The Happy Prince and Other Tales - photo 1
The Happy Prince and Other Tales - photo 2
The Happy Prince and Other Tales - photo 3
The Happy Prince and Other Tales - photo 4

The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Sold
£ 16 380
Auction dateClassic
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1016462
Lot 118 | The Happy Prince and Other Tales
The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Oscar Wilde

WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900). The Happy Prince and Other Tales. London: David Nutt, 1888.



Presentation copy of the first edition, inscribed by the author to ‘Jonathan Sturges from his friend Oscar Wilde’. Sturges, a Princeton graduate and translator of Maupassant, published his own book of stories, The First Supper and Other Episodes, in 1893. An attractive and charming man who suffered with physical disability, he moved in the gay circles that surrounded Wilde and urged Henry James to sign a petition seeking a pardon for Wilde in late 1896. Wilde's first collection of fairy stories for children, The Happy Prince and Other Tales 'marks the beginning of Wilde's true creativity’ (Jeanette Winterson, The Guardian, 2013). Indeed, the stories are equal parts Brothers Grimm and Walter Pater, combining Wilde’s signature wit with dark explorations of loss and sacrifice. Mason 313.



Quarto (221 x 165mm). Engraved frontispiece and two plates after Walter Crane, 13 vignettes throughout text, text block uncut with several leaves unopened (very light spotting to first and last few leaves). Original paper-covered boards with pictorial design by Jacob Hood, title and imprint in red (lightly soiled, heavier to spine, extremities a little rubbed, small tear to edge of upper board, front hinge starting, spine ends bruised with small chip at foot); housed in modern red half morocco clamshell box, spine lettered in gilt. Provenance: Jonathan Sturges (1846-1911; authorial presentation inscription dated July 90).

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

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