Merlin Holland's new book about his grandfather's legacy, After Oscar. The Legacy of a Scandal (Europa Editions) does contain one reference to Charles Ricketts (and none to Charles Shannon). His name features on page 211 and is not related to his designs for Wilde's works. It is mentioned in passing, introducing a letter from Robert Ross to Ricketts.
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| Merlin Holland, After Oscar (2025) |
The letter was an answer to Ricketts's letter of 6 June about the libel case brought by Jack Grein and Maud Allan against Pemberton Billing which they lost. Ross wrote that his letter had 'touched & soothed' him:
I foresaw the result of the Billing case, & warned Grein not to bring the action. When the trial began everyone thought I was mad because I said Billing would be acquitted [….] Officials in the Treasury told me kindly but firmly that the subject was on my brain. Now they are absurdly astonished at the obvious. Billing & Douglas are the centre of a powerful & richly backed caucus of all the disgruntled people in England.
(Ross to Ricketts, 13 June 1918: BL Add MS 58091, f 152).
Ricketts's letter will be published next year in The Collected Letters of Charles Ricketts, edited by John Aplin and myself, and published in three volumes by Brill (see the Brill website).
