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The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. - La Ballade de la geole de Reading. Transcription française de Henry-D. Davray. Paris: Mercure de France, 1898.
Details
WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. - La Ballade de la geole de Reading. Transcription française de Henry-D. Davray. Paris: Mercure de France, 1898.
First edition of the French translation, a presentation copy from Wilde inscribed to his friend Frank Harris. The recipient was an author, editor and journalist who wrote one of the first biographies of Oscar Wilde: Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions (1916). The Ballad 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. This first French edition contains both the English and French text in parallel. Written in 1910 and first privately published in New York in 1916, Frank Harris's famously inaccurate and self-serving Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions, gained almost instant notoriety. Harris was taken to court for libel by Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas and the biography was published in England only in 1938. Harris edited Wilde’s essay The Soul of Man under Socialism for the Fortnightly Review, 189. Not in Mason.
12mo (182 x 119mm). Half-titles (light age toning). Contemporary red three quarter morocco over marbled boards, sides gilt ruled, spine gilt lettered in long, top edge gilt, otherwise untrimmed. Provenance: Frank Harris (1856-1931; inscription on front endpaper: 'Frank Harris from his friend the author Oscar Wilde') — Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. - La Ballade de la geole de Reading. Transcription française de Henry-D. Davray. Paris: Mercure de France, 1898.
First edition of the French translation, a presentation copy from Wilde inscribed to his friend Frank Harris. The recipient was an author, editor and journalist who wrote one of the first biographies of Oscar Wilde: Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions (1916). The Ballad 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. This first French edition contains both the English and French text in parallel. Written in 1910 and first privately published in New York in 1916, Frank Harris's famously inaccurate and self-serving Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions, gained almost instant notoriety. Harris was taken to court for libel by Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas and the biography was published in England only in 1938. Harris edited Wilde’s essay The Soul of Man under Socialism for the Fortnightly Review, 189. Not in Mason.
12mo (182 x 119mm). Half-titles (light age toning). Contemporary red three quarter morocco over marbled boards, sides gilt ruled, spine gilt lettered in long, top edge gilt, otherwise untrimmed. Provenance: Frank Harris (1856-1931; inscription on front endpaper: 'Frank Harris from his friend the author Oscar Wilde') — Barry Humphries (1934-2023; bookplate).
