Wilde Oscar

1923 · ref. 360841 — Garden City New York: Doubleday Page & Company 1923. Patrons' Edition De Luxe. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Sturdy attractive tightly bound in hardcover format a particularly nice-looking set of The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde being twelve 12 volumes complete in the Patrons' Edition De Luxe edition. The author Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 and died on 30 November 1900 and turned into an important and popular author poet and playwright author of a wildly important Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray eventually also an in-demand dramatist of the first rank. He suffered a criminal conviction in 1895 "for gross indecency for homosexual acts" and suffered greatly in the Reading Gaol Wikipedia about which he wrote compellingly. The set is from the personal library of Jane Devereux Henderson as printed on the half-title surely by the publisher in an ornate brown font see below. All but the first volume feature the name "Jane Henderson Baumann" at first free endpaper in pencil in the same hand but currently of unknown provenance. Generally clean unmarked of interiors lightly toned at worst minimal rubbing to extremities faint cracking to a couple of joint bottoms noted below else attractive and sturdy. Bound simply handsomely in blue paper over boards grayish-blue cloth-backed and gilt ruling between paper and cloth both front and rear. Rubbed and lightly abraded printed paper labels to spine. Light bumping to spine heads and feet here and there all volumes with deckled fore-edges and all top-edges gilt. Volume I Poems Introduced by Richard Le Gallienne liv 2 1-350 pp.; Volume II with Introduction to "The Duchess of Padua" by Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson frontis matter 5-342 pp.; Volume III The Happy Prince and other fairy tales Introduced by W.B. Yeats xvi 2 1-261 pp. with cracking to rear joint and owner's bookplate inside front flap; Volume IV The Picture of Dorian Gray Introduction by Coulson Kernahan and a review by Walter Pater xxix 1 5-406 pp.; Volume V Intentions with an Introduction by Edgar Saltus xvii 2 7-286 pp.; Volume VI Lord Arthur Savile's Crime; the Portrait of Mr. W.H. and other stories with Introductions by Richard Butler Glaenzer and Dr. Clifford Smyth xviii 1 3-303 pp.; Volume VII Lady Windermere's Fan; A Woman of No Importance with an Introduction by A.B. Walkley xiv 4 9-331 pp.; Volume VIII The Importance of Being Earnest; An Ideal Husband with an Introduction by John Drinkwater xiv 4 5-412 pp. with slight cracking to bottom of rear joint; Volume IX Salome and other plays with an Introduction by Arthur Symons xxvi 3 1-228 pp. with cracking to rear pastedown scuffing to rear upper tip plus also a penciled note at rear final endpaper being two lines "All day long like a symmetrical line your practice-like presence like breath"; Volume X The Soul of Man Under Socialism and other Essays with an Introduction by John Cowper Powys xxi 1 1-215 pp. with slight bumping to bottom front tip light scuffing to rear bottom tip; Volume XI De Profundis; Lectures and Essays with Introduction by Michael Monahan and W.F. Morse xlvi 1 1-190 pp. with scuffing to tips abrasions to paper labels and an inked mark to front cover smudge inside rear flap; Volume XII Criticisms and Reviews with an Introduction by Padraic Colum xvii 1-500 pp. with slight staining to paper label. Jane Henderson Baumann was born Jane Devereux Henderson and was sometimes referred to as "Jennie" as a child her older brother being Daniel H. Henderson 1890-1933 and Belle G. Henderson later Belle Henderson Ferris 1894-1985 being her younger sister entry regarding the owner on the archives dot newmexicoculturalaffairs dot org web-site. The truly massive archive spanning 12000 items including transcribed and audio-recorded letters is available in Santa Fe New Mexico as presided over curated and made available by https://archives dot newmexicoculture dot org/solr-search/content/gridsearch_api_fulltext=Jane%20Henderson%20Baumann&field_ancestors=. Her husband Gustave Baumann June 27 1881 – October 8 1971 "was an American printmaker and painter and one of the leading figures of the color woodcut revival in America" and whose works were shown for decades at "the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and the New Mexico Museum of Art" Wikipedia. Baumann also gained prominence in the 1930s insofar as he was the "Area Coordinator" of the Public Works of Art Project of the Works Progress Administration Wikipedia. Jane Devereaux Henderson married him on June 25 1925; she bore a daughter Ann on July 31 1927. Ann donated the archive in 2021 and there is a major Baumann family exhibit coming up soon. Jane Devereaux Henderson/Jane Henderson Baumann was a major lover of and student regarding Native Southwest peoples arts and cultures. There is a full photographic record of her and other family members including letters and portraits and even recorded audio letters to and fro.Member I.O.B.A. C.B.A. and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes and for sets. Doubleday, Page & Company hardcover