# Is "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" by Oscar Wilde a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde (David Nutt, 1888) is identified by: David Nutt, London, May 1888; small quarto, printed at the Ballantyne Press, recorded in Stuart Mason's Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (Mason 313–14). 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- David 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 signed limitation leaf is the point for the large-paper issue
- The upper cover of the trade issue is printed in red and black with Jacomb Hood's vignette and the publisher's device; the title page is likewise printed in red and black
- Illustrations are three plates by Walter Crane (frontispiece to "The Happy Prince" plus plates to "The Selfish Giant" and "The Remarkable Rocket"), with a tissue guard to the frontispiece and head- and tail-pieces and the cover design by Jacomb Hood; in the large-paper issue the Crane plates appear in two states (black and brown) and the plates and head/tail-pieces are printed on thin rice paper and mounted
- Sources describe the trade covering variously as "stiff paper covers" and as Japanese vellum boards — these are almost certainly the same vellum-paper boards described loosely, but the discrepancy is on the record
- Contents in both issues: The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend, The Remarkable Rocket
- Publisher imprint reads David Nutt

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Oscar Wilde |
| Publisher | David Nutt |
| Year | 1888 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | David Nutt, London, May 1888; small quarto, printed at the Ballantyne Press, recorded in Stuart Mason's Bibliography of Oscar Wilde (Mason… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
David 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 signed limitation leaf is the point for the large-paper issue. The upper cover of the trade issue is printed in red and black with Jacomb Hood's vignette and the publisher's device; the title page is likewise printed in red and black. Illustrations are three plates by Walter Crane (frontispiece to "The Happy Prince" plus plates to "The Selfish Giant" and "The Remarkable Rocket"), with a tissue guard to the frontispiece and head- and tail-pieces and the cover design by Jacomb Hood; in the large-paper issue the Crane plates appear in two states (black and brown) and the plates and head/tail-pieces are printed on thin rice paper and mounted. Sources describe the trade covering variously as "stiff paper covers" and as Japanese vellum boards — these are almost certainly the same vellum-paper boards described loosely, but the discrepancy is on the record. Contents in both issues: The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend, The Remarkable Rocket.

## Is this the true first?
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 least one ILAB dealer describes it as simultaneous rather than subsequent, so the census claim that "US editions follow" is not established — treat Roberts Brothers 1888 as the first American edition of disputed precedence, and Nutt London as the recognised first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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 inconsistently as 313 and 314 across the trade and large-paper issues, so cite Mason with care.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Happy Prince and Other Tales* by Oscar Wilde a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-happy-prince-and-other-tales
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.