Just before Christmas, an edition of letters from Charles Shannon to Charles Ricketts has been published: Old Chap, Dear Ridgeley, Old Chump, Dear Old Ruffian, My Dear Ricketts.
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| Folded-out cover of Old Chap, Dear Ridgeley, Old Chump, Dear Old Ruffian, My Dear Ricketts (2023) |
Soon after their initial meeting, Charles Shannon (1863-1937) and Charles Ricketts (1866-1931) decided to live together. On the apparently rare occasions when they spent time away independently they maintained communication by letter. Shannon would write when visiting continental museums or enjoying a holiday (and perhaps more) with one of his female models, and also from home when Ricketts in turn travelled abroad to undertake research for an art history monograph, or in the company of a younger male companion.
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| Numbered copies of Shannon's letters to Ricketts at the day of publication, 22 December 2023 |
In many ways, these letters are simple affairs, modest, understated, and undemonstratively affectionate, telling us something of the equability of Shannon’s personality.
His friends knew him as a handsome and athletic man, and if he was less extrovert than his lifelong companion, he had just as clear a sense of their shared vocation. Although he seems to have been content to stand back as Ricketts’s quixotic imagination and strongly-held opinions occupied the foreground, Shannon’s sanguine temperament ensured a balance in this friendship of equals.
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| Charles Shannon, 'Self-Portrait' Lithograph, 1918 |
In his letters, Shannon reports on his visits to parties where artists, authors and collectors meet, on antiques purchased by Ricketts in Paris, on lectures with lantern slides, on the state of the art market, on a multi-day visit to his sisters in Sleaford (larded with childhood memories). The series concludes with the last note to Ricketts dictated to Shannon by his carers - a year after a fall down a flight of stairs left him mentally disabled.
Charles Shannon,
Old Chap, Dear Ridgeley, Old Chump, Dear Old Ruffian, My Dear Ricketts. Ten Letters to Charles Ricketts.
The Hague, At the Paulton, December 202340 pages, 3 illustrations, 20 x 13 cm
Designed by Huug Schipper (Studio Tint)
Set in Proforma Medium
Printed on Biotop 115 g. by Mostert & Van Onderen, Leiden
Edition limited to sixty numbered copies
Price including packaging and shipping:
European Union: €30.
United Kingdom: €35.
USA and Canada: €40.
You can express your interest by sending an email to Paul van Capelleveen [see the address in the right-hand bar]. You will receive a Paypal invoice.
