[WILDE (OSCAR)]


The Ballad of Reading Gaol By C.3.3., FIRST EDITION, LIMITED TO 800 COPIES ON HAND-MADE PAPER, PRESENTATION COPY FROM LEONARD SMITHERS TO FRANCES FORBES ROBERTSON, inscribed on front free endpaper "With love from Leonard to Frankie on her birthday. 5.12.99", publisher's white linen-backed cinnamon cloth by Matthew Bell & Co., uncut, some browning to endpapers and light soiling to covers, spine slightly darkened [Mason 371], 8vo, Leonard Smithers, Royal Arcade, 1898
|FIRST EDITION OF WILDE'S FAMOUS LONG POEM, INSCRIBED BY SMITHERS TO THE NOVELIST AND PAINTER FRANCES FORBES-ROBERTSON ON HER BIRTHDAY. Frances Forbes-Robertson, the youngest child of journalist John Forbes-Robertson and sister of the actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, was a close friend of both Smithers and Wilde, and the recipient of significant presentation copies from the author. She invited Wilde to her wedding in June 1899, eliciting the oft-quoted reply that "Like dear St. Francis of Assisi I am wedded to Poverty: but in my case the marriage is not a success".Provenance: Frances Forbes-Robertson (1867–1956), inscription from the publisher dated 15 December 1899; thence by descent to the present owner.