Wilde, Oscar - and Lord Alfred Douglas
Epistola in Carcere et Vinculis [De Profundis]
£325
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 23 June 2021 at 11:00 BST
Description
Berlin: S. Fischer, 1925. 8vo, second to sixth edition, original brown quarter cloth over gilt-stamped black paper boards, ownership signature and pencil notes of Roger Senhouse on front-free endpaper regarding the history and publication of the text, referencing Lord Alfred Douglas, Robert Ross and the 16 copies of De Profundis printed to secure copyright in the USA; [And] Verbatim Report of the Trial of Noel Pemberton Billing, M.P. on a charge of Criminal Libel... London: 'Vigilante' Office, 1918. First edition no.803, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt (2)
Footnote
Note: Report of the 'Berlin Black Book' trial of the politician Noel Pemberton Billing - a libel trial after Pemberton Billing claimed that the German authorities possessed a list of 47,000 British names who they considered to be 'sexual deviants', with the intention of blackmail. He implicated the dancer Maud Allen in the claims, calling her private performance of Oscar Wilde's Salome "an open representation of degenerated sexual lust...and unnatural passions...by one Oscar Wilde..." Allen and her colleague J.T. Grein sued for libel. Pemberton Billing's defence hinged greatly on his view of Oscar Wilde as a "moral pervert", and Lord Alfred Douglas, known as a lover of Oscar Wilde, was called as a witness. Lord Alfred Douglas's account of his relationship with Wilde and his quarrel with Robert Ross are recorded in this transcript - including the moment he called Oscar Wilde "...the greatest force for evil that has appeared in Europe during the last 350 years." Although it had transpired that even the judge in the case was on the mysterious list of 47,000 names, the trial continued and Pemberton Billing was acquitted.