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Teleny or The Reverse of the Medal A Physiological Romance of To-day. Cosmopoli: [London: Leonard Smithers], 1893.
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Teleny or The Reverse of the Medal A Physiological Romance of To-day. Cosmopoli: [London: Leonard Smithers], 1893.
Rare first edition of one of the earliest homoerotic novels in English, sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde. Number 153 of 200 copies only. Aleister Crowley, who was convinced of Wilde's role, underlined the importance of Teleny, irrespective of who wrote it: 'with the exception of Verlaine in Hombres, and Wilde in Teleny [...] nobody in modern times has dared to voice openly [...] the passion between man and man' (quoted in Mendes). The authorship, however, remains uncertain, and is more likely to have been a collaborative effort: 'Wilde had some part in revising the original MS, which appears to have been passed (c.1889-90) from hand to hand among a homosexual circle [...] of acolytes surrounding Wilde before he met Lord Alfred Douglas' (Mendes). A later edition of Teleny was censored, and it was not until 1986 that another edition returned the text to this original. The small edition size and subject matter have ensured that very few copies have survived.
2 volumes in one, octavo (184 x 122mm). Half-titles (recto and verso of first and last leaves browned from end-papers). Contemporary quarter green cloth over marbled boards, red morocco title label gilt on spine, (edges slightly rubbed). Provenance: Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
Teleny or The Reverse of the Medal A Physiological Romance of To-day. Cosmopoli: [London: Leonard Smithers], 1893.
Rare first edition of one of the earliest homoerotic novels in English, sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde. Number 153 of 200 copies only. Aleister Crowley, who was convinced of Wilde's role, underlined the importance of Teleny, irrespective of who wrote it: 'with the exception of Verlaine in Hombres, and Wilde in Teleny [...] nobody in modern times has dared to voice openly [...] the passion between man and man' (quoted in Mendes). The authorship, however, remains uncertain, and is more likely to have been a collaborative effort: 'Wilde had some part in revising the original MS, which appears to have been passed (c.1889-90) from hand to hand among a homosexual circle [...] of acolytes surrounding Wilde before he met Lord Alfred Douglas' (Mendes). A later edition of Teleny was censored, and it was not until 1986 that another edition returned the text to this original. The small edition size and subject matter have ensured that very few copies have survived.
2 volumes in one, octavo (184 x 122mm). Half-titles (recto and verso of first and last leaves browned from end-papers). Contemporary quarter green cloth over marbled boards, red morocco title label gilt on spine, (edges slightly rubbed). Provenance: Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
