460. Not Designed by Charles H. Shannon: J.O. Hobbes's Novel

Every now and then antiquarian books are offered whose design is wrongly attributed to Ricketts or Shannon, more often to the former than to the latter, by the way. Recently I saw an antiquarian bookseller ascribe the design of a novel by John Oliver Hobbes to Shannon: The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895).

John Oliver Hobbes,
The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895)

What pointed towards Shannon? First, the publisher and the year - Henry & Co and 1895: exactly the publisher and the year of publication of The Pageant, for which Shannon was appointed art editor.

Secondly, there is a monogram on the title page that might mean 'C.H.S'.

John Oliver Hobbes,
The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): second title page

A Canadian dealer decided that this must be Shannon's monogram; his description of the book on his website (see Vialibri.com) stated: 'Binding design, orange half-title, and title page by Charles Shannon, I believe.'

John Oliver Hobbes,
The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): second title page (detail)

However, a close-up shows that this is not the case. Probably the monogram reads 'C.H. Sc.', in other words, it is the engraver. (The book was printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney Ltd.) [See postscript below.]

Another bookseller found a handwritten note in a copy of this book stating that it was designed by Walter Spindler: 'A pencil note on the leading endpaper identifies the designer of the book and of the titlepage as the pre-Raphaelite artist Walter Spindler.'

That is correct, and, incidentally, the artist himself left his mark on the drawn title page that precedes the illustrated title page. It bears his monogram 'W.S.'

John Oliver Hobbes,
The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): first title page

John Oliver Hobbes,
The Gods, Some Mortals, & Lord Wickenham (1895): first title page (detail)

And then there are the publishers of the book themselves who, at the end of Hobbes novel, included a section with advertisements for their publications. This list, A Selection from Messrs. Henry & Co's Announcements, is dated "April 1895" and also mentions this novel. Alas, it does not give any details about the design. We have to look elsewhere. If we turn to the advertisements that are bound in at the back of the first issue of The Pageant (for 1896), we will find a statement about the designer:

With a title-page and binding designed by Walter Spindler.

The Pageant for 1896 (published 1895)

Not that everything is solved with this, because no mention is made of the second illustrated title page - a rather clumsy drawing actually - and we don't know who designed that page.

Walter E. Spindler (1878-1940) was not a pre-Raphaelite artist (as the second antiquarian bookseller claimed); he was born far too late for that. The French-born artist is known for his portraits of Sarah Bernhardt and Alfred Lord Douglas, among others.

John Oliver Hobbes was the pen-name of Pearl Mary Teresa Richards (1867-1906). She was born in Boston (1867), moved to London when young, was raised in London and Paris, wrote novels and drama. She died quite suddenly in London in 1906.

The artist and the author knew each other well, from childhood on, and although it was rumoured that Spindler and Richards were to be engaged, this actually never happened. She dedicated one of her novels to him, and he provided a portrait of her for her book Tales of John Oliver Hobbes (1894).

Postscript
Simon Wilson reminds me that C.H.sc. refers to Carl Hentschel.