'The Sphinx,' a poem by Oscar Wilde, 'built, decorated and bound' by
Mr. Ricketts--but without woodcuts--was published in 1894, just after
'Hero and Leander,' and designs for a magnificent edition of 'The
King's Quhair' were begun. Some of these are in 'The Dial,' as are also
designs for William Adlington's translation of 'Cupide and Psyches' in
'The Pageant,' 'The Dial,' and 'The Magazine of Art.' The edition of
the work published by the new Vale Press in 1897, is not that projected
at this time. It contains roundel designs in place of the square
designs first intended. These roundels are, I think, the finest
achievement of Mr. Ricketts as an original wood-engraver. The engraving
reproduced shows of what quality are both line and form, how successful
is the placing of the figure within the circle. On the page they are
what the artist would have them be. With the beginning of the sequence
of later Vale Press books--books printed from founts designed by Mr.
Ricketts--a consecutive account is impossible, but the frontispiece to
the 'Milton' and the borders and initials designed by Mr. Ricketts,
must be mentioned. As a designer of book-covers only one failure is set
down to Mr. Ricketts, and that was ten years ago, in the cover to 'The
House of Pomegranates.'
Mr. Reginald Savage's illustrations to some tales from Wagner lack the
force of designs in 'The Pageant,' and of woodcuts in Essex House
publications. Of M. Lucien Pissarro, in an article overcrowded with
English illustrators, I cannot speak. His fame is in France as the
forerunner of his art, and we in England know his coloured
wood-engravings, his designs for 'The Book of Ruth and Esther' and for
'The Queen of the Fishes,' printed at his press at Epping, but included
among Vale Press books.
[Illustration: FROM MR. STURGE MOORE'S 'THE CENTAUR.'