Late 1892, in an undated letter, the poet and prose writer Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) wrote to his former fellow student at Oxford, Charles Sayle (1864-1924), that the novel Dowson had written with another fellow student, Arthur Moore (1866-1952), had been accepted by publisher William Heinemann in London. The novel, started in 1890, would be published in three volumes in the autumn of 1893.
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Ernest Dowson and Arthur Moore, A Comedy of Masks
London: William Heinemann, 1893
[Photo: Maggs Bros., London] |
Dowson wrote to Sayle, who had by then begun a career as a librarian and bibliographer:
Heinemann has accepted our novel, but is vague about dates, which is tedious of him.(New Letters from Ernest Dowson. Edited & with a Preface by Desmond Flower. Andoversford: The Whittington Press, 1984, p. 16. Here the letter is dated 'late November 1889'. However, almost all issues discussed point to 1892, for example: 'Alas! the 'Albemarle' is dead'. The Albemarle Review was published between January and September 1892.)
The proofs for the first edition started arriving in February 1893, and were still occupying the writers in August. In mid-September 1893, the book was finally announced in various newspapers and magazines, such as The Academy of 16 September 1893. The intention had been to publish the book on 15 September, but it came out on 22 September. Heinemann's advertisements after publication appeared on 28 September 1893, for example in The Morning Post: 'Mr. Heinemann's New Books', claiming that it was available 'At all Libraries', meaning Charles Edward Mudie's lending library.
By that time, Dowson wrote to Victor Plarr:
The Comedy is out at last - very charming in its outward, visible aspect, and for the rest I hope no one will discover as many inward blemishes as I can.
(The Letters of Ernest Dowson. Collected & Edited by Desmond Flower and Henry Maas. London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1967, p. 293)
A reprint in one volume was mentioned in The Bookseller on 4 August 1894. |
Ernest Dowson and Arthur Moore, A Comedy of Masks
London: William Heinemann, 1894
[first one-volume edition]
[Photo: Maggs Bros., London] |
The bindings of the first edition are stamped with an ornament combining a burning torch with a pair of masks, one for comedy and one for tragedy, the classic symbols of Thalia and Melpomene, representing the performing arts. The later, single-volume edition does not show a drama mask, but three comedy masks on a shield, the middle one representing an antique Greek mask.
But the book cover could have looked very different.
In early September 1893, Dowson received a sketch for the cover from Heinemann:
They have just sent us a suggested design for the cover - a tragic and comic mask with liberty to substitute what we like - within 5 days!! Of course in the time one can not do nothing: otherwise perhaps Horne or Ricketts might have been requisitioned.
(The Letters, p. 291)
Herbert Horne was a personal friend of Dowson. Ricketts met him twice when John Gray (or perhaps Laurence Binyon) brought Dowson to The Vale. Dowson was impressed by Silverpoints. Gray had sent him a dedication copy. Its cover by Ricketts was 'indescribably dainty', Dowson wrote (The Letters, p. 238).
If he had known that Ricketts sometimes worked very quickly, this book might have had a more attractive, even unforgettable appearance, although Ricketts himself might not have appreciated the novel.
