Wilde, Oscar

8vo (189 x 124mm.), author's edition, NUMBER 70 OF 220 COPIES SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, ADDITIONALLY INSCRIBED ("For the Siren | from the | Singer | [Poems] | in the heart of | some June in | some year") on the half-title, decorated title-page and endpapers designed by Charles Ricketts, original buff cloth boards with gilt lettering and elaborate pictorial designs in gilt by Ricketts, top edge gilt, collector's matching clamshell box, rebacked with some slight restoration to spine, binding somewhat spotted

Margot Asquith, née Tennant, authorial inscription; thence by descent to Colin Christopher Paget Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner (1926--2010)

Mason 309

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.
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INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPIES OF THE 1892 POEMS ARE RARE AT AUCTION.

The provenance of this copy (it comes from the library of the late Lord Glenconner, who died on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia in 2011) strongly suggests that the recipient of Wilde's inscription here was the political hostess and diarist Margot Asquith, née Tennant, countess of Oxford and Asquith (1864--1945), who was married to H.H. Asquith (Prime Minister 1908-16) from 1904 to 1928. Margot and Wilde met frequently in the early 1890s -- he visited the Tennant estate in Scotland on more than one occasion -- and Wilde dedicated his story "The Star Child" (published in The House of Pomegranates, 1891) to her. Margot had a reputation as a considerable wit herself, and there may have been some jealousy in the ultimately dismissive way she spoke of Wilde in her memoirs; such hostility may also have been mediated by the fact that her husband Herbert Asquith signed Wilde's own arrest warrant in 1895. Margot was a great diarist, and her journals were mined heavily for her popular Autobiography which appeared in two volumes between 1920 and 1922. Her memoirs have been acclaimed for their freshness and vigour, and are an important record of someone close to the centre of power at a time of significant political change and crisis for the country. It has, however, been noted that her promise of "absolute fidelity" has to be treated with caution (Eleanor Brock, Oxford DNB).