Description
First edition: Numbered 135 of 1000 copies
London: Leonard Smither and Co., 1899
"... the only pure verbal opera in English." - W.H. Auden
First edition of Oscar Wilde's last play, his farcical masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest.
Condition Description
Small quarto. Original publisher's light red-brown cloth (designed by Charles Shannon) with gilt-stamped "petals" (corners and endbands bumped, rubbed). Gilt lettering and two gilt-stamped "petals" to spine (slightly faded). Uncut (deckled edges). Traces of dust to edges and occasionally to margins. Printed on laid paper. Ownership signature to front pastedown (offset to facing endpaper).
[xvi], 152
[xvi], 152
Reference
Millard 381; Raby, Peter, Oscar Wilde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.