![[WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2025/CKS/2025_CKS_22992_0157_001(wilde_oscar_the_ballad_of_reading_gaol_by_c33_london_leonard_smithers113636).jpg?w=1)
![[WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2025/CKS/2025_CKS_22992_0157_002(wilde_oscar_the_ballad_of_reading_gaol_by_c33_london_leonard_smithers113641).jpg?w=1)
![[WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2025/CKS/2025_CKS_22992_0157_000(wilde_oscar_the_ballad_of_reading_gaol_by_c33_london_leonard_smithers113630).jpg?w=1)
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. London: Leonard Smithers, 1898.
Details
[WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)]
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. London: Leonard Smithers, 1898.
One of 99 copies signed by Wilde, this one numbered 9. The book was published anonymously using the name 'C.3.3.', Wilde's identification number at Reading prison. Despite the lack of advertisement and fear of negative associations with his name, word leaked out of the true identity, and the book became a resounding commercial success and one of Wilde's most identifiable works; this third edition was published within two months of the first. In his correspondence with Smithers, Wilder refers to this edition as the 'author's edition'; it is the first with an ornament by Charles Ricketts on the front cover. Mason 374; Mason, Poems, pp. 77 no. III.
Octavo (227 x 140mm). Signed by the author on A1 verso in brown ink, numbered in purple ink by Smithers (end-leaves slightly browned, light toning to deckle edges). Original publisher's white cloth over purple cloth boards, gilt ornament on front board after Charles Ricketts, spine lettered in gilt, untrimmed (spine very slightly browned); gilt purple morocco-backed folding case. Provenance: Edward Francis Barron (bookplate) — Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. London: Leonard Smithers, 1898.
One of 99 copies signed by Wilde, this one numbered 9. The book was published anonymously using the name 'C.3.3.', Wilde's identification number at Reading prison. Despite the lack of advertisement and fear of negative associations with his name, word leaked out of the true identity, and the book became a resounding commercial success and one of Wilde's most identifiable works; this third edition was published within two months of the first. In his correspondence with Smithers, Wilder refers to this edition as the 'author's edition'; it is the first with an ornament by Charles Ricketts on the front cover. Mason 374; Mason, Poems, pp. 77 no. III.
Octavo (227 x 140mm). Signed by the author on A1 verso in brown ink, numbered in purple ink by Smithers (end-leaves slightly browned, light toning to deckle edges). Original publisher's white cloth over purple cloth boards, gilt ornament on front board after Charles Ricketts, spine lettered in gilt, untrimmed (spine very slightly browned); gilt purple morocco-backed folding case. Provenance: Edward Francis Barron (bookplate) — Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
