Oscar Wilde First Editions

• The Happy Prince and Other Tales — 1888 · David NuttDavid Nutt, London, May 1888; small quarto, printed at the Ballantyne Press, recorded in Stuart Mason's Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (Mason 313–14). Two issues: a trade issue of 1,000 copies, and a large-paper issue of 75 copies on hand-made paper in Japanese-vellum-covered bevelled boards, top edge gilt and margins untrimmed, signed on the limitation leaf by both Oscar Wilde and the publisher David Nutt — the…. The London David Nutt edition of May 1888 is the true first, and both its issues are collected: the 1,000-copy trade issue and the 75-copy large-paper issue signed by Wilde and Nutt. The first American edition is Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1888, in publisher's grey cloth lettered and decorated in red with floral-patterned endpapers, in a smaller format than the London issue and using the same illustrations; at…. No book-club edition applies to an 1888 title. The trap here is "first thus": later Nutt reissues and the Duckworth and subsequent reprints carrying the Crane plates are not the 1888 first, and any copy lacking the red-and-black printed upper cover with the Jacomb Hood vignette, or lacking the Wilde/Nutt-signed limitation leaf in the case of a large-paper copy, is not the first. Sources cite the Mason number….
• The Picture of Dorian Gray — 1891 · Ward, Lock and CompanyFirst book edition (the expanded novel with six added chapters), April 1891. Trade first-issue point: on page 208, eight lines from the bottom, the word 'and' is misprinted 'nd.' A deluxe large-paper issue limited to 250 copies signed by Wilde was also produced; it corrects the typo. The true first appearance of the text is the shorter version in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (July 1890), not a book. The 1891 Ward, Lock book is the first edition in book form and the first appearance of the full novel. The signed 250-copy large-paper issue is the premium state. Later printings correct the 'nd' typo and reset the text; reprints lack the large-paper limitation leaf. Any later Ward, Lock or other-publisher printing is a reprint.
• Lady Windermere's Fan — 1893 · Elkin Mathews and John LanePublished 9 November 1893 by Elkin Mathews and John Lane at the Bodley Head. Limited to 500 ordinary copies plus 50 large-paper copies on handmade paper. Salmon-pink cloth boards with gilt lettering and floral cover design by Charles Ricketts; 1893 title page; Elkin Mathews and John Lane imprint. The 50 large-paper copies are the premier state. The UK Bodley Head 1893 edition is the true first. The 50 large-paper copies are the superior state above the 500 ordinary copies. Later reprints are not the first.
• A Woman of No Importance — 1894 · John Lane, The Bodley HeadFirst edition limited to 500 copies, small quarto, collating 154, [1] pp., bound in mauve cloth decoratively stamped in gilt to a cover-and-spine design by Charles Shannon. Standard copies carry 16 pages of publisher's advertisements at the rear dated March 1894. A separate large-paper issue of 50 copies, printed on handmade paper and bound differently from the trade issue, was produced alongside the ordinary issue.
• Salome — 1894 · Elkin Mathews & John LaneFirst edition in English, published 24 February 1894; the translator is not credited on the title page, though the English text was principally the work of Lord Alfred Douglas, who is acknowledged only in Wilde's dedication. Quarto, illustrated with 13 drawings by Aubrey Beardsley. Ordinary trade issue of 500 copies printed on smaller paper and bound in blue canvas boards; a separate large-paper issue of 100…. The London (Mathews & Lane) and Boston (Copeland & Day) imprints were issued from the same setting at essentially the same time in February 1894 to secure copyright in both Britain and the United States; the two are usually treated as a joint first edition rather than one preceding the other. The original French-language Salome had already appeared in Paris and London in 1893 — this 1894 edition is specifically….
• The Ballad of Reading Gaol — 1898 · Leonard Smithers, LondonPublished 13 February 1898 over the pseudonym 'C.3.3.' — Wilde's cell designation, the third cell on the third landing of Gallery C — with the author's name nowhere in the book. The first edition consists of 800 copies on Van Gelder handmade paper and a further 30 copies on Japanese vellum, 830 in all; the limitation note stating the number of copies printed appears on the reverse of the first leaf, and its…. A London-only true first: Leonard Smithers, 1898, with no rival English-language edition claiming precedence and no original-language question, the work having been written in English. The census claim is confirmed in full, including the 800-copies-plus-30-on-Japanese-vellum limitation and the pseudonymous 'C.3.3.' issue. Smithers himself issued editions two through seven in rapid succession across 1898-99; the…. No book-club issue documented. Later-issue tells are explicit and easy to read: Smithers' editions two through seven state their edition number on the reverse of the title page and omit the limitation note; the seventh edition (June 1899) additionally carries '[Oscar Wilde]' in square brackets beneath C.3.3. Any copy naming Wilde on the title page is by definition not the first edition, and the great majority of….
• An Ideal Husband — 1899 · Leonard SmithersFirst 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….
• The Importance of Being Earnest — 1899 · Leonard Smithers and Co.Published February 1899 by Leonard Smithers in three issues, from sheets printed by the Chiswick Press in January 1899: 1,000 ordinary copies, 100 large-paper copies on handmade paper (numbered and signed by Wilde), and 12 copies on Japanese vellum. The title page carries no author name; at Wilde's own instruction (his letter of 1 December 1898, 'You must add by the author of Lady Windermere's Fan') it reads 'A…. The Smithers (London) 1899 edition is the true first — the play was staged in 1895 but not published until 1899. The 12 Japanese-vellum and the 100 large-paper copies are the premier states above the ordinary issue of 1,000; the large-paper (and vellum) copies bear Wilde's signature, notable given his post-prison disgrace. Wilde is unnamed on the title page of every issue. No period book-club edition. Any copy naming Oscar Wilde on the title page is a later edition (for example the Methuen collected-works printings from about 1908 onward), not the 1899 Smithers first, whose title page substitutes 'by the Author of "Lady Windermere's Fan".'.
• De Profundis — 1905 · Methuen & Co., LondonFirst edition (trade issue): Methuen & Co., 36 Essex Street, London, February 1905, edited by Robert Ross. Bound in gilt-decorated blue cloth (title and device in gilt on the upper cover and spine), collating 151 pp., with a 40-page publisher's catalogue at the rear dated February 1905 — the first-issue point; a later issue carries advertisements dated March 1905. Separately, a large-paper issue was limited to…. Methuen (London), February 1905 is the true first; the American G.P. Putnam's Sons edition also appeared in 1905 and followed. 'First thus' caution: this 1905 text is Robert Ross's heavily abridged/redacted version — the complete unexpurgated text was not published until 1962, so 'first edition' here means the 1905 Methuen abridgment, not the full work. Rapidly reprinted within 1905 (second, third and later impressions the same year); later issues carry March-1905 or subsequent advertisements rather than the February 1905 catalogue. No book-club issue documented for the 1905 first.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Pat Cadigan, Pat Conroy, Pat Murphy, Paul Auster, Paul Bowles, Paul J. McAuley.

← All authors · All genres · part of the First-Edition Identification resource.