Unrecorded Histories by Charles Ricketts of Vale Press
$100
Out of stock
Description
Beautifully designed book written and designed by Vale Press co-founder Charles Ricketts.
Unrecorded Histories by Charles Ricketts. London: Martin Secker, 1933. First edition limited to 950 copies.
Charles De Sousy Ricketts (1866-1931) is primarily remembered as a painter, stage designer, printer, member of the Royal Academy of the Arts and Royal Fine Arts Commission, and the life-long companion of lithographer and artist Charles Haslewood Shannon. He also wrote.
From 1896-1904, Charles Ricketts was one of the men behind the curtain of the Vale Press (named for the home he and Shannon shared), designing fonts, paper, bindings, initials, borders, and illustrations all cut by himself for 83 different volumes. Described by George Bernard Shaw as “a natural aristocrat as well as a loyal and devoted artist” Ricketts owned and edited the revolutionary arts journal The Dial (1889-97) along with Shannon. A friend of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, he was one of Wilde’s two illustrators, as well as the stage designer for the 1906 run of Wilde’s play, “Salome” among many other performances. The Times of London described his costume design choices as “infallible”.
A lover of all things beautiful, Ricketts (along with Shannon) was a passionate collector of art, especially old master drawings, Japanese prints, as well as various Egyptian and Greek antiquities, the influence of which can be seen in his illustration choices for this volume. Despite his preference for the past, Unrecorded Histories is uncharacteristically modern, serving as an outlet for Rickett’s imagined scenes which act like outtakes from famous incidents in mythology and ancient history.
8vo, 1-139, 1pp, uncut. Original fawn buckram with symmetrical design by the author reproduced in rust-red on both covers. Gilt lettering on spine. Gilt edges. Six full-page illustrations by Ricketts printed in rust-red. Remains of bookplate on front endpaper. Covers lightly used and worn, slight rubbing and a few bumps to spine. Beginnings of foxing along edges of interior boards. A few pages carelessly opened, but otherwise very clean. Good condition.
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