WILDE, OscarBiblio.com
1899réf. 159879London: Leonard Smithers and Co 1899. Wilde's favourite play with an appealing association First edition one of 1000 copies printed presented in the year of publication from Lady Lewis the wife of Wilde's solicitor to their mutual friend the actress Elizabeth Robins. Lewis has inscribed the front free endpaper: "With love from Beth. Lewis. Aug. 6th 99 Vulpera"; Robins's ownership inscription is on the half-title: "Elizabeth Robins from Lady Lewis Waldhaus Tarasp Switzerland". Waldhaus Vulpera was a popular Grand Hotel in the Swiss Alps. Elizabeth Lewis née Eberstadt was the second wife of Wilde's long-time friend and legal adviser Sir George Lewis 1833-1911. A discreet and astute solicitor he advised Wilde on various occasions and on his request represented Lord Alfred Douglas in 1983 to recover an incriminating letter from a blackmailer. Richard Ellman Wilde's biographer mentions a series of letters sent by Wilde to her during his lecture tour of North America in which he boasted about his various successes. The American actress and feminist Elizabeth Robins 1862-1952 is best known for her play Votes for Women! which is credited with inaugurating suffrage drama. Wilde met her for the first time at a reception at Lady Seton's House in 1888 and subsequently used his influence to help her gain success on the London stage. He gave her feedback on her performances throughout her career. Oscar Wilde's third comedy An Ideal Husband premiered at the Haymarket on 3 January 1895 preceding his sensational trial but was not published until after his release from prison. In a letter to his publisher Leonard Smithers Wilde wrote that "I really think it reads the best of my plays" cited in Nelson p. 392. Quarto. Original pink cloth flat spine lettered in gilt leaf motifs to spine and covers designed by Charles Shannon edges untrimmed. Spine and head of rear cover sunned cloth otherwise bright spine ends and tips slightly rubbed and bumped tiny mark to front cover offsetting to endpapers a few spots of foxing to half-title otherwise generally clean. A very good fresh copy. Mason p. 433; James G. Nelson Publisher to the Decadents: Leonard Smithers in the Careers of Beardsley Wilde Dowson 2000. hardcover
1902réf. 011812: Published Privately Printed. 1902. Limited Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Published Privately Printed. 1902 B00K: Very G00D/G00D/ . B00K: Very G00D/G00D/ $239O.O3 Reduced from. VERA or the NIHILISTS. A Drama in a Prologue and four acts. WILDE 0scar 19O2 How first Published Privately Printed. Of this works 200 copies only have been printed for private circulation. This is No. 120 Written In Pencil. H/c Brown Top And Balance Of Tan Spine With Title And Design In Polished Gold Letters Hard Cover B00K: Very G00D/G00D/ Slight Shelf Edge And Corner Wear. Staining On Front Cover. 75 Numbered Pages Printed On Tan Paper Browning And Spotting From Aging In Very Good/Fine/ Condition Clean And Tight To The Spine Slight Wear. The Exterior Covering Of The Boards Are Not Decorated. D/j: None. = Description Applies To This B00K Only Which Is A Historically Significant Treasure From The Past Hard To Find Will Be Packaged And Shipped = Carefully To Avoid Shipping Damage And Will Make It An Excellent Addition To Your Own Personal Library Collection Or As A Gift For The Discriminating Reader / Collector/. = WORLD WIDE SHIPPING AVAILABLE. Published Privately Printed. hardcover
1903réf. 015556: Leonard Smithers 1903. Limited Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Leonard Smithers. B00K: Very G00D/ 1903 . B00K: Very G00D/ $99O.O3 An IDEAL HUSBAND by the Author of LADY WINDERMERE`s FAN. WILDE 0scar Leonard Smithers 19O3 One Thousand Copies Of This Edition Have Been Printed. H/c Brown Top And Balance Of Tan Spine With Title And Design In Polished Gold Letters Hard Cover B00K: Very G00D/ Slight Shelf Edge And Corner Wear. 132 Numbered Pages Printed On Tan Paper Browning And Spotting From Aging In Very Good/ Condition Clean And Tight To The Spine Slight Wear. The Exterior Covering Of The Boards Are Not Decorated. D/j: None. = Description Applies To This B00K Only Which Is A Historically Significant Treasure From The Past Hard To Find Will Be Packaged And Shipped = Carefully To Avoid Shipping Damage And Will Make It An Excellent Addition To Your Own Personal Library Collection Or As A Gift For The Discriminating Reader / Collector/. = WORLD WIDE SHIPPING AVAILABLE. Leonard Smithers hardcover
1894réf. wld44London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane. G : in good condition. Rebacked. Cover rubbed. Page edges browning. Hinge at title cracked. 1894. Limited Edition 500. Blue hardback cloth cover. 220mm x 160mm 9" x 6". 67pp 15pp plates. 10 plates by Aubrey Beardsley. . Elkin Mathews & John Lane hardcover
1903réf. 019041: No Publisher Shown 1903. Limited Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Limited edition #72 of 25O copies. . B00K: Very G00D/G00D/ $126O.O3 LADY WINDERMERE's FAN. A Play about a Good Woman. WILDE 0scar No Publisher Shown. Paris 19O3 Limited edition #72 of 25O copies. H/c Brown Top And Balance Of Tan Spine With Title And Design In Polished Gold Letters Hard Cover B0K: Very Good/Good/ Slight Shelf Edge And Corner Wear. 132 Numbered Pages Printed On Tan Paper Browning And Spotting From Aging In Very Good/ Condition Clean And Tight To The Spine Slight Wear. The Exterior Covering Of The Boards Are Not Decorated. D/j: None. Description Applies To This B0K Only. This B0k Is Hard To Find Will Be Packaged And Shipped Carefully To Avoid Shipping Damage And Will Make It An Excellent Addition To Your Own Personal Library Collection Or As A Gift For The Collector / Reader. = WORLD WIDE SHIPPING AVAILABLE. No Publisher Shown hardcover
1891réf. 377597London: James R. Osgood McIlvaine 1891. First edition limited to 1000 copies. Designs and decorations by C. Ricketts & Ch. Shannon. 1 vols. Large 8vo. Publisher's original pictorial binding elaborately printed and stamped in gilt with additional gilt stamping to spine; slightly cocked; lightly tanned along margins; minor shelf wear with bumping to head and tail of spine and slight bubbling to upper right corner; fore and bottom edges uncut; decorative endpapers; first free endpaper detached but present with bookplate of Walter Chrysler on verso; several pages at front unopened; hinge cracked at several sections. First edition limited to 1000 copies. Designs and decorations by C. Ricketts & Ch. Shannon. 1 vols. Large 8vo. The sequel to Wilde's previous book of fairy tales this collection comprises "The Young King" "The Birthday of the Infanta" "The Fisherman and his Soul" and "The Star-Child" and was dedicated to his wife Constance. Intricately bound and limited to just 1000 copies this copy previously belonged to the American automobile magnate Walter Chrysler with his gilt bookplate at front. A lovely copy of a fragile edition. Mason 347 James R. Osgood McIlvaine unknown
réf. 06514London: Leonard Smithers and Co. 1899. A Play of Conscience and Corruption - Wilde at His Brilliant Peak" First Edition Limited Issue - From the Library of Esher Place WILDE Oscar. An Ideal Husband. By the Author of Lady Windermere's Fan. London: Leonard Smithers and Co. 1899. First edition limited to 1000 copies. Small quarto 8 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches; 210 x 155 mm. xvi 213 1 pp. Publisher's mauve cloth covers elaborately decorated in gilt spine decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt top edge trimmed others uncut. With the printed Esher Place Library location label dated 1897 on the front paste-down denoting its place within a late Victorian country house library system. Housed in a red cloth chemise within a full maroon calf slipcase spine with five raised bands ruled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Endpapers and half-title with the lightest amount of foxing otherwise a spectacular example the binding fresh and unfaded. One of Wilde's four great society comedies An Ideal Husband premiered in 1895 at the Haymarket Theatre and stands among his most sophisticated explorations of public virtue and private compromise. Written at the height of his fame - and on the eve of his dramatic fall - the play offers a sharply observed critique of political morality reputation and the currency of secrets in late Victorian society. The 1899 Smithers edition issued in a limitation of 1000 copies following Wilde's imprisonment represents the first appearance of the play in book form and remains the preferred edition for collectors. London: Leonard Smithers and Co., 1899 unknown
1899réf. 1411385London: Leonard Smithers and Co 1899. First Trade Edition Limited #208/1000. Hardcover. Octavo 151 pages. In Good plus condition. Bound in publisher's pale purple cloth with gilt leaves to boards gilt lettering to spine. Fading to spine and boards. Some general shelfwear. Chipping to head and tail of spine. Bumping to corners and extremities. Spine cocked. Front pastedown with glue stains from a removed bookplate. Front free endpaper with bookplate. Shelved showcase. 'The Importance of Being Earnest' was a success on stage when it opened in 1895 but closed after 86 performances due to Wilde's arrest. It is generaly considered one of his best works. This Trade edition was published in 1899 after he was released from Reading Gaol and residing in France. He died the following year. 1411385. Shelved Dupont Bookstore. Leonard Smithers and Co hardcover
réf. 06519London: John Lane. 1894. A Woman of No Importance - Wilde Before the Fall" First Edition One of 500 Copies - The Slocum Copy WILDE Oscar. A Woman of No Importance. London: John Lane 1894. First edition. One of 500 copies. Small quarto 8 1/4 x 5 7/8 inches; 210 x 150 mm. 16 134 1 1 blank 16 publisher's catalogue dated March 1894 pp. Publisher's light red-brown linen over boards covers decoratively stamped in gilt spine decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt the design by Charles Shannon. All edges uncut. Light rubbing to extremities; front inner hinge cracked but holding. Otherwise an excellent entirely unrestored example. The first edition of Wilde's third society comedy published in the same year as Salomé and on the eve of the triumph of An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. The play explores themes of social hypocrisy gender inequality and moral duplicity - subjects that Wilde would refine and perfect in his later dramatic masterpieces. Issued in a limitation of 500 copies by John Lane at The Bodley Head the edition shares the elegant typographic and binding aesthetic of Wilde's 1890s publications with the characteristic gilt design by Charles Shannon. Complete with the publisher's catalogue dated March 1894 as called for. Provenance: The Myles Standish Slocum copy with his pencil note on the front paste-down. Myles Standish Slocum 1887-1956 was a noted American collector of first and rare editions remembered both for the quality of his library and for his encouragement of book collecting through the annual Scripps College prize bearing his name. London: John Lane., 1894 unknown
réf. 108851London Osgood and McIlvaine 1891. . First edition limited to 1000 copies; 4to; 4 plates and cover design by C. Ricketts and C.H. Shannon illustrations in the text; publisher's pictorial cloth gilt spine ends rubbed lower board with some rubbing and spotting upper faded at extremities with a single small ink spot 5 x 2mm towards outer edge. A sequel to Wilde's previous collection of fairy tales The Happy Prince and Other Tales which he wrote for his two sons. This collection is dedicated to his wife Constance. Mason 347. London, Osgood and McIlvaine, 1891. hardcover
1894réf. 149906London: John Lane at the Sign of the Bodley Head 1894. Attractively bound First edition trade issue one of 500 copies printed; a further 50 copies were also issued on handmade paper. An attractively bound copy with the bookplate to the rear pastedown of the eccentric sportsman and artist William Eden 1849-1915 father of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden and who like Wilde had a dispute with the artist James McNeill Whistler. Eden excelled at a range of sports from boxing and horse riding to shooting "the epitome of the sporting squire" ODNB a member of several clubs and well known in London society. So too was he a keen amateur artist and aesthete building a fine collection of paintings and was a member of the aristocratic group The Souls. The contrast between the sportsman and the aesthete has been noted: "There was little that was harmonious in his nature and the aesthetic side warred with and exacerbated rather than complemented his athleticism making him a bored sportsman and a militant aesthete. As he grew older the world's failure to correspond to his ideals drove him to furious rages and the debased taste of humanity confirmed his atheism - for how could a God have made such a botch of things" ibid. His dispute with Whistler was occasioned when Eden commissioned a portrait of his wife which Whistler executed but then kept the cheque without handing over the painting leading to a legal case which resulted in Whistler's book The Baronet and the Butterfly 1899. Wilde too had a lengthy rivalry with Whistler out of the courts but with very public sparring. Small quarto 204 x 148 mm. Early 20th-century pink straight-grain morocco for Hatchards of Piccadilly spine lettered in gilt pink cloth sides marbled endpapers top edge gilt pink silk page marker. Bound without initial blank. A few pencilled lines in margins. Spine lightly sunned very light rubbing at extremities slight split in hinge preceding dedication leaf contents clean; an excellent copy. Mason 364. hardcover
1904réf. 170766Moscow: Knigoizdatel'stvo Skorpion 1904. Each man kills the thing he loves First Russian edition first printing of this translation by Konstantin Bal'mont 1867-1942 one of the most significant Symbolists of Russia's "Silver Age" of poetry with the original illustrated wrappers by Modest Durnov 1867-1928. Bal'mont grew up on his family estate to the north-east of Moscow and demonstrated a flair for writing and languages from childhood. His 1901 collection of poems Burning Buildings Goryashchie zdaniya made him into a leading figure in the Russian Symbolist movement. He also translated Walt Whitman into Russian. Durnov is perhaps best known as an architect. His unrealised designs for Moscow's Aumont Omon Theatre included styling the entrance as the open maw of a dragon into which the public would pass. He appears to have met Wilde on a trip to London and the latter became his favourite author. In addition to executing the portrait which graces the wrappers Durnov also illustrated the 1906 Russian edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Sergei Polyakov established Skorpion in 1899 and it quickly became a unifying force in Russian Symbolism publishing poets such as Gumilev and Belyi. It also focused on publishing translations including the work of Ibsen and Poe. Bal'mont and Durnov were both heavily involved in the house from the time of its conception. Octavo 184 x 120 mm. With 6 pages of publisher's advertisements. Uncut in the original illustrated wrappers by Modest Durnov. Bookseller's stamp and inscription to rear wrapper. Some soiling to the wrappers tears to spine some spotting and light toning to the leaves. A very good copy considering its fragility. Roznatovskaia 260. unknown
1895réf. 015568: Samuel FRENCH 1895. Hardcover. Good. B00K: Good/Fair/ 1895 . B00K: Good/Fair/ $3670.15 Reduced from. the IMPORTANCE of BEING EARNEST. a Trivial Comedy for Serious People. WILDE Oscar Samuel FRENCH 1895 First Date Played At St. James's Theatre UnStated Edition Small H/c Sun Browning On A Green Cloth Spine With No Title Small Sized Hard Cover B00K: Good/Fair/ Shelf Edge And Corner Wear. 52 Numbered Pages Browning From Aging In Delicate Condition. Spine Separating In Front And Towards Rear. Still Attached. Some Notations Throughout. Title Appears To Be Hand Written On Front Cover In Black Ink. D/j: None. No Odors No Writing No Names No Stains No Book Plate Not X~Library. = Description Applies To This B00K Only Which Is A Historically Significant Treasure From The Past Hard To Find Will Be Packaged And Shipped = Carefully To Avoid Shipping Damage And Will Make It An Excellent Addition To Your Own Personal Library Collection Or As A Gift For The Discriminating Reader / Collector/. WORLD WIDE SHIPPING AVAILABLE. Samuel FRENCH hardcover
1898réf. 59504New York:: Brentano's 1898. First US edition first printing. publisher's olive cloth decorated in colors; preserved in a custom quarter morocco folding box. . Cloth lightly rubbed at edges joints and corners; 1899 private library book label on pastedown; but an attractive tight and sound copy. . 12mo. Horodisch pp. 72-75. Brentano's, hardcover
1895réf. 2221665First edition. 8 1/2" x 6 1/2". Original brown wrappers stamped in red lower right corner of upper cover replaced uncut and mostly unopened. Very good. 98 pages. No signatures or bookplates. Enclosed in a plum half morocco slipcase. Printed by The Chiswick Press. Mason 367 - only 50 copies were printed. Privately Printed paperback
1888réf. 0107840 First trade edition/First printing published by David Nutt London 1888. Tight binding. Print run of 1000 copies Frontispiece with tissue guard and 2 other plates by Walter Crane. No marks or inscriptions. Owner's bookplate to front pastedown. Foxing to endpages and occasional throughout. Stiff card covers have tanning and some marking. Protected in archive cover. David Nutt hardcover
1898réf. 1262071898. First Edition. WILDE Oscar. The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. London: Leonard Smithers 1898. Slim octavo original half cream cloth with cinnamon cloth boards uncut. $3600.First edition one of only 800 copies printed on handmade paper.Inspired by his prison experience and comprised in part by a plea for penal reform The Ballad of Reading Gaol was the last work Wilde completed before his death in 1900. ""In his comedies the miscreants were always pardoned but in the Ballad while ultimately forgiven they are treated vindictively by their fellows who are equally guiltyÉ There is no doubt that Wilde had once again touched a great subject and left his fingerprints on itÉ once read it is never forgotten"" Ellmann 532-34. Mason 371. A few pinholes to two preliminary leaves interior otherwise fine. One tiny inkspot to front cover spine slightly toned. A handsome extremely good copy of this scarce first edition. hardcover
réf. 116514London Cyril William Beaumont at the Beaumont Press 1921 & 1922. . Limited editions each number 10 of 75 copies on Japanese Vellum signed by the illustrator and printer from total editions of 475; 2 vols 8vo 235 x 160 mm; woodcut illustrations and decorations by Ethelbert White; original vellum-backed patterned boards gilt lettering to spines slight browning to head of covers else very good. An attractive set collecting together a series of letters from Wilde to Robert Ross. Each one of 75 copies on Japanese vellum signed by the illustrator and printer. London, Cyril William Beaumont at the Beaumont Press, 1921 & 1922. hardcover
1899réf. 182530London: Leonard Smithers and Co. 1899. I really think it reads the best of my plays First edition trade issue one of 1000 copies. Wilde's political comedy premiered at the Haymarket on 3 January 1895 and ran until 6 April. His arrest the day before the production closed precipitated his "utter social destruction" ODNB and the play was not published in book form until two years after his release from prison. An Ideal Husband led George Bernard Shaw to hail Wilde as "our only thorough playwright. He plays with everything: with wit with philosophy with drama with actors and audience with the whole theatre" Saturday Review 12 January 1895. Wilde himself wrote to the publisher stating that "I really think it reads the best of my plays" cited in Nelson p. 392. The edition also included 100 signed copies on large paper and 12 on Japanese vellum reserved for presentation. Small quarto. Original pink linen with gilt floral motifs after designs by Charles Shannon spine lettered in gilt fore and bottom edges uncut. Bookplate of the collector and Steinbeck bibliographer Adrian Homer Goldstone 1897-1977. Spine cocked and sunned extremities bumped occasional patches of rubbing contents foxed. A very good copy. Mason 385. James G. Nelson Publisher to the Decadents: Leonard Smithers in the Careers of Beardsley Wilde Dowson 2000. hardcover
1898réf. 183485London: Leonard Smithers 1898. For he who lives more lives than one more deaths than one must die First edition one of 800 unnumbered copies printed on handmade paper; a further 30 copies on japon were published simultaneously. The first edition sold out rapidly and a second edition was issued within weeks. Octavo. Original white quarter cloth spine lettered in gilt light brown cloth sides edges untrimmed leaves mostly unopened. Housed in a custom yellow cloth chemise and quarter calf with yellow cloth slipcase. Spine lightly toned a little soiling and bubbling to covers browning to endpapers. A very good copy. Mason 371. hardcover
1898réf. 180349London: Leonard Smithers 1898. Unusual in a fine contemporary binding First edition one of 800 copies printed on handmade paper. This copy is beautifully presented and includes the well-preserved wrappers at the rear. At the insistence of his publishers Wilde employed a pseudonym for fear of the negative effect his name would have on the poem's sales. "C.3.3." derives from Wilde's cell in Reading Gaol - the third cell on the third landing of Gallery C. The first edition of which another 30 copies on japon were also issued sold out rapidly. A second edition was printed within weeks. Octavo 220 x 135 mm. Contemporary brown crushed morocco by Rivière spine lettered in gilt with raised bands compartments tooled with floral design French fillet to boards gilt inner dentelles dark green coated endpapers top edge gilt fore and bottom edges uncut original wrappers bound in. Label sometime removed from front pastedown rear blanks lightly toned from wrappers. A fine copy. Mason 371. hardcover
1899réf. 355490724400London 1899. First Edition. Hard Cover. London: Leonard Smithers 1899. First Edition. First Printing. This is the first impression which was limited to 1000 copies this being # 33. Publisher's original pale salmon binding with gilt leaf stamping to panels. 152 pages. This copy is about VG with the usual slight fading to the gilt leaf. Boards clean and tidy with no noteworthy issues. There is a book-plate to the front paste-down of "Richard Buckle". No previous owner inscriptions. The spine has been sympathetically and skilfully re-backed in brown morocco with the title and author in gilt with leaf stamps blind-stamped in three places. The interior of the book is clean tidy and tightly bound with minor foxing to several pages. Photographs/scans available upon request. hardcover
réf. 75101Boson MA and New York NY: The C.T. Brainard Publishing Co. 1909. Literature LEATHER-BOUND ILLUSTRATED SET Edition De Luxe. Complete in 15 volumes. Octavo 20 x 13 x 56cm. Each volume with between three and seven black and white illustrated plates including a frontispiece by various illustrators. An out-of-series copy from an edition of 1000 numbered copies. Recently bound in blue half morocco with raised bands gilt titles to twin red labels and matching cloth over boards. Top edges gilt and others lightly trimmed. A crisp clean set in an attractive new leather binding. Boson, MA, and New York, NY: The C.T. Brainard Publishing Co., 1909 unknown
1899réf. 71614London: Leonard Smithers and Co. 1899. First edition. One of 1000 copies; not numbered as usually seen. This copy in the scarce VARIANT BINDING recorded only as with "some copies" having been bound as such Mason & Millard 381 note to. 8vo gilt-stamped mauve cloth stamped in gilt; 152 pages. Good with cloth at spine toned to light brown spine lettering dulled scant eighth-inch loss from head of spine; glass ring to front board and rear board showing fading and discoloration but contents altogether unmarked and fine. Uncommon in this style binding with the leaf decorations on front cover and spine slightly larger more delicate and ornamented with a vine-like design. Leonard Smithers and Co. unknown
1905réf. 64534Paris: S. n. Charles Carrington 1905. Fine. S. n. Charles Carrington Paris 1905 14.50 x 22.50 cm relié Poems in Prose No publisher Charles Carrington Paris 1905 14.5 x 22.5 cm contemporary full morocco First edition one of 50 numbered copies on Japon paper the only grands papiers deluxe copies. Burgundy morocco binding spine in five compartments set with black fillets gilt heraldic eagle at the bottom heraldic coat of arms stamped in the centre of the boards endpapers with geometric motifs bordered with a burgundy morocco strip on the inner covers gilt top edge contemporary binding signed by Creuzevault. Some small foxing on the endpapers and some very fine tears in the margin of the final endpapers. Beautiful copy nicely bound. S. n.[ Charles Carrington] hardcover
