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29 Michael Field
The World at Auction
London: Ballantyne Press, 1898. Stk. PR 4699
F5W6.
Charles Ricketts (1866-1931) was founder of the Vale Press and designer
of numerous books, including Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray (1891)
and John Gray’s Silverpoints (1893). Because of Council regulations
that prevented the establishment of a workshop in a residential
area, Ricketts turned to the resources of Ballantyne Press to produce
his books. Although strictly a commercial operation, a hand press
and pressman were reserved exclusively for his own use. This production,
one of 200 copies, was written by Katherine Bradley (1846-1914)
and Edith Cooper (1862-1913), writers collaborating under the name
of ‘Michael Field’. In 1899, a fire at the Press destroyed
all of Ricketts’s engraved work and blocks. |