De Profundis -
Oscar Wilde
1905 - Methuen and Co., London - First Edition
‘Written from Wilde's prison cell at Reading Gaol to his friend and lover Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis explodes the conventions of the traditional love letter and offers a scathing indictment of Douglas's behaviour, a mournful elegy for Wilde's own lost greatness, and an impassioned plea for reconciliation.
At once a bracingly honest account of ruinous attachment and a profound meditation on human suffering, Richard Ellmann in his introduction at a later edition calls De Profundis "a love letter... One of the greatest, and the longest, ever written."’
‘Displays the insight, honesty, and unself-conscious style of a great writer.’ – W. H. Auden. Reference: Penguin Classics.
Octavo (binding size 20x14cm), pp. [2] ix [2] 13-151 [1] 40 (publisher’s catalogue dated March 1905) [2]. Elegantly bound in later three-quarter navy blue morocco, over original cloth with gilt vignette and lettering to the upper panel, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Condition: Foxing to front and rear pages, else near fine, in fine binding. Ref: 112689 Price: HK$ 4,000
At once a bracingly honest account of ruinous attachment and a profound meditation on human suffering, Richard Ellmann in his introduction at a later edition calls De Profundis "a love letter... One of the greatest, and the longest, ever written."’
‘Displays the insight, honesty, and unself-conscious style of a great writer.’ – W. H. Auden. Reference: Penguin Classics.
Octavo (binding size 20x14cm), pp. [2] ix [2] 13-151 [1] 40 (publisher’s catalogue dated March 1905) [2]. Elegantly bound in later three-quarter navy blue morocco, over original cloth with gilt vignette and lettering to the upper panel, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Condition: Foxing to front and rear pages, else near fine, in fine binding. Ref: 112689 Price: HK$ 4,000