Charles Ricketts & Charles Shannon: 118. Prices realized or unrealized

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

118. Prices realized or unrealized

Auctioned, yesterday, at Christie's in New York, were two Ricketts and Shannon related items from the collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow. One was a deluxe version of Oscar Wilde's The Sphinx (1894) for which a price of $25.000 was realized. The other item was only a proof, printed however in gold, for Lucien Pissarro's Twelve Woodcuts which was published by Shannon & Ricketts. This item did not realize the estimate of $800-$1200. It was a single leaf for the cover, signed in pencil by Pissarro underneath his note 'épreuve d'essai'.

The collection of Arthur (1922-2012) and Charlotte (1924-2000) Vershbow was sold in four parts of which this was the final one. Highlights from the earlier sales included a complete first edition of Francisco Goya's La Tauromaquia , Piranesi's Invenzioni Capric di Carceri, and several manuscripts.

Title page for Lucien Pissarro, Twelve Woodcuts (part)

Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), artist, book designer, collector, art critic, set and costume designer & Charles Shannon (1863-1937), lithographer, painter and art collector : a weekly blog written by Paul van Capelleveen

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With contributions by Paul Delaney (no. 11, no. 100, no. 300), Paul Delaney and Armand Robichaud (no. 500), Barbara Pezzini (no. 39, no. 40), Paul Durham (no. 136), Philip R. Bishop (no. 150), Vincent Barlow (no. 189), Rebecca Mitchell (no. 400), Geoff Dibb (no. 433), John Aplin (no. 450, 476, 481, 482), Jan Piggott (no. 455, no. 492), Anna Gruetzner Robins (no. 564), and Helen Ritchie (no. 600).

Thanks are due to Marja Smolenaars.