A collaboration between the writer, Oscar Wilde, and the artist, Charles Ricketts, produced one of the most beautiful volumes in our Rare Book Room collection, The Sphinx, published in 1894.
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, the son of a surgeon and a poet. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford, his literary career began with poetry he published as an undergraduate. During that time he also developed the dress and mannerisms which were to be associated with him for his entire life…that of a highly affected dandy…which were to be often caricatured. Originally a poet, he became more famous for his fairy tales (The Happy Prince and other Tales), his dramatic works (A Woman of Substance, Lady Windemere’s Fan, and The Importance of Being Ernest), and his only novel, (The Picture of Dorian Gray). His poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol was published in 1898, written after his incarceration in Reading Gaol on criminal offenses. Wilde’s works are known for their literary merit, but much of Wilde’s reputation also relates to his colorful life.
One of Wilde’s friends and collaborators was Charles Ricketts, a British painter, designer, sculptor, writer on art, and an important figure in the Vale Press, one of the finest private presses of the late 19th century. In 1894, their collaboration resulted in the publication of The Sphinx, a remarkable combination of text and design. The poem was written by Wilde, and designed and illustrated by Ricketts. It was published in a limited edition of 200 copies for England, on expensive hand-made paper, and bound in white vellum stamped in gold leaf. The text was printed entirely in capitals in red, brown, and green.
Illustrations used elements from the Celtic (in the first initials), from the Japanese (in the use of undecorated spaces), and of ancient Greek (in the figure drawing). Wilde intended for the book to be a special possession for a few, not for the general public, and was reported to have said “My first idea was to print only three copies; one for myself, one for the British Museum, and one for Heaven. I had some doubt about the British Museum.”
Thanks to Dr. H.M. Marvin, Davidson class of 1914, our Rare Book Room has one of those 200 special and beautiful copies.
The Sphinx / Oscar Wilde. With decorations by Charles Ricketts. London: E. Matthews and J. Lane, 1894. First Edition. One of 200 copies for Great Britain, printed on hand-made paper. Bound in white, gilt-stamped vellum with Ricketts’ monogram in the lower left-hand corners.