# Is "De Profundis" by Oscar Wilde a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of De Profundis by Oscar Wilde (Methuen & Co., London, 1905) is identified by: First edition (trade issue): Methuen & Co., 36 Essex Street, London, February 1905, edited by Robert Ross. Methuen (London), February 1905 is the true first; the American G.P.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First 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 200 copies on handmade paper, with a further deluxe issue of fifty copies on japon in original limp vellum bearing gilt vignettes by Charles Ricketts; the Ricketts decoration belongs to these large-paper/vellum issues, NOT to the ordinary blue-cloth trade edition (a common conflation to avoid)
- The book was reprinted several times within 1905
- Publisher imprint reads Methuen & Co., London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Oscar Wilde |
| Publisher | Methuen & Co., London |
| Year | 1905 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition (trade issue): Methuen & Co., 36 Essex Street, London, February 1905, edited by Robert Ross |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First 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 200 copies on handmade paper, with a further deluxe issue of fifty copies on japon in original limp vellum bearing gilt vignettes by Charles Ricketts; the Ricketts decoration belongs to these large-paper/vellum issues, NOT to the ordinary blue-cloth trade edition (a common conflation to avoid). The book was reprinted several times within 1905.

## Is this the true first?
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.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *De Profundis* by Oscar Wilde a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/de-profundis
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.