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Finding Aid for the Charles Ricketts Collection 1888-1931
Ricketts Collection
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Title: Charles Ricketts Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1888-1931
Collection number: Ricketts Collection
Creator: Ricketts, Charles
S., 1866-1931
Extent:
54 items
()approximately 6 linear feet
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles.
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Los Angeles, California 90095-1490
Abstract: This collection contains visual material
created by Charles Ricketts, an English printer and artist active in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Physical location: Clark Library
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial
Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Clark Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the William Andrews
Clark Memorial Library, UCLA as the owner of the physical items and is
not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder,
which must also be obtained.
[Identification of item], Charles Ricketts Collection, Ricketts
Collection, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of
California, Los Angeles.
This collection originated in accessions MS.1961.008, MS.1963.009,
MS.1965.003, MS.1968.009, MS.1968.010, MS.1969.001. Any items without an
accession number stated in the record are from unknown sources.
Processed by Katie Duvall, October 2010
Charles de Sousy Ricketts was born on October 2, 1866 in Geneva,
Switzerland. In 1882, at the age of sixteen, he met his lifelong
partner, artist and lithographer, Charles Haslewood Shannon.
The two lived in London, where together they founded an occasional
art journal, The Dial (1889-1897) and designed and illustrated books,
including Daphnis and Chloe (1893) and Hero and Leander (1894). During
this period Ricketts also worked for commercial publishers designing
books, including an edition of Oscar Wilde's The Sphinx (1895).
In partnership with wealthy lawyer William Llewellyn Hacon, Ricketts
and Shannon ran their own imprint, called the Vale Press, from
1896-1904. The Vale Press published over eighty volumes.
After the Vale Press closed, Ricketts focused his energies on
painting, sculpture and theater design. He was also a great connoisseur
of art and, with Shannon, developed an extensive personal collection of
drawings, paintings, prints and antiquities. This connoisseurship led to
a position as the acting art adviser to the National Gallery of Canada
in Ottawa from 1924-1931.
In 1929, Shannon's brain was damaged in a fall and parts of their art
collection had to be sold to pay for Shannon's care. The financial and
emotional strain of Shannon's condition contributed to Rickett's death
on October 7, 1931 at his home in London.
This collection contains visual material created by Charles Ricketts,
an English printer and artist active in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. This collection includes artwork, costume designs and book
designs. Also included are a substantial number of trial proofs of wood
engravings created by Ricketts and Charles Haslewood Shannon for their
publication of Daphnis and Chloe.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Theater Design, 1909-1916. 7 items
- Series 2. Artwork/ Illustration, 1888-1931. 6 items
- Series 3. Book Design, 1892-1894. 5 items
- Series 4. Vale Publications, 1893. 32 items, 2 boxes
- Series 5. Miscellaneous Material Relating to Charles Ricketts. 2 items
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Vale
Press
McCarthy,
Lila Emma, 1875-1960
Shannon,
Charles Haslewood 1863-1937
Sperisen,
Albert, 1908-1999
Wilde,
Oscar, 1854-1900
Book design
Costume design
Drawings (visual
works)
Lithography
Printmaking
Woodcuts (prints)