DE PROFUNDIS: The Complete Text.: being the first complete and accurate version of 'Epistola: in Carcere et Vinculis' the last prose work in English of OSCAR WILDE.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[In 1905,Wilde's contemporary translator to German,Max Meyerfeld, published the first book edition with Samuel Fischer in Berlin,which was preceded by a publication in Fischer's monthly magazine Neue Rundschau [Vol. 16, Nos. 1–2 (Jan – Febr. 1905.) The book appeared on 11 February 1905,thus preceding the English edition published by Robbie Ross by about two weeks.Ross published the letter with the title "De Profundis",expurgating all references to the Queensberry family.This edition would go through eight printings in the next three years,including the de luxe editions.] VG/VG.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip (10s. 6d.) to dw/dj.Pale grey background dw/dj with light ageing/grubbing to edges and spine,front panel with double-lined reddish-brown border with black and reddish-brown lettering within borders,similar coloured letters to a slightly darkened spine with miniscule rubbing/chipping and its reciprocal paper loss to both head+ foot of same,rear panel plain grey,undecorated and without text,but lightly grubbed.Internally,top edges of dw/dj with aged,narrow,horizontal,sellophane repair/strengthening strip, with small vertical closed tears (approx. 1.5") to both front+rear spine's gutter's fold/crease.all corner tips minisculely chipped with reciprocal loss,rear foot of spine's gutter's fold/crease with small closed tear and minimal paper loss and two small closed nicks to rear's inner flap's external fore-edge.Top+fore-edges unusually,are lightly toned with no foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,would appear unread,other then my own collation.Publisher's original sharp-cornered navy blue cloth boards with circular gilt blocked motif to upper board,lightly dulled gilt blocked lettered spine/backstrip and plain white sets of endpapers with some off-setting to pastedowns edges.Front board with a vertical,partial colour loss of bleaching from an indeterminate fluid(?) stain to board's fore-edge,a similar but much narrower and smaller vertical bleaching stain to that board's fore-edge too. Inexplicably,NO concomitant fluid stain to inside of dw/dj.UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,7-147pp [paginated] includes an Introduction by Vyvyan Holland,(Wilde's son),the text of the letter; plus [unpaginated] blank,half-title with blank verso,and title page. Described hard and in detail,but fairly and honestly - still an acceptable stop-gap example. Originally an Oscar Wilde letter to 'Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas) written whilst incarcerated in Reading Gaol,towards the end of his sentence between Jan to March,1897.Allowed to take it with him on his release 18 May,1897,he entrusted it to journalist Robert Ross (another former lover,loyal friend,and rival to "Bosie") and Wilde's literary executor. Ross typed two copies. Those typescripts copies contained several hundred errors,including typist's mistakes,his own emendations, and other omissions.Book was publishedposthumously in 1905,five years after Wilde's death.But Ross had excised its autobiographical elements and expurgated all references to the Queensberry family.A second, slightly expanded version appeared in an edition of Collected Works of Wilde published by Ross between 1908 and 1922.Also included were three other letters Wilde wrote from Reading Prison and his two letters to the editor of the Daily Chronicle written after his release.Ross then donated the manuscript to the British Museum with the understanding that it would not be made public until 1960.Vyvyan Holland,Wilde's son,in 1949 published the full text,but was using the faulty typescript bequeathed to him by Ross.and it wasn't until 1962,that the new,full and correct version was published in a volume titled 'The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde.' (London,Rupert Hart-Davis.) Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded, after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **