Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish-born poet, dramatist, and novelist. During his undergraduate years at Oxford and as a disciple of Walter Pater, Wilde became the leader of an aesthetic movement that advocated art for art’s sake. He attracted a great deal of attention with his aestheticism, and by wearing long hair, dressing eccentrically, and carrying flowers in his hands while lecturing. Wilde was accused of homosexual practices, was tried and found guilty, and was sentenced to imprisonment (1895-97).
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854-1900), poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.
Some of Oscar Wilde’s best works include The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, A House of Pomegranates; The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, De Profundis, with Additional Matter, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Intentions, and The Soul of Man, The Duchess of Padua, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Salome.
A collection of fairy tales, written by Oscar Wilde, that was published as a second collection for The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1892). Included in this collection are: The Young King. The Birthday of the Infanta. The Fisherman and his Soul. The Star-Child. Typical fine printing from the Mosher Press. ‘A faithful reprint of the first English edition.’
Wilde could write English of silken delicacy, but in his choice of epithets there are frequent traces of that ‘industry’ which he denounced as the ‘root of all ugliness’. Oscar Wilde’s third comedy, ‘An Ideal Husband’ premiered at the Haymarket on 3 January 1895, before Wilde’s trial, but was not published until after his release from prison.
On his release, Wilde was physically, spiritually, and financially ruined, he went to Paris where he lived in bitterness and despair until his death. Wilde died of meningitis on 30 November 1900 and is buried in Paris.
He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for “gross indecency”, imprisonment. On his release, physically, spiritually, and financially ruined, he went to Paris where he lived in bitterness and despair until his death at the age of 46.
In reply to a critic who had denounced his poetry as “impure and immoral,” Wilde said: “A poem is well written or badly written. In art there should be no reference to a standard of good or evil. The presence of such a reference implies incompleteness of vision. The Greeks understood this principle, and with perfect serenity enjoyed works of art which, I suppose, some of my critics would never allow their families to look at. The enjoyment of poetry does not come from the subject, but from the language and rhythm. Art must be loved for its own sake, and not criticised by a standard of morality.”
OUR BOOKS ARE SORTED IN THESE CATEGORIES:
 | MASON, Stuart. Bibliography of Oscar Wilde. MASON, Stuart. Bibliography of Oscar Wilde. With a note by Robert Ross. Illustrated. First edition. Secondary binding of pink cloth lettered and decorated in black. Two-page Introductory Note by Robert Ross. Three page Preface by the compiler. Octavo. pp xxxii, 605, 1 (advert). Thirteen black and white plates – the frontispiece by Aubrey Beardsley. L3 […] €250.00 |
 | Wilde, Oscar: Sebastian Melmoth. London: Humphreys, 1904. First. Sm. Quarto. pp. [iv], 223. Bookplate on front pastedown. Bound by Hatchards of Picadilly in contemporary full brown morocco, titled in gilt. Light rubbing to cover; purple silk marker. Top edge gilt. A very good copy. In 1895 while enjoying the success of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, Wilde allowed himself […] €475.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. An Ideal Husband (Signed limited edition, exuberant early 20th-century slate-blue crushed morocco) London: Smithers, 1899. Small quarto. First edition, first impression. pp. [xiv], 213. Bound in full slate blue morocco, covers framed by gilt fillets with inlaid red morocco fan cornerpieces surrounded by twining gilt vines, raised bands, spine compartments with leafy gilt sprays; torquoise morocco doublures framed in gilt with botanical cornerpieces; turquoise watered silk endleaves; […] €29,500.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. An Ideal Husband. London: Methuen, 1910. 12mo. Fourth edition. Bound in publisher’s full green cloth covers, gilt lettering on front and spine. Top edges gilt, others deckled. Generally a fine clean copy. A crisp, attractive copy in the characteristic Methuen “uniform” style of the period. Wilde’s society comedy, first performed 1895 and first published in book form in […] €450.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. Editor. The Woman’s World. November 1887 – October 1889. [Volumes I & II]. Profusely illustrated. [WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY MRS. OSCAR WILDE & LADY WILDE] London: Cassell & Company, 1888/1889. Quarto. pp. (1) iv, 572 (2) viii, 664. Modern maroon and blue buckram, title in gilt on upper cover and spine. From the library of Amy Dawes with her decorative bookplate on front pastedowns. Mason 277-281. Wilde was appointed editor of “The Lady’s World” in June 1887. Quickly renamed “The […] €1,500.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. Essays, Criticisms and Reviews. Essays, Criticisms and Reviews. Now first collected. WILDE, Oscar. London: Privately Printed, 1901. First. Small quarto. pp. 175. Bound by Hatchards of Piccadilly in contemporary half brown morocco over pink linen boards. Spine divided into two panels by one gilt raised band, title in gilt direct in the first, gilt floral decoration in the second, […] €275.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. Lady Windermere’s Fan. A Play About a Good Woman. Paris: Pirate Edition by Leonard Smithers, 1903. Small quarto. pp. [xvi], 132. Bound by Asprey in three quarters maroon levant morocco on maroon linen boards, title in gilt direct on spine. Edition limited to 250 copies [No. 133]. All edges gilt. A fine copy. The first of Wilde’s comic plays, which were to make his […] €585.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. Salome. A Florentine Tragedy. Vera [a collected edition of three plays] (LIMITED TO 80 COPIES ONLY ON JAPANESE VELLUM) London: Methuen and Co, 1908. Octavo. First thus. pp. [viii], 262. Limp vellum with yapp edges, blocked and lettered in gilt. Vellum a little darkened. Signature of Arthur R. Proctor on front endpaper. Limited edition, one of 80 copies printed on Japanese vellum. Top edge gilt. A nice copy. Mason 424. €1,250.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. Salomé. Drama en un acte. Illustré par Aubrey Beardsley. Paris: Éditions du Colombier, 1966. Quarto. pp. 88. Pictorial boards. In very good condition. A handsome French edition of Oscar Wilde’s celebrated symbolist drama, first published in French in 1893 and widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Decadent movement. Written originally in French for the actress Sarah Bernhardt, Salomé reinterprets the biblical […] €85.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. The Ballad of Reading Gaol with an Introduction by Burton Rascoe and Lithographs by Zhenya Gay. New York: The Heritage Press, New York, [1937]. Imperial octavo. pp. xii, [2], 42, [1]. Decorative embossed sheepskin binding resembling gaol cell, lettered in gilt along spine. All edges red. A fine copy in fine slipcase. Before he fled to Paris, Oscar Wilde had spent some time in Reading Gaol not far from Oxford. There, […] €250.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. The Ballad of Reading Gaol. By C. 3. 3. [Oscar Wilde]. London: Leonard Smithers, 1898. Second edition. Large post octavo. pp. [4], 31, [1]. Deckled edges. Printed at the Chiswick, but no printers’ imprint is shown. Dutch Van Gelder paper. Quarter white linen on cinnamon colour linen boards, gilt lettering to spine. A fine copy in mylar wrapper. Extremely rare. JISC with 3 locations only. Not […] €1,250.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. The Happy Prince and Other Tales. London: Duckworth, 1930. Crown octavo. First issue in the New Reader’s Library. pp. 121. Bound by Riviere in full calf, covers framed by a border of three gilt fillets, rose tool in gilt at corners; board edges ruled in gilt; turn-ins gilt. Spine divided into six panels by five gilt raised bands, title and author […] €675.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. The Poetical Works of Oscar Wilde (Limited edition in fine binding) Including Poems in Prose with Notes, Bibliographical Introduction, Index and Facsimiles of Title-Pages. Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, 1908. First Mosher edition. Limited to 750 copies printed on Van Gelder hand-made paper. 8vo, pp. xxiv, 394, [2], with portrait frontispiece and seven leaves of plates, including facsimiles. Finely bound in full red crushed morocco, boards […] €875.00 |
 | WILDE, Oscar. The Writings of Oscar Wilde Twelve volumes. New York: Gabriel Wells, 1925. Demy octavo. Titlepages printed in blue and black, each with a pale blue profile portrait of Wilde in the centre. Half-titles and imprint pages present. Superbly bound in contemporary half red morocco, over cloth sides ruled in gilt. Spines divided into six panels by five gilt raised bands, […] €4,750.00 |
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