Wilde Oscar

1913 · Best.-Nr. 1005J3 — London: Simpkin Marshall Hamilton Kent & Co. 1913. First edition. Cloth. Very Good Indeed/Fair. 9" by 6". Not Stated. A scarce first edition dramatisation of Oscar Wilde's seminal novel The Picture of Dorian Gray adapted for the stage by Grace Constant Lounsbery with a Rex Whistler bookplate. An excellent first edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray A Play in Three Acts by Grace Constant Lounsbery published in 1913 by Simpkin Marshall Hamilton and Kent and printed at the Ballantyne Press.Bound in the publisher's original cloth binding with gilt illustrations. Scarce with the original dust wrapper. Lounsbery was an American author poet and playwright. Prolific among the early twentieth-century Parisian literary circle Gertrude Stein once wrote of having a romantic relationship with Lounsbery. She often hosted events at her Parisian salon some of which Stein Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound are known to have attended.Her dramatisation of Wilde's novel completments her rebellious corpus of work including her radical politically-charged poem Satan Unbound. This copy with an exquisite bookplate to the front paste down designed by Rex Whistler. A fantastic gothic scene incorporating elements of classical and biblical mythology. Includes his monogram RJW to the lower right corner dated 1925.The bookplate is that of Whistler's associate Ronald Fuller of Merton College Oxford with his inscrption to the front free dated May 18th 1924. Ronald Fuller went on to co-author The Work of Rex Whistler with Whistler's brother Laurence in 1960.An additional previous bookseller's stamp to the front pastedown. Embossed crest to the front free 'sic jovat perilsse'. Bound in original publisher's cream cloth binding with scarce original dust wrapper. Externally very smart. Fading and marks to boards. Light bumping to extremities noticeable at lower front corner. Dust wrapper fragile missing the spine with front cover and fly leaf detached. Heavy chipping resulting in loss of paper and notable sunning to wrap. Bookplate of Ronald Fuller by Rex Whistler and bookseller stamp to front paste down. Inscription of Fuller and embossed stamp to front free. Internally firmly bound. Pages bright and clean. Scattered spotting to end papers. Very Good Indeed Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. hardcover