# Is "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (Leonard Smithers, 1899) is identified by: First edition, first impression, limited to 1,000 copies printed, collating 8 preliminary leaves plus 213, [1] pp.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first impression, limited to 1,000 copies printed, collating 8 preliminary leaves plus 213, [1] pp
- No author's name appears on the title page, which reads only "By the Author of Lady Windermere's Fan" — Wilde had recently been released from prison and Smithers was one of the few publishers still willing to handle his work
- Bound in gilt-decorated cloth to a design by Charles Shannon; copies are recorded in more than one cloth color (salmon, lavender, and pink variants all noted) with no priority established between them
- Publisher imprint reads Leonard Smithers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Oscar Wilde |
| Publisher | Leonard Smithers |
| Year | 1899 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first impression, limited to 1,000 copies printed, collating 8 preliminary leaves plus 213, [1] pp |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first impression, limited to 1,000 copies printed, collating 8 preliminary leaves plus 213, [1] pp. No author's name appears on the title page, which reads only "By the Author of Lady Windermere's Fan" — Wilde had recently been released from prison and Smithers was one of the few publishers still willing to handle his work. Bound in gilt-decorated cloth to a design by Charles Shannon; copies are recorded in more than one cloth color (salmon, lavender, and pink variants all noted) with no priority established between them.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *An Ideal Husband* by Oscar Wilde a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/an-ideal-husband
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.