Although Charles Ricketts was born in Switzerland of both English and Italian descent, and partly raised and educated in France, he apparently never wrote a single letter in a language other than English. (However, he published an article about Charles Shannon in French).
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| Charles Ricketts, 'Charles Shannon', L'Art et les Artistes (février 1910) |
His letters to French, Italian, German, Belgian and Dutch friends, curators, dealers and others were all composed in English, which raises the question: how many languages did he actually speak?
In a letter to his old friend Sydney Cockerell (January 1912), he said to follow
[...] German & Italian lessons [...]
[BL Add MS 52746, f 63]
Later, a musical friend of his, Muriel Lee Mathews, was told:
Nice of you to like my article. I have tried to translate it in Italian as I wrote it, many sentences will be better in the other language I believe.
[Letter of 4 August 1919. Typed transcription, BL Add MS 61718, ff 278-80]
However, his Italian articles were most probably translated by the Italian Antonio Cippico, as may be deducted from several letters, including one to his Dutch friend Richard Roland Holst (about 20 April 1920):
Do you read Italian? If so, I will send you my articles on Greece which are being written to be translated into that tongue [...][Typed transcription, BL Add MS 61719, ff 6-8]
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| Charles Ricketts, 'Lettere inglesi', La Ronda (settembre 1919) |
Another letter refers to his 'thinking in French', although he never wrote a letter in French:
Pardon spelling & punctuation. I have been talking & thinking in French and dont know if some of this makes sense.
Even French spelling was beyond his capabilities, as he demonstrated in a letter to Charles Shannon from 19-21 October 1927:
[...] it is before bed time I join in drinking a light champeign [champagne] which I would not do were I by myself.[BL Add MS 58085, ff 87-8]
He could write faultless letters, but would continue to pretend that this was not the case. In a letter to Robert Ross from 1911 he included a post scriptum:
PS
Why scold me for using two g’s in exagerate, these small imperfections secure my popularity, too perfect I should be a subject for controversy.
[BL Add MS 81717]
In whatever language he thought, as a letter writer, he regularly tried out maxims and remarks that could have flowed from the pen of Oscar Wilde.
