Wilde, Oscar | Two relatively scarce pamphlets

Wilde, Oscar

Four Letters by Oscar Wilde Which Were Not Included in the English Edition of "De Profundis." [Edinburgh:] Privately Printed [by W. H. White & Co., and Published by Wright and Jones], 1906 

Two works in one volume, 12mo (170 x 115 mm). Half title, stapled blue wrappers bookending letters, original wrappers bound in; margins toned. Original blue-green wrappers bound in. [Bound with:] Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life. London: Murdoch & Co, 1898. Lightly toned. Original wrappers bound in; "Price One Penny" apparently removed from top of upper wrapper causing some discoloration. Half citron morocco and yellow cloth-covered boards, bound by Stikeman & Co., smooth spine gilt-lettered, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers; extremities rubbed, minor dampstaining near foot of spine, spine sunned with slight loss at foot, front free endpaper detached, old auction description for another lot taped to front free endpaper. 

Two scarce pamphlets by Wilde. 

Oscar Wilde was imprisoned at Reading Goal between 1895 and 1896 where he composed De Profundis. Wilde suffered while incarcerated, and a prison governor had suggested that writing might be more beneficial than hard labor. Thus, Wilde was allowed to write the letter, but not send it.

Addressed to his once-lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis touches on themes of love, loss, self-examination and meditations on religion, ultimately serving as a bitter condemnation of their relationship, which had landed Wilde in prison. These four letters, omitted from the first English edition of De Profundis, are addressed to Robert Ross, Wilde's close friend and executor. They first appeared in an unauthorized Italian edition, which had not been edited by Ross. Only 500 copies of the present pamphlet were printed, and are now relatively scarce on the market.

Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life was also written during Wilde's time at Reading Goal. First printed in the Chronicle, this work recounts the firing of a warden who gave food to an imprisoned child. This short pamphlet stands as Wilde's statement against the injustices of the carceral system.

REFERENCES:

Four Letters: Mason 592 (listed as a piracy, extracted from the Italian text of 1905); Children in Prison: Mason 26

PROVENANCE:

John B. Stetson (bookplate to front pastedown)