WILDE, OscarBiblio.com
WILDE, OscarBiblio.com
The Ballad of Reading Gaol. By C.3.3.
1898180349London: Leonard Smithers 1898. Unusual in a fine contemporary binding First edition one of 800 copies printed on handmade paper. This copy is beautifully presented and includes the well-preserved wrappers at the rear. At the insistence of his publishers Wilde employed a pseudonym for fear of the negative effect his name would have on the poem's sales. "C.3.3." derives from Wilde's cell in Reading Gaol - the third cell on the third landing of Gallery C. The first edition of which another 30 copies on japon were also issued sold out rapidly. A second edition was printed within weeks. Octavo 220 x 135 mm. Contemporary brown crushed morocco by Rivière spine lettered in gilt with raised bands compartments tooled with floral design French fillet to boards gilt inner dentelles dark green coated endpapers top edge gilt fore and bottom edges uncut original wrappers bound in. Label sometime removed from front pastedown rear blanks lightly toned from wrappers. A fine copy. Mason 371. hardcover
Peter Harrington · Royaume-Uni2 750,00 £GB≈ 3 139,95 €
