst. 
• John Gray, Silverpoints (1893), with the bookplate (designed by R.N. Roland Holst) and with the name stamp of Adriaan Roland Holst.
• Lord de Tabley, Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical (third edition, 1896), with the signature of painter Charley Toorop and the name stamp of Adriaan Roland Holst.
• William Shakespeare, A Most Pleasant and Excellent Conceited Comedy of Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor (1902). Bookplate of 'Klingerder' and name stamp of A. Roland Holst.
• William Meinhold, Mary Schweidler, the Amber Witch. The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. Printed from an imperfect manuscript by her father, Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of Coserow in the Islands of Usedom (1903). With the name stamp of A. Roland Holst.

2006

In 2006 collector Jan van der Marck donated a Vale Press book to the bookbinding collection: the edition of Maurice de Guérin's The Centaur, The Bacchante (1899), in a binding by Bryan Cantle (Eddington Bindery).

The existence of a kind of Charles Ricketts collection in the KB is not due to a consistent acquisition policy on the part of the library. Rather, it is due to the fact that Ricketts designed many literary works and to donors who presented some rare books with an interesting provenance.

713. The Condition of a Book

There are professional guides to the terminology of the condition of a book. An online example of this is ‘A Guide to Used Book Conditions’ [on the website of Abebooks].  

The fact is that second-hand books are often not ‘As New’, ‘Fine’ or ‘Near Fine’. The condition of a hundred-year-old book often does not even meet the criteria 'Very Good', 'Good' or 'Fair'. We descend into the depths and cellars of the book supply, where no treasures can be found and books are described as 'Poor' - meaning: 'A heavily worn book whose primary value is its complete, legible text. May have loose joints, hinges, or pages, and may be soiled, scuffed, stained, or spotted' - or not described at all. Even then, there is a term: in such cases the seller may resort to the phrase 'As Described'. However, usually a bad condition is not mentioned as photographs are said to be part of the description.

Books may be bowed, chipped, dampstained, darkened, faded, edgeworn, foxed, loose, re-cased, shaken, sunned, trimmed, or there may be worm holes or worse.

Three recent examples found on e-Bay may illustrate such conditions. 

Charles Ricketts's Titian is not a rare book at all, and may be found in good condition. This, however, is a copy that I would not even like to touch.

Charles Ricketts, Titian (1910)

Even a deluxe edition can be stored or left in the wrong places - damp sheds and attics, musty basements, above the central heating, in forgotten moving boxes or on garden tables in the rain. Here are two examples of G.B. Shaw's Saint Joan (1926), illustrated and with a cover designed by Ricketts. The edition was 750 copies.

G.B. Shaw, Charles Ricketts  Saint Joan (1926)

The condition of the Shaw books are described as:

The book is in a used condition, the pages are clean, some have a stain on the bottom, the sketches are in good condition, two of the corners are slightly folded and one has a piece coming away (please see all photos).
The Paper cover is in a used condition and is fragile (please see all photos).

and:

Spine largely detached and partially lacking, thus a fair only copy (internally fine) lacking the dustwrapper

E-bay prices were c. $160 and $430 respectively. Better copies may be found for less.

712. More Spelling Questions

Although Charles Ricketts was born in Switzerland of both English and Italian descent, and partly raised and educated in France, he apparently never wrote a single letter in a language other than English. (However, he published an article about Charles Shannon in French). 

Charles Ricketts, 'Charles Shannon', L'Art et les Artistes
(février 1910)

His letters to French, Italian, German, Belgian and Dutch friends, curators, dealers and others were all composed in English, which raises the question: how many languages did he actually speak? 

In a letter to his old friend Sydney Cockerell (January 1912), he said to follow

[...]  German & Italian lessons [...] 

[BL Add MS 52746, f 63]

Later, a musical friend of his, Muriel Lee Mathews, was told:

Nice of you to like my article. I have tried to translate it in Italian as I wrote it, many sentences will be better in the other language I believe.

[Letter of 4 August 1919. Typed transcription, BL Add MS 61718, ff 278-80]

However, his Italian articles were most probably translated by the Italian Antonio Cippico, as may be deducted from several letters, including one to his Dutch friend Richard Roland Holst (about 20 April 1920):

Do you read Italian? If so, I will send you my articles on Greece which are being written to be translated into that tongue [...] 
[Typed transcription, BL Add MS 61719, ff 6-8]

Charles Ricketts, 'Lettere inglesi', La Ronda (settembre 1919)

Another letter refers to his 'thinking in French', although he never wrote a letter in French:

Pardon spelling & punctuation. I have been talking & thinking in French and dont know if some of this makes sense.

[Letter to Cecil French, 12 July 1927. Houghton MS Eng 1738]

Even French spelling was beyond his capabilities, as he demonstrated in a letter to Charles Shannon from 19-21 October 1927:

[...] it is before bed time I join in drinking a light champeign [champagne] which I would not do were I by myself.

[BL Add MS 58085, ff 87-8]

He could write faultless letters, but would continue to pretend that this was not the case. In a letter to Robert Ross from 1911 he included a post scriptum:

PS

Why scold me for using two g’s in exagerate, these small imperfections secure my popularity, too perfect I should be a subject for controversy.

[BL Add MS 81717]

In whatever language he thought, as a letter writer, he regularly tried out maxims and remarks that could have flowed from the pen of Oscar Wilde.

711. From the Library of John Le Carré

David Cornwell - better known as John le Carré - died five years ago; his library is now for sale at Maggs in London: John le Carré. Books from The Library of Jane and David Cornwell at Tregiffian (in Cornwall). Le Carré, best known for his espionage novels such as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), was an admirer of Graham Greene and John Grisham, but avoided to read too many contemporary novels. His library contains dedication copies of works by Joseph Brodsky (written just after he learned that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize), Philip Roth ('For David- author of a perfect novel') and others.

Charles Ricketts, illustration for
The Passionate Pilgrim. Songs in Shakespeare's Plays (1896)

Cornwell/Le Carré was not a bibliophile, but surprisingly his library contains a Vale Press publication: The Passionate Pilgrim. Songs in Shakespeare's Plays (1896). It is bound for Bumpus in 'green hard grain morocco', 'covers decorated with a border of heart tools, smooth spine lettered in gilt with large and small heart tools, endpaper turn-ins decorated with hearts’. 

There is also a gift inscription: 'For darling Enid with love from Molly Christmas 1920'. 

The identities of Enid and Molly remain obscure.

710. Growing Michael Field Scholarship

During the Great War, Charles Ricketts predicted that in the distant future, the poems of Michael Field (Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper) would attract more readers than in their own time. He made this prediction in a letter to Sydney Cockerell, who was at the time the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, where part of their legacy had found its way.

Works and Days. Extracts from the Journals of Michael Field (1933)

In a letter dated 6 June 1917, Ricketts wrote:

[...] believe me, when we all come into our own, Michael Field will be remembered when the Thompsons, Addington Symon[d]s etc are forgotten.
[British Library Add MS 52746, f 101]

Although Francis Thompson (1859-1907) made the newspapers ten years ago when the building where he lived between 1864 and 1885 - marked with a blue plaque - collapsed, no monographs on his work have been published in the last half century.

Poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds (1840-1893) is best remembered for his book The Renaissance in Italy (1875-1886) and has made a regular reappearance as an early advocate of homosexuality. Following a biography in 1964, his memoirs were published in 1986 and a critical edition appeared in 2016, while a recent study, The Passions of John Addington Symonds by Shane Butler, was made public in 2022.

However, a stack of no fewer than fifteen books about Michael Field have appeared since the end of the last century, not counting the dozens of articles.

It did take a while before academic interest in Michael Field blossomed. A study by Mary Sturgeon (Michael Field, 1922) and a selection from the diaries (Works and Days, 1933) were not immediately followed by a stream of publications about the two women. In the 1970s Paul Delaney published selections from Ricketts's letters to Michael Field. At the end of the twentieth century, the studies on Michael Field gained momentum, thanks in part to the efforts of three individual researchers: Ivor Treby, Emma Donoghue and Marion Twain.

Treby published his archival overview The Michael Field Catalogue in 1998, while Donoghue wrote a concise biography: We Are Michael Field.

Treby then produced a series of collections of Field's poems: A Shorter Shīrazād: 101 poems of Michael Field (1999), Music and Silence (2000) and Uncertain Rain (2002). A third researcher, Marion Thain, published a brief biography and study of the poems: Michael Field and Poetic Identity (2000). Thain became the consultant editor of Michael Field and Fin-de-Siècle Culture and Society. The Journals, 1868-1914, and Correspondence of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper from the British Library, London (Add. Mss 46776-46804, 45851-45856 & 46866-46897). A Listing and Guide to the Microfilm Collection (2003). The publication was, of course, a response to the generally felt need for broad access to the manuscripts to facilitate further research. 

A fresh selection of 'leaves from the journal and letters of Michael Field' was published by Treby in 2006: Binary Star. Thain continued her research with the monograph Poetry, Aestheticism and the Fin de Siècle (2007), a discussion of four of Michael Field's books of poetry.

A selection of books about Michael Field (1998-2024)

After that, the field of research was opened up and publications appeared comprising letter and diary editions and discussions of the works:

• Michael Field and Their World, edited by Margaret D. Stetz and Cheryl A. Wilson (2007): 23 essays;
• The Fowl and the Pussycat. The Letters of Michael Field, 1876-1909, edited by Sharon Bickle (2008): a first scholarly of the correspondence of Bradley and Cooper;
• Michael Field, The Poet. Published and Manuscript Materials, edited by Marion Twain and Ana Parejo Vadillo (2009): a collection of poems, diaries and letters.
• Michael Field. Decadent Moderns, edited by Sarah Parker and Ana Parego Vadillo (2019): 11 essays;
• Michael Field, For That Moment Only and Other Prose Works, edited by Alex Murray and Sarah Parker: first publication of Field's stories and short prose;
• Carolyn Dever, Chains of Love and Beauty. The Diary of Michael Field (2022): an in-depth study of the diaries;
• Jill Ehnenn, Michael Field's Revisionary Poetics (2023);
• One Soul We Divided. A Critical Edition of the Diary of Michael Field, edited by Carolyn Dever (2024)

Meanwhile, under the direction of Marion Thain, an online transcription of the Michael Field diaries is in progress, accompanied by images of the original handwritten pages, since 2021 hosted by Dartmouth University: The Diaries of Michael Field.

709. Barry Humphries ("Dame Edna")'s Collection (Sequel)

Following the high-profile auction of The Personal Collection of Barry Humphries at Christie's - see blog 703. Barry Humphries ("Dame Edna")'s Collection - Forum Books in London announces the sale of The Library of Barry Humphries in a series of auctions starting on 26 March.

Preview of The Library of Barry Humphries (Forum Auctions, image dd 2 March 2025)

The catalogue is not yet available online, but a preview is provided and from certain items one is referred to similar lots, which apparently will also be in the catalogue (but are not part of the preview). For example, the edition of R.M. Rilke's Duineser Elegien in English (Cranach Presse, 1931) mentions, at the bottom of the page, some 'related lots', quite randomly however. On my first reading of the page on Duino Elegies, I was referred to three works, one of which was Daphnis and Chloe by Ricketts and Shannon - in addition to two other editions (a Gregynog edition and a German private press edition) - the second time I was shown Daphnis and Chloe as well as Hero and Leander (in addition to the same German private press edition) and these lucky coincidences never seemed to repeat themselves in the same constellation, sometimes showing no Ricketts material at all but works by the Whittington Press or Editions Narcisse, and every now and then the Duino Elegies itself can be found among the ‘related lots’. 

Preview of The Library of Barry Humphries (Forum Auctions, image dd 2 March 2025)

It is an effective way to tempt you to keep searching through the collection without ever knowing whether you have seen all the interesting objects.

By occasionally viewing the preview again, one is also presented with different selections. For example, a copy of Silverpoints by John Gray popped up, a copy of the ‘regular’ edition, but with a nice attachment and provenance.

Letter from John Gray to Elkin Mathews
about Silverpoints
(Forum Auctions, March 2025)

This copy has the bookplates of Thomas Hutchison and the pre-Raphaelite collector William E. Fredeman, and, tipped in, a note by John Gray about the proofs:

This is the way these pages should be arranged - as I have numbered them - according to Mr. Ricketts. So now Mr. Leighton can proceed with the binding.

Going back and forth through the listed items I stumbled upon some other Ricketts related items, such as one of fifty large-paper copies of J.A. Symonds's In the Key of Blue and Other Prose Essays (1893) with an ink gift inscription dated January 1893, in the vellum cover designed by Ricketts, and another copy of Silverpoints (no. 219/250), a variant on Spalding paper.

708. Charles Ricketts's Spelling Skills

Ricketts never seems to have received regular education in the English language - he did, after all, spend part of his youth in France - and as a result, his spelling of English words was often fanciful.

He often misspelled words (including names) and was aware of this. In many letters he acknowledged that he didn't know how a certain word should be written. Below are just a few examples. 

Arum flower

In a letter from 1894, Ricketts wrote to Michael Field (Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper) that he and Charles Shannon disagreed about the spelling of the name of a flower:

We had covered our table with apples and arums (the artists are quarrelling as to how this word is spelt). It is a white flower like a twist of paper with a yellow stick inside.
(British Library Add MS 58087, f 11)

In an 1898 letter to the same, he toyed with his incorrect spellings:

I hope I have spelt Theodor[e] Watts Dunton’s name all wrong.

(BL Add MS 58087, ff 108-10)

He also used his faulty spelling to express opinions, for example about a dog. A year later, in another letter, he wrote:

I hope I’ve spelt Basset wrong.
(BL Add MS 58087, ff 126-8)

Three years later, Bradley read a letter about archaeology:

I hope my spelling is not worse than ever, I feel every other word is wrong but dare not corect correct.
(BL Add MS 58087, ff 196-8)

In a letter to Laurence Binyon (1905) he ascribed a painting to an Italian painter:

to be ascribed to Jacob P papa Bellini – I dont know how to spell Jacob.

(BL Loan MS 103 10/1)

The announcement of a wrong spelling, followed by the correct spelling occurs repeatedly, for example in a letter to Robert Ross from February 1916.

I wrote pounds because, for the moment, I did not know how to spell guineas. 

(BL Add MS 81717)

In many cases, he did not correct himself because he did not see the errors - he consistently added an acute accent to the spelling of Degas: 'Dégas'. In other cases he really did not know how a (for example medical) term should be spelled. In 1918 he wrote to W.B. Yeats:

For the last five days or so I have been put to bed and visited by a Doctor having had – I still have – a bad touch of Laryngitis which wanted to develop into Neumonia something which I cant spell, [p]neumonia.

(Stony Brook, W.B. Yeats Collection, SC 294, Box 51)

In a letter to Cecil French from 1927 he offers a general excuse:

Pardon spelling & punctuation. I have been talking & thinking in French and dont know if some of this makes sense.

(Houghton Library MS Eng 1738)

Although he continued to make one spelling mistake after another in later years, it seems that he no longer cared and rarely apologised for them.