Lot 145
Wilde, Oscar
Books, Maps, Photographs & Manuscripts
Auction: 12 July 2005 at 13:00 BST
£909
Description
The Importance of Being Earnest. London: Leonard Smithers, 1899, first edition, 4to, original salmon pink cloth gilt, spine darkened, covers slightly marked and faded
Footnote
Provenance: Cecil Headlam, signed and inscribed by Headlam on front endpaper "The Serious Importance of not being Wilde", 1895-1902. Cecil Headlam, a contemporary of Wilde's, was the author of The Milner Papers, The Medieval Student, Oxford and its Story, Venetia and Northern Italy and other works.
Note: First edition of Wilde's comic masterpiece. One of 1,000 copies printed.