16. Rickett's Vellum Sphinx

London, 1894
On: Wilde's The Sphinx
Published: Vale Press, London, 1894
Designed by Charles Rickett
Harry Ransom Center, Call No: Wq C638d +903b WRE

A stiff-board imitation of the limp vellum style.

Charles Ricketts, who would go on to found the Vale Press, was very influenced by the Kelmscott style and Cobden-Sanderson's bindings, and here we see his famous vellum binding for Wilde's Sphinx with his own art nouveau tooling. This book is vellum over boards, so is not actually a limp vellum structure, but Ricketts gave it a limp vellum feel by running silk ties under the cover imitating Cobden-Sanderson's work.