Morris, William

small 4to (195 by 160mm.), FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 250 COPIES, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED PRIOR TO PUBLICATION DATE BY THE AUTHOR TO OSCAR WILDE ("to Oscar Wilde | from | William Morris | Nov: 27th 1889") on preliminary blank, original Morris and Co. chintz cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, collector's green morocco-backed folding box, largely unopened, minor tears to lower hinge, minor red ink soiling to lower cover, spine very slightly soiled

Oscar Wilde (his sale, 24 April 1895), lot 13 [part]

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where 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."

A WONDERFUL ASSOCIATION COPY LINKING TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FIGURES IN LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART AND LITERATURE.

It appears that Wilde wrote to Morris upon receiving this volume:

"The book has arrived! And I must write you a line to tell you how gratified I am at your sending it. How proud indeed so beautiful a gift makes me. I weep over the cover which is not nearly lovely enough, not nearly rich enough in material, for such prose as you write. But the book itself, if it is to have suitable raiment, would need damask sewn with pearls and starred with gold. I have always felt that your work comes from the sheer delight of making beautiful things: that no alien motive ever interests you: that in its singleness of aim, as well as in its perfection of result, it is pure art, everything that you do. But I know you hate the blowing of trumpets. I have loved your work since boyhood: I shall always love it. That, with my thanks, is all I have to say..."

(see ed. Holland and Hart-Davis, The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde (2000), p.476)

It appears, however, with many unopened gatherings present in this copy, that Wilde failed to read the book, or at least not this copy. Nevertheless, within De Profundis, Wilde would lament the loss of his possessions in the 1895 bankruptcy auction, including "my Library with its collection of presentation volumes from almost every poet of my time, from Hugo to Whitman, from Swinburne to Mallarmé, from Morris to Verlaine..." This present volume was part of lot 13 in that sale.

Morris and Wilde probably first met in 1881. Morris wrote to his wife on 31 March that "...I must admit that as the devil is painted blacker than he is, so it fares with O.W. Not but what he is an ass: but he certainly is clever too." (see ed. Morris and Kelvin, The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part A (1987), p.38).

A further connection between the two men was Wilde's mother's translation of William Meinhold's Sidonia the Sorceress. The translation was first published in 1849 and, according to William S. Peterson, it "was well known to Morris's circle: Rossetti in particular was an enthusiastic admirer of it, and Burne-Jones produced two water-colours based on the story in 1860" (see Peterson, A Bibliography of the Kelmscott Press (1985), p.51). In 1893 the Kelmscott Press reprinted the text. It has been suggested that, for this edition, it was Oscar Wilde who suggested using drawings by Aubrey Beardsley. Morris rejected the artist's preliminary drawings and this led to Beardsley's hostility towards Morris.

This volume is the last that Morris published before establishing his Kelmscott Press. Buxton Forman notes that "this volume treads upon the threshold of the Kelmscott Press in the matter of style..." and notes that Morris bought the Whatman paper for The Roots of the Mountains and, "there was a lot over" (see H. Buxton Forman, The Books of William Morris (1897), p.144). As a result the first catalogues and prospectuses printed at Hammersmith were on the remaining paper stock.