Oscar Wilde | Ravenna, 1878, first edition, inscribed

Oscar Wilde

Ravenna Recited in The Theatre, Oxford, June 26, 1878. Oxford: Thos. Shrimpton and Son, 1878

FIRST EDITION, 8vo, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ("Hammond Chambers with the authors very best wishes June. 78"), original printed grey-green wrappers, wrappers browned and chipped with neat repairs at all edges, light creasing and soiling, housed in a folder and morocco-backed slipcase   

AN EXCEPTIONALLY EARLY DATED PRESENTATION COPY OF WILDE’S FIRST BOOK, INSCRIBED WITHIN A WEEK OF PUBLICATION. Robert Sharp Borgnis Hammond-Chambers (1855–1907) was a contemporary of Oscar Wilde's at Magdalen College, Oxford, who qualified as a lawyer, eventually rising to Queen's Counsel in 1897.

Wilde travelled to Greece in 1877 with the Reverend John Mahaffy, and stopped in Ravenna by chance. His poem on the ancient city was entered for the Newdigate Prize of 1878, whose set subject that year, by sheer coincidence, happened to be "Ravenna". The results of the prize were announced on 10 June. Wilde publicly recited his poem at Magdalen College on 26 June. Apparently one of the duties of the Professor of Poetry was to suggest amendments to the winner, these usually being accepted and implemented: "Wilde listened to all the suggestions with courtesy and even took notes of them, but he went away and printed the poem without making a single alteration in it." Shortly after he was awarded a first in his final exams, so achieving the rare distinction of a double first in Mods and Greats. Shrimpton printed the first 25 copies on 24 June, of which this was evidently one. Another 143 copies were printed before 12 February 1879.

PROVENANCE:

Robert Sharp Borgnis Hammond-Chambers, inscription; J.O. Edwards, book-label; Sale in these rooms ("Oscar Wilde"), 29 October 2004, lot 4