Anon.

8vo, first edition, no. 34 of 200 copies, 2 volumes in one, half-titles, head-pieces, contemporary or near contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards, some minor spots and stains, upper joint slightly split, some edge wear to binding

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The rare first edition of this classic erotic novel, one of the earliest pieces of explicit homosexual pornography in English.

Famously attributed to Oscar Wilde by the French bookseller Charles-Henri Hirsch (who ran the Librarie Parisienne in London) Teleny, which lushly depicts the passionate but doomed love affair between a young Frenchman and an Hungarian pianist (René Teleny),  is now thought to have been a collaborative effort between a number of authors. The manuscript found its way to Leonard Smithers by 1893, who together with his partner Harry Sydney Nichols was part of a group of Victorian publishers producing and promoting literary erotica and pornography in London and Paris. Smithers and Nichols had moved their business from Sheffield to London in the late 1880s, establishing their bookshop at 174 Wardour Street and a printing business nearby at 10 Dean Street, Soho. Unhappy with Nichols' penchant for hard-core pornography Smithers severed his connections with his partner at the end of 1894, and went on to become, on his own, one of the most extraordinary publishers of the 1890s, embodying the fin-de-siècle aesthetic in the works of Aubrey Beardsley, Oscar Wilde and others. Later editions of Teleny include a 1966 paperback version by Icon Books (expurgated, owing to the laws then surrounding obscene publications), a 1986 edition by Gay Men's Press in their series Gay Modern Classics, and a 1995 Wordsworth edition in their series Wordsworth Classic Erotica.