A binding by Charles Ricketts for John Addington Symonds's 'In the Key of Blue’

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Cloth binding for John Addington Symonds's 'In the Key of Blue’

Charles Ricketts

1893

Cloth binding with gilt overlays

7½ x 5½ inches

[See commentary below, and click on image to enlarge it.]

Photograph and text by Simon Cooke

Reproduced by kind permission of an anonymous collector [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]

This elaborate design, made up of bluebell stems and flowers, typifies the artist's capacity to combine a dynamic composition with decorative effects. The book was published in a number of colours; the worn example shown here is in blue, to match the title, but Ricketts insisted on the use of other colours when he found the book was disparaged as an up-market version of 'Ricketts's blue', a joke linking the publication to 'Reckitt's Blue' - a detergent used to whiten sheets. Symonds's book, a collection of essays reviewing attitudes to homosexuality, was controversial in itself and Ricketts's sophisticated casing was an integral part of a gay aesthetic, projecting a notion of sensitivity and the pursuit of beauty; others, predictably, saw it as unmanly.

Bibliography

Symonds, J.A. In the Key of Blue. London: Elkin Matthews & John Lane, 1893.

Created 18 August 2018