The Picture of Dorian Gray by WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)

London: Ward, Lock, and Bowden Ltd., [1895]. [Literature] FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE, showing the imprint as Ward Lock and Bowden (amended from Ward Lock & Co.). Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.334. Bound in the original grey paper-covered bevelled boards with titles and ornate gilt decoration to upper, parchment-backed with gilt titles, grey-green endpapers, all edges untrimmed. Decorative bookplate to pastedown. Contents clean, edges of boards rubbed, some wear to joints, spine toned/browned as expected but with the original ornate gilt titles remaining bright. A very good copy. Uncommon in an un-restored publisher's binding. The most popular of Wilde's books, The Picture of Dorian Gray appeared first in Lippincott's magazine in 1890. The story, as published in book-form, contains six new chapters, many alterations and much additional matter. After the famous trial the publishers, although inundated with orders for copies, withdrew the book from circulation. The unforgettable dark and brooding chiller set in high-society late-Victorian London; a coded and epigrammatic melodrama inspired by his Wilde's own tortured homosexuality. Mason 330.