Wilde, Oscar

4to, FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, NUMBER 149 OF 250 SIGNED LARGE PAPER COPIES, many leaves unopened, original parchment backed grey boards, title and fifty-five small "butterfly" designs by Charles Ricketts in gilt on upper board, top edge gilt, collector's red chemise and morocco backed slipcase, slight offsetting to endpaper from booklabel, head and foot of spine lightly bumped

Michael Sharpe, booklabel; sale, Sotheby's London, The Library of an English Bibliophile Part I, 28 October 2010, lot 141

Mason 329

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."

The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in Lippincott's Magazine in July 1890, and appeared in book form the following year in both a standard issue and this large paper edition de luxe. On initial publication, Dorian Gray received scathing reviews from the press, prompting Wilde himself to write to the Daily Chronicle "to correct some errors into which your critic has fallen in his review of my story". (Holland and Hart-Davis, The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde (2000), p.435). Wilde refutes the criticism of his writing, explaining "my story is an essay on decorative art. It reacts against the crude brutality of plain realism. It is poisonous if you like, but you cannot deny that it is also perfect, and perfection is what we artists aim at." (ibid, p.436)

Even so, Wilde went on to revise the text adding a new preface and six further chapters (which lengthened the action by about nineteen years) for publication in book form in 1891. It became the most famous novel of the time, and "Dorian Gray" has since become "a name as immortal as those of Jekyll and Hyde, his picture in the attic baring his self-obsessed soul as vital a symbol as [Charlotte Brontë's] 'madwoman in the attic'" (Owen Dudley Edwards, ONDB).