764. Who was Thom Winslow?

Included in the Oscar Wilde collection of Jeremy J. Mason (Bonhams auction of 18 February 2026) was a copy of Charles Ricketts's Beyond the Threshold (1929). Ricketts was quite proud of this late achievement for which he designed an imposing binding and made five pen drawings - and, of course, he had written the story incorporating a few prose poems that he ascribed to Oscar Wilde. The copy in the Mason sale is one of many dedication copies. This one is especially dear:

To Thom Winslow

          This Victorian Masterpiece

                     From its

                    British author

                       C. Ricketts

Charles Ricketts, Beyond the Threshold (1929)
Dedication to Thom Winslow
[photo Bonhams, London]

But who is Thom Winslow? 

Henry Winslow

The only Winslow I am aware of with whom Ricketts was on friendly terms was the American painter Henry Winslow, about whom, incidentally, little is known for certain. Born in 1874 or 1875 – depending on the source – Henry Winslow probably died in 1953 or 1955(*). He was a graphic artist, primarily an etcher, who left America for Paris to study at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, also under James McNeill Whistler. He later moved to London, where Ricketts often saw him during the Great War. He was naturalised in 1927 (presumably). He was a member of the New English Art Club. In December 1926 his works were shown at the Dudensing Galleries, in 1937 etchings were exhibited at the Fine Art Society, and in 1949 his watercolours were on display at Kensington Art Gallery (along with works by his wife Helen, Ethel Pye and others). Every now and then he also exhibited in the USA. His work was exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1912 and 1945. His addresses were mentioned in the catalogues. Between 1922 and 1937 he lived at 24, Marlborough Place, St. John's Wood  (1922-1937).

In November 1920, Mrs Henry Winslow required a cook and parlour-maid when the couple were living at 1 Hill Road, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood (a notice was published in The Times). This was in the neighbourhood of Ricketts and Shannon, and also Mary and Edmund Davis, and, Edmund Dulac. (This address was mentioned in the 1921 catalogue of the Royal Academy). In fact, after World War 2, the Winslows let Dulac and his wife Helen stay in their house in St John’s Wood after the Dulacs found their studio at Ladbroke Road flooded. 

Mrs Henry Winslow was Helen Stirling Winslow, née Thomas (1890-1973) (*), an artist in her own right and also a member of the New English Art Club. In March 1914, she exhibited etchings at R. Gutekunst's Gallery. One of her undated paintings (Pieta) mentioned the later address of 64 Marlborough Place along with a Swiss one: 'Villa Helios, Minusio, Tieuro, Switzerland'. Her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1941 and 1945 (her address at the time was: Dolphins, Thame, Oxon, and so was Henry's).

In 1953, a poetry collection by Henry Winslow - with the rather unremarkable title Poems - was published by a local Swiss publisher: Arte Grafiche Carminati in Locarno. 

Thom and Marius Winslow

A search of newspapers does not yield a biography of Thom Winslow. There are snippets mentioning a Mrs Thomas Winslow, who seems to have nothing to do with the family. 

The dedication copy of Beyond the Threshold also has another name written on the first free endpaper: 'Marius Winslow'. He is associated with the sale of some original Dulac drawings for an illustrated edition of Treasure Island (1927). Marius and Henry are probably family members - I have no access to archives that can proof this assumption (*). The Ashmolean Museum, however, owns a painting that was purchased with the assistance of a gift in memory of Helen, Henry and Marius Winslow in 1975. No Thom is mentioned! Was Ricketts mistaken and had he intended this copy for Henry Winslow in the first place?

(*) For correct dates and names, please see blog No. 766: 'The Real Name of Thom Winslow'.

763. A Seated Figure by an Archway

Today, Lawrences of Bletchinley in Surrey continue an auction of Antiques and Collectables that started yesterday and will end tomorrow, selling 1725 items: carpets, enamel signs, fly rods, tools, guitars, stamps, terracotta plaques, stoneware, silver salvers, jewellery, but also oils, drawings, pastels, lithographs and other prints.

 

One of the lots contains a drawing by Charles Shannon. It is described as a pencil drawing, a study of a seated figure by an archway. The initials C.H.S. can be seen in the lower right hand corner, the format is 26 by 18 cm. 

C.H.S. [Charles Shannon?], 
Seated Figure by an Archway
(undated pencil drawing)

There seems to be no lithograph or painting that can be connected to this study. The three initials C.H.S. seem to indicate that this might be an early drawing.

At £10, the opening price seems reasonable.(*)

(*) Hammer price: £110.

762. A Fictional Cover for A Comedy of Masks (1893)

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. 

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.

761. Had Zimri Peace Who Slew His Master?

Harry Quilter (1851-1907), whose work was ridiculed by both James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde, gave Shannon and Ricketts the opportunity to create drawings for his magazine The Universal Review. He would reproduce two of these drawings, both by Charles Shannon, in his art historical work Preferences in Art, Life and Literature (1892).

Preferences contained 67 illustrations. However, a deluxe large-paper edition also appeared. These numbered copies contain 114 illustrations, 56 of which were printed in autotype, mounted on additional sheets with the titles and names of the artists handwritten in ink. Among those additional illustrations are a drawing by Shannon and one by Ricketts, the latter titled 'Had Zimri Peace Who Slew His Master?'

Charles Ricketts, 'Had Zimri Peace Who Slew His Master?'
(The Universal Review, 15 August 1889)
[Photo: Jos Uljee]

The original illustration in The Universal Review measured 17.9 by 13.8 cm; the autotype reproduction was larger: 21.4 by 16.4 cm. Both the title and the name contained mistakes: Ricketts's name was given as 'H.S. Ricketts', the title was given as 'Jezebel', which was the title of the story that Ricketts and Shannon had illustrated.

Charles Ricketts, 'Had Zimri Peace Who Slew His Master?'
(published as 'Jezebel' in
Preferences in Art, Life and Literature (1892), facing page 232)

It is unclear whether Ricketts or Shannon ever laid eyes on that deluxe edition, but we do know that their friend, the poet Gordon Bottomley, was proud to have obtained a copy after years of searching. (Apparently, Bottomley had never managed to find a copy of the original reproduction in The Universal Review.)

He wrote in a letter that accompanied a copy of the book he sent as a Christmas present to Thomas Sturge Moore (13 December 1926):

We are far from Christmas yet, but I am sending your Christmas present with this as the post-office won't have it, and it too will probably take time on the railway – though I shall send it by passenger train.
It comes with a great deal of love from Emily and me to you and Marie. Of course my commercial soul is distressed by the foreknowledge that you will want to cut it up and take out the only things that are of value, for its price is going up steadily! But here it is for you to do as you like with; and we are happy in sending it, for we know you will rejoice in the superb reproduction of Ricketts’ “Jezebel” and the other treasures as much as we do.
It was really a great happiness when we found this copy some months ago, and we at once said we must have it for you.

[Quoted after the edition by John Aplin, Complete Correspondence of Gordon Bottomley and Thomas Sturge Moore. Volume 3: 1926-1948 (Letters 578-911) on the online platform Intelex, July 2020].