Eleanor Fitzsimons has exploded the myth that Oscar Wilde was a lazy editor. She shows how hard he worked to find the best writers and the best illustrators to make his magazine a beacon of progressive thought regarding women in education, the professions, politics and the arts.
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| Selected Articles from The Woman's World Edited by Oscar Wilde (2024) |
Fitzsimons discusses Wilde's editorial episode, which began in April 1887 when he was asked to be the editor of The Lady's World, half a year before the first issue under his editorship would appear. The time was taken to change the title, lay-out, and the contents of the magazine - the emphasis was now more on what women were thinking than on what they were wearing, although fashion remained an important subject. The introduction shows how Wilde, in his literary notes, supported new and democratic ideas, and invited women with sometimes opposing views to make contributions.
The editor covers contributions from different types of sections - poetry, fiction, literature, fashion, education, industry, employment for women, politics and public life. Although most of the authors were women, the illustrators were all men. Wilde became disappointed with the publisher's lack of support for his plans, both financially and in terms of content he faced constraints, leading to him giving up.
The selection follows the format of the original magazine, the text in two columns, and illustrations (for the introduction) embedded in the text, unfortunately leading to ugly gaps in the consequently short lines of text aligned on either side (see for example page 25). The endpapers are after a design by E.W. Godwin: the original bound volumes of The Woman's World had simple blank endleaves and this busy colourful fabric design - not designed for books bur for furniture - is misplaced in this volume.
Zooming in on Charles Ricketts, we unfortunately may detect some flaws. The short biography (pp. 246-7) states that Ricketts's mother was French, an error that has been corrected by his biographer Paul Delaney who established that she was Italian. Throughout the book we find illustrations by Ricketts that are not attributed to him and about which a somewhat hidden footnote (p. 302, note 26) comments that they may have been his work. The misconception that Wilde was the one who invited Ricketts to produce illustrations - Ricketts had previously worked for the publisher Cassell and would not meet Wilde until 1889 - is reflected in the comment that theirs was one of Wilde's 'collaborative relationships' (p. 30). Eventually they did become close collaborators but not before 1890.
Not all of Ricketts's illustrations are signed by him, especially the headpieces for the fashion section are quite often missing a monogram, leading Fitzsimons to contradict herself. On the one hand, she says he ‘might’ have made these, on the other, she claims with certainty that they are his work: 'Charles Ricketts may have been the artist responsible for the headpieces to Mrs. Johnstone's articles "The Latest Fashions" [...]' (page 302) and 'From 1889, when Charles Ricketts began drawing playful headers for "The Latest Fashions" [...]' (page 243). Apparently, these drawings have not been examined closely.
There is no reason for doubt. Ricketts designed all the headpieces from February 1889 onwards. The first one is not signed, but the second one is (March 1889).
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| Charles Ricketts, detail of headpiece (The Woman's World, March 1889) |
The double-lined square within the wreath is a simplification of Ricketts's monogram which he used to sign a tailpiece in the same instalment.
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| Charles Ricketts, detail of tailpiece (The Woman's World, March 1889) |
