447.Patterned papers (appendix 2: Christie's Season 1931)

The last patterned paper Ricketts designed was used for the posthumous edition of Christie's Season 1931 - I treated this book a few blogs ago in 444. A Posthumous Season. 

An interesting aspect of decorative papers is that a certain section of a pattern (say 10 by 10 centimetres) may be repeated so often that a large sheet of decorative paper can be made with minimal means. But Ricketts worked differently, as we saw with the paper for the Shaw edition, and the patterned paper for Christie's Season 1931 was designed as one whole. The liveliness of a patterned paper depends to a large extent on that lowest common denominator of the design (for wallpapers - such as those by William Morris - it can be as much as 50 by 50 cm). 

Charles Ricketts, patterned paper for Christie's Season 1931 (detail)

However, in Ricketts's patterns, the individual elements are not repeated one-on-one; he must have drawn a sheet the size of the book. We can see this, for example, in the small decorations between the wheels. These seem to be composed of three leaves, but there is for example one where two leaves are very small compared to the third one. This ornament occurs only once.

Charles Ricketts, details of patterned paper
for Christie's Season 1931 

If we compare two copies of the book, we see that this one - strongly divergent - ornament is in exactly the same place. This too is an indication of the size of the original drawing. The area of the paper on the binding measures 25.5 by 16.2 cm.

Charles Ricketts, details of patterned paper
for Christie's Season 1931

The tips of the wings all curl in a different way. Most wings have two incisions on the right side, but some are missing that second notch.

Charles Ricketts, details of patterned paper
for Christie's Season 1931 

The book, as I wrote earlier, is bound in half grey buckram, with pasted on white cover paper displaying a repetitive design printed in blue. The winged wheel is Mercury's symbol, patron of commerce. The design on the front board contains a drawn label with a three-lined border and the title, printed in green and blue.

The original design drawing must have measured approximately 30 cm by 26 cm.