Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish poet, playwright and wit, author of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, whose prosecution for gross indecency in 1895 ended his career.

He was born Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde at 21 Westland Row, Dublin, on 16 October 1854. He read classics at Trinity College Dublin and Greats at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1878 with a double first. His fairy-story collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales appeared in 1888. The Picture of Dorian Gray was first printed in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine and then revised and expanded for book publication in 1891. His stage comedies began with Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and culminated in An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest (both 1895). Salomé, written in French, was published in 1893, and an English version translated by Lord Alfred Douglas and illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley followed in 1894.

In 1895 his failed libel action against the Marquess of Queensberry led to his own prosecution, and he served two years' hard labour, partly in Reading Gaol. After his release he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) in France and Italy. He died in Paris on 30 November 1900 and is buried at Père Lachaise. De Profundis, his prison letter, was published in abridged form in 1905 and in full in 1962.

For collectors. The Happy Prince was published by David Nutt on 1 May 1888 with illustrations by Walter Crane and Jacomb Hood. The first book edition of Dorian Gray was issued by Ward, Lock and Co. in April 1891, with the title page lettered by Charles Ricketts; a signed large-paper issue was limited to 250 copies, and Bonhams sold copy 189 for £8,750 in 2015. The Ballad of Reading Gaol was published by Leonard Smithers in February 1898 under the prisoner's designation "C.3.3."; the first printing was 800 copies plus 30 on Japanese vellum.