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Oscar Wilde, autograph letters and manuscripts, including the manuscript of his play 'The Duchess of Padua', with some related material

Archive Collection: Elliott Collection MS Wilde Contains digital media

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: Oscar Wilde, autograph letters and manuscripts, including the manuscript of his play 'The Duchess of Padua', with some related material

Level: Collection

Classmark: Elliott Collection MS Wilde

Creator(s): Wilde, Oscar (1854-1900)()

Date(s): 1878-1895

Language: English

Size and medium: 10 items, held in 8 vols; manuscript.

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/8483

Description

Comprises the following items: (1) Autograph letter to Marian Willets [1878]; (2) Manuscript draft and notes for the original contract made by J.M. Stoddart, and Co. with Wilde for publishing Rennell Rodd's 'Rose leaf and apple leaf' and for his introduction to the work [1882]; (3) Autograph manuscript of 'L'envoi', Wilde's introductory essay to Rodd's 'Rose leaf and apple leaf' (1882); (4) Manuscript draft receipt from J.M. Stoddart, and Co. sent to Wilde for the publishing rights to his two poems 'Le jardin' and 'La mer' (n.d.); (5) Autograph manuscript of Wilde's play 'The Duchess of Padua' (1883); (6) Original manuscript contract drawn up by Markby, Wilde, and Johnson for the publication of Wilde's 'The sphinx' (1892), held with a copy of the published work (1894); (7) Autograph letter to Robert Ross [ca. 25 January 1895]; (8) Autograph letter to Arthur Stannard [ca. 1888], held with the printed book 'De profundis', by Wilde (1905); (9) Autograph manuscript of six of Wilde's epigrams
[ca. 1890?]; and (10) Autograph manuscript draft for Wilde's lecture on 'Art and Craftsmanship' (delivered in Philadelphia, 1882).


Item (1) is held inside a transparent plastic envelope within a blue portfolio case; (2)-(4) are all held in the same portfolio case within a dark blue solander, which bears the gilt lettering 'Envoi. The original manuscript. Oscar Wilde. 1882'; (5) is bound in fine black tooled leather bearing a gilt coat of arms on the front cover and held within a black custom-made box bearing the gilt lettering 'Oscar Wilde/ The Duchess of Padua'; (6) is held in a large yellow portfolio; (7) is held in a small red portfolio; (8) is held inside a copy of Wilde's 'De profundis', within a dark green tooled solander bearing the gilt title 'De profundis/ Wilde'; (9) is held inside a transparent plastic envelope within a folder; and (10) is bound into a grey volume held within a blue portfolio case inside a blue solander, on the dark blue quarter-leather spine of which are gilt-embossed the words 'Manuscript Essay on Art and Craftsmanship. Wilde'.

Biography or history

Oscar O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854-1900), the wit and dramatist. For fuller details of his life and achievements see the 'Dictionary of National Biography'.

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