Irish poet, dramatist and wit.
Autograph Letter Signed Oscar Wilde, three pages, octavo, no date [ca. 1878], on his imprinted stationery from Magdalen College, Oxford, to “My dear Sir” [Rev. Matthew Russell]. Referring to “my recent success”.
“I am sure you will excuse my not thanking you before for verses which in their depth and their beauty are well worthy of the great (ministry) of your church but my recent success has quite plunged me in business of all kinds – and I have (now) no time to myself .”
This is Oscar Wilde on the rise. The “recent success” to which the twenty-four year old Wilde refers is the Newdigate Prize for English verse which he won in 1878 for his poem Ravenna. Wilde recited the poem at the Sheldonain Theatre in Oxford on June 26th. The following year he moved to London, started writing for a living, dressed eccentrically (to attract attention) and styled himself as the “Apostle of Aestheticism.”
Framed in dark brown and gold with a classic portrait photograph of the man who quipped “Nothing succeeds like excess,” wearing shoulder length hair, parted in the middle, and a fur-trimmed coat. Matted in cocoa and gold. Framed dimensions are 21 inches wide x 13 3/4 inches high.
Price: $7,500
This item is associated with these categories in our inventory:
- Literature – English/Irish
- Theater
