Paul Delaney on writing the life of book designer Charles Ricketts
For years Paul Delaney was professor of English at the University of Moncton; prior to this he taught at various institutions in London, England. During his lifetime he has had an ongoing interest in Acadian genealogy, a topic upon which he continues to publish and conduct research.\xa0\xa0 \xa0 His biography of\xa0\xa0Charles de Sousy Ricketts (1866-1931), published in 1990, was the first major study of a man whose "spirited career encompassed many aspects of late Victorian and Edwardian culture," including fine press book design and production, stage design, typography, painting, sculpture, art criticism, and art collecting. Friends included W.B. Yeats, Thomas Moore, \u200bA. E. \u200bHousman, \u200bOscar Wilde and many\xa0other\xa0luminaries of the period.\xa0 \xa0 Drawing upon a wide range of material\u200b, much\xa0of it unpublished\u200b and/\u200bor\xa0newly discovered\u200b at the time\u200b, \u200b\u200bDelaney \u200b"\u200breveals a man of strong opinions and artistic convictions"\u200b \u200bwho despite a \u200bfierce opposition\xa0to\xa0Post Impressionism and \u200b\u200bModernism\u200b, was noted for his love and deep\xa0\u200bknowledge of art, as well as his \u200bwit, \u200bconviviality, generosity\xa0and \u200bartistic \u200bversatility.\u200b\u200b\u200b \u200b\u200bDelaney's biography illuminates\xa0cultural and artistic\u200b life in\xa0England\u200b during the 1890s and early decades of the\u200b 20th\u200b century\u200b, and provides a detailed portrait\xa0of one of the period's great personalities.\xa0 \xa0 \u200bRicketts, during his lifetime,\xa0established a reputation as a\u200b great\u200b\u200b\u200b art connoisseur\u200b. In 1915 \u200bhe \u200bturned down \u200ban\xa0offer \u200bto become\xa0director\u200b\xa0of the National Gallery\u200b, a decision he\xa0later regretted\u200b. He did however\xa0\u200bserve\u200b "disastrously" as adviser to the National Gallery of Canada from 1924 until his death in 1931. \u200bHe also wrote three books of art criticism, two volumes of short stories and a memoir of \u200bOscar \u200bWilde. Selections from his letters and diaries were\u200b \u200bpublished\u200b\xa0posthumously\u200b. \xa0 I met with Paul Delaney at his home in Moncton, New Brunswick, where we talked about, among other things, his nom de\xa0plume\xa0 (J. G. P. Delaney), about Ricketts of course, and his adventurous mother; about Ricketts' long time companion artist Charles Shannon; about publisher and editor Rupert Hart Davis, and about Paul's experience writing the biography of artist Glyn Philpot.\xa0