239. Vale Press Vine Borders (2)

Last week, vine borders designed by William Morris and Charles Ricketts were shown. In a vellum copy of the Vale Press edition of Michael Field's play Julia Domna, antiquarian book dealer Ed Nudelman found a drawing for a vine border.

The sketches - there are three small drawings - cannot be ascribed to Ricketts, for several reasons.

Anonymous design for a vine border

The designs are unsigned, and the assumption that Ricketts is connected to these sketches, is solely based on the fact that these drawings have been found in a Vale Press book. The copy of that book comes from the collection of Laurence Hodson, and Hodson commissioned special bindings, and other art works from many artists during the 1890s. However, the auction catalogue of his collection does not mention these sketches in the description of this copy.

The handwritten notes include instructions for the block maker or printer, indicating which part of the border should be connected to another part of the drawing. The three drawings cannot form a border, some parts are lacking, and it is unclear which parts should be fitted together to form a complete border that can enclose an illustration or a page of text on four sides.

Ricketts never made separate drawings for the four sides of a border, there was only one complete drawing for each border. An example is published in Self-Portrait (1939). This design was made for the two volumes of Tennyson's poems that appeared in December 1900.

Charles Ricketts, design for the Vale Press edition of
Alfred Lord Tennyson's poems (two volumes, 1900)

This example, and another one, are part of the Gordon Bottomley collection in Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery in Carlisle.

An important difference between the drawings by Ricketts and the anonymous sketches is the pattern of horizontal and vertical lines that seem to indicate that these sketches are made by a pupil and not by an esteemed artist. The pattern is not meant for reproduction purposes, and in fact, the drawings are too small for that. Drawings for reproduction in books are usually larger than the intended format after reproduction. The lines must have been drawn by a pupil who carefully tried to copy an example. It explains the handwritten note underneath: '1st attempt'. He needed more than one go.

The grid could also mean that this was a design that was to be reproduced in another medium, in which case it would be enlarged, for example for a tapestry, a curtain, or a painting. However, in that case, it would have been unlikely for an artist to draw such small sketches.

Anonymous design for a vine border (detail)

Looking closely at one of the drawings (see above), we observe a few other distinctive qualities that make it the work of a student. 

Firstly, the lines that form the stems of the vine are somewhat clumsily drawn, especially the awkward and stiff curves to the left of the design that lack the reassured fluency of the professional draughtsman.

And there is another remarkable feature of the design. If we look again at Ricketts's borders (see last week's blog), and those of Morris too, for that matter, we see that they carefully position the grapes of the vine to the left or to the right side of the border, in order to obtain a variety in colour and density. Here, however, the student has positioned the grapes at the centre of the drawing. The result is surely less lively than an artist would want it to be.

Next week, more about Ricketts's vine borders.

238. Vale Press Vine Borders (1)

A vine border was a popular decoration in private press books around 1900. William Morris designed a border of grapes and leaves of the vine for several books, including his edition of Chaucer.

William Morris, border for The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1896)

The antiquarian book dealer Ed Nudelman (check out the website of Nudelman Rare Books) recently found a drawing for a vine border in a vellum copy of the Vale Press edition of Michael Field's play Julia Domna, and as this copy came from the famous Hodson collection, he was tempted to think that the design was by Ricketts himself. Meanwhile, he has changed his mind, and I agree with him. The sketches - there are three small drawings on three small slips of tracing paper - cannot be ascribed to Ricketts, for several reasons, which I will discuss in next week's blog. 

Ricketts designed quite a few vine borders for the Vale Press. There is a small one in Rossetti's Hand and Soul (1899), there are three medium sizes borders for Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1901), The First Part of King Henry IV (part of the Vale Shakespeare edition, this volume appeared in 1902), and finally in A Bibliography of Books Issued by Hacon & Ricketts (1904). There was one large format vine border, used to decorate Thomas Browne's Religio Medici, Urn Burial, Christian Morals, and Other Essays (1902).

Some of these borders are delicately designed, intricate, crowded and lively borders. Others are more sparse in detail, less artificial, and almost naturalistic, like the little design for Hand and Soul that measures 130 x 95 mm.

Charles Ricketts, vine border for D.G. Rossetti, Hand and Soul (1899)

The text on this page (page 3) refers to art of painting in Florence. Ricketts remarked in his bibliography that the block for this border 'was burnt at the printers'.'

Ricketts's border was repeated on page 37. The text on that page begins as follows: 'In the spring of 1847, I was at Florence.' This is intended to be an Italian vine border.

Small as it is, it shows some hallmarks of Ricketts's border drawings. The space between the curling stems, forming knots, has been filled in with black, subtly changing the density of the drawing. The balance of black and white is carefully considered, the grapes show their weight, some of them slightly tilted to one side, all pointing downwards, as they do in reality. The pattern is simple, alternating leaves (with their surface made white and their black nerves) and bunches of grapes (all similar but different, individually drawn).

The other designs, such as the paragraph marks and the initials, have not been adapted to the grape motive.

237. Chas. H. Shannon: Visiting Card

In the 1890s, Charles Shannon used a visiting card like any other Victorian in London. He lived in the house in The Vale between 1888 and October 1894, before Ricketts and Shannon moved to 31 Beaufort Street. After the move, he continued to use his visiting card with The Vale address, but crossed it out, and wrote the new address next to it.

Visiting card of Charles H. Shannon (ca. 1894-1898)

236. Yours Ever: Letterheads (2)

From May 1923 to his death in October 1931, Charles Ricketts lived at Townshend House, Albert Road, Regents Park. His correspondence cards and letters carried a letterhead that mentioned the address, but no name.

Omitting the name, allowed both Ricketts and Shannon to use the same stationary. Although Ricketts designed books, bindings, invoices, announcements, and other office papers, for The Vale Press, he did not apply his art to his private writing paper.

Letterhead, correspondence card

Ricketts's letters are signed with his signature C Ricketts. Ricketts did not place a dot after his initial C.

235. Sincerely Yours: Letterheads (1)

Between May 1902 and May 1923 Ricketts and Shannon lived in Lansdowne House, Lansdowne Road, Holland Park in London. 

Lansdowne House, London

Ricketts's correspondence cards and letters had a printed letterhead that consisted of the address. His name was not included.

Letterhead on correspondence card

Ricketts usually signed his letters and cards with the signature: C Ricketts.

Charles Ricketts, signature on correspondence card

234. Copeland & Day Bookplate

The Boston firm of Herbert Copeland and Fred Holland Day was one the commercial American publishing firms that tried to follow in the footsteps of the Arts and Crafts movement and the English private presses. They strove to set a new standard in 'imaginative publishing' (as their bibliographer, Joe W. Kraus puts it).

During the six years of its existence (1893-1899), Copeland & Day published some innovatively designed books, such as Stephen Crane's book of poetry The Black Riders and Other Lines (1895) with a cover design by Frederic C. Gordon, and Robert Louis Stevenson's An Elegy and Other Poems Mainly Personal (1895) with a title page designed by Will Bradley. Some of their books were joint publications with the London firm The Bodley Head. An example is Oscar Wilde's poem The Sphinx of which 50 copies were for sale in America; only the large paper edition mentions the name of Copeland & Day. Ricketts had designed The Sphinx, at the request of Elkin Mathews and John Lane, but he also did some design work for the Boston publisher.

Charles Ricketts, 'Copeland & Day' (1894/1895)

Ricketts did not design a book for the American firm, but, at the request of Fred Holland Day he designed a bookplate for the firm. He was asked to do this towards the end of 1894. 

In his bibliography Messrs. Copeland & Day (1979), Kraus includes an illustration of the bookplate; the caption reads: 'Copeland & Day Bookplate, design by Charles Ricketts. Printed in deep yellow green (Centroid 118) on yellowish white paper (Centroid 92). 13.2x8.7 cm.' The bookplate is not mentioned in the bibliography, nor in the introduction.

What was the use of this bookplate? It was not meant for the private libraries of Copeland and Day, nor for books sold by the firm, but apparently in use as 'office copies' that were kept on the shelves of the firm. At least one book bearing this bookplate has been identified: it is a copy of Oscar Wilde's Salome (1894) that was sold at auction in 2009.

The bookplate was printed in green, Kraus recorded. However, a few copies have been printed in black. These may have been proof copies. One such copy can be found in the Carl Woodring Collection, Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas. Another copy was recently sold at auction.

Charles Ricketts, 'Copeland & Day' (1894/1895)

Both copies, printed in green and in black, are quite rare, and more difficult to find than a copy of The Sphinx. The design is very much in style with The Sphinx drawings and lettering. The 'O' and 'A's in the bookplate have the same sort of curved lines. 

Charles Ricketts, initial letters for The Sphinx (1894)

In The Sphinx these letters are used as initials, printed in green after Ricketts's drawings (these are not wood engravings). In the bookplate they also have been drawn and photomechanically reproduced. The Art Nouveau style of these letters exaggerates the horizontal curve in the 'A' to the extent that is has become diagonal. In the 'O' such a line is quite unusual.

Even the landscapes in Ricketts's drawings for The Sphinx display similarities, especially in the curved lines and rock formations, see for example the lower left corner of the third drawing in The Sphinx. 

Charles Ricketts, illustration (detail) for The Sphinx (1894)

The drawing for the Copeland & Day bookplate resembles those of The Sphinx, but it was not intended to illustrate Wilde's poem; there is not one line in the poem that refers to the figure of a woman, bending down to pick a flower that seems to be the source of a stream that flows from the rock. 

_____________________________________________________

1866 Charles Ricketts 2016

In 2016 this blog will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Charles Ricketts's birth on 2 October 1866.
Contributions are most welcome.

 

233. Pleasantly Adorned by Mr. Charles Ricketts

While the Vale Press was in full swing - publishing one volume after another - Ricketts still managed to contribute drawings to magazines; he illustrated both articles and poems.

In August 1898 - the Vale Pres had recently issued Michael Field's The World at Auction and an edition of Shelley's Lyrical Poems was in preparation - Black and White published 'Cynthia and Alexis', a poem in medieval style, signed "G.", which was described as 'an elegant pastoral, pleasantly adorned by Mr. Charles Ricketts'.

Charles Ricketts, illustration for 'Cynthia and Alexis' (1898)

The poem is about a lover, who finds himself:

So near the Rose, and yet all thorn-entangled.

The drawing depicts him trapped between branches, out of reach appears his love, the Rose. Before his chest a heart-shaped cartouche contains the words: 'I am Heart-Broken'. The Rose knows no mercy, as she needs his blood to colour her leaves.

The drawing seems to be very much in style with the opening image of Oscar Wilde's The Sphinx, which was published four years earlier, in 1894, and indeed, the drawing may date from this period, only to be published in 1898. It might even be earlier, as the drawing resembles other pre-1894 drawings by Ricketts, and his earliest works for Black and White date from 1891. The art editors may have kept a supply of these early drawings, and published them in later years. During the early years of The Vale Press this kind of drawing by Ricketts appeared in several magazines, but all of these drawings had been published well before that time; all were reprints. The 'Cynthia and Alexis' drawing had not been published before, but must have been drawn years earlier, as Ricketts did not have the time for this kind of work when he was a publisher.

The frontispiece of The Sphinx shows the sphinx and a female figure with branches and grapes of the vine, intertwined with branches that bear no roses but show a multitude of thorns.

Charles Ricketts, frontispiece for Oscar Wilde, The Sphinx (1894)

232. William Shakespeare's Sonnet 66

In December I received a copy of Sonnet 66, published by Lupus in Geldermalsen. The booklet contains William Shakespeare's sonnet 66 (version 1609) with three Dutch translations made in 1888, 1993 and 1997. The book was printed for a joint publication by the members of the Dutch private press society that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014.

Sonnet 66 (Lupus, 2015)

Charles Ricketts - him again - published two editions of Shakespeare's sonnets. The first edition appeared in November 1899. Each sonnet was printed on a separate page. The text was set in the Vale type.

Sonnet 66 in Shakespeare's Sonnets (Vale Press, 1899)

The text was 'seen through the press' by Thomas Sturge Moore, after Ricketts himself had edited the text of the 1609 edition. He altered many words, correcting errors, but also amending the text to his own likes and according to the Kelmscott Press edition of Shakespeare's poems (1893). Sturge Moore would edit the sonnets twice for the Vale Press.

In April 1900 the first volumes of the Vale Shakespeare edition were published, and initially the sonnets were not to be included. However, to please the subscribers who in the course of three years saw a series of Shakespeare volumes bound in buckram grow to over a metre, it was decided to print and bind the sonnets uniformly.

Sonnet 66 in Shakespeare's Sonnets (1903)

In this edition there were three sonnets to a page. The spelling was modernized, the use of capitals avoided. After Sturge Moore had edited the text, both Ricketts and Charles Holmes (the manager of the Vale Press) revised it. The text was printed in the Avon that was specially designed for the Vale Shakespeare edition. The book appeared in April 1903.

1866 Charles Ricketts 2016

In 2016 this blog will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Charles Ricketts's birth on 2 October 1866.
Contributions are most welcome.

231. Vale Press Spine Label Variations

The labels on the spine of Vale Press books usually carry the title of the book, and the name of the author. Nine of them only mention the title (Empedocles on Etna, 1896, Bibliography of the Vale Press, 1904, among others). One of them only mentions the name of the author, namely the edition of Lyrical Poems of Shelley, 1898; the label has: 'Shelley'.

Twelve books have spine labels mentioning both author and title; four of those include the Christian names (Thomas Campion for example), two have the initials for the Christian names (H. Vaughan) only. The two Blake editions have not been treated identically: The Book of Thel (1897) mentions 'W. Blake' on the spine label, while Poetical Sketches (1899) has his full name: 'William Blake'. It is not always a question of lack of room on the labels: some labels have been lettered from head to foot, others have been lettered across. 

Four spine labels mention the title and the initials of the author's name: Sonnets by E.B.B. (1898) being the first of those, while three plays by Michael Field only mention 'M.F.' underneath the full title: The World at Auction (1898), The Race of Leaves (1901) and Julia Domna (1903). The first play of Michael Field, however, mentioned the full name Michael Field on the spine label: Fair Rosamund (1897). 

'Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning' was a bit too long for the spine label of this small book, the spine measuring 154 mm; the full name would have required a label of about 140 mm; it would have covered almost the whole spine. (By the way: the title page mentions E.B. Browning; only the colophon mentions the full name of the author.) The Michael Field trilogy is another story.

There is quite some variation, and moreover, even for the same book spine labels may differ. As not all books were bound at the same time (certainly not during the early years of the press), the printer was asked to print new ones when sales made this necessary. Note, for instance, the spine label on two copies of The Race of Leaves.

Michael Field, The Race of Leaves (1901): spine labels

On the left spine label (see the image above) the initials M.F. have been placed much closer together than on the one on the right: 5 mm instead of 11 mm. The left one is the more common of the two. More importantly, the decorations are not identical. One has an acorn motive, the other one a leaf ornament. Both - and other small decorations, such as stars - were used for the spine labels, but usually the same design was used for all copies of an edition. Not in this case. 

As the two other titles of the Roman trilogy - as they called this series of three plays - had spine labels with the M.F. at the far ends of the label with ample white in between, it may have been the label on the right that was the later one. However, The Race of Leaves was the second play of the trilogy, and therefore no standardization may have been intended. Also, there are more descrepancies. The first volume has an acorn motive on the spine label, the last one has no decoration at all. 

230. Printing black in The Race of Leaves

Michael Field's play The Race of Leaves was published by The Vale Press in June 1901. The border for the first text page was based on a wood-engraving by Ricketts, which he had begun working on in January. There were four panels, the left and right one running the whole length of the page with images of thyrsus, vine branch and rings in the left panel, and a portrait of Commodus and an Amazon with a lamp in the panel on the right.

Michael Field, The Race of Leaves (1901), page [v]: border designed by Charles Ricketts

The border pages were printed from electrotypes, but this did not always mean that the black was evenly printed, as a comparison of several copies of this book can prove. The lower left and lower right hand corners show grey areas in some copies.

Charles Ricketts, border for The Race of Leaves (1901), detail

229. Charles Ricketts and the Search Engines

The title of this week's blog sounds a bit like a children's book, and I have to admit that what could have become serious research was mostly play. I compared the results of a number of search engines using the same query: "charles ricketts".

The list of results for this search in Google starts with Wikipedia, followed by this blogspot, and then by links to the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Tate.

Google search for "Charles Ricketts" (December 2015)

In Bing the results are slightly different. First result is Wikipedia, followed by 'Top 25 Charles Ricketts profiles' on LinkedIn (none of them being our Ricketts of course), and third in place is this blogspot.

Bing search for "Charles Ricketts" (December 2015)

The results in Yahoo, again, were slightly different: first comes a link to Whitepages (addresses found), followed by Wikipedia, Top 25 LinkedIn profiles, and images. This blogspot follows after those.

Yahoo search for "Charles Ricketts" (December 2015)

The Chinese Baidu search machine gives a markedly different result. First comes Wikipedia, then some links to other search machines (of Baidu and Bing), then another Wikipedia page on Charles Holmes, followed by a page of Amazon.com. Mostly links to links and links to advertisements. Could not read all the details in Chinese characters of course.

Baidu search for "Charles Ricketts" (December 2015)

Our blogspot can be found, but one has to search for my name in combination with Ricketts's in order to get the result. A search for "ricketts" [and] "shannon", does not give any relevant results. Google answers this new query with a list headed by a link to this blogspot; Yahoo and Bing show this blogspot in second place, while Facebook comes first.

A search that combines results from several search engines - using Dogpile - lists Wikipedia, followed by LinkedIn profiles, and immediately after that this blogspot. Another combined search, using IxQuick delivers us a listing of Wikipedia, LinkedIn, and this blogspot (interspersed with links to Wiki pages about Ricketts and Wilde). Dogpile and IxQuick change your query while you type it: they insist that you are not looking for "Charles Ricketts", but for "Charles tickets". Much more popular, apparently. 

Apart from the Chinese search engine, most sites have similar results.