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WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900). The Picture of Dorian Gray. By Oscar Wilde. London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1891.
WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900). The Picture of Dorian Gray. By Oscar Wilde. London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1891. 4 o . Original beveled gray paper boards, covers and spine blocked in gilt with repeated stylized butterfly devices (designed by Charles Ricketts), top edge gilt, others uncut (backstrip detached with chipping to foot of spine, slight darkening to covers), half blue morocco slipcase and cloth chemise. FIRST EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE, number 224 of 250 large-paper copies on handmade Van Gelder paper, SIGNED, "Oscar Wilde" on limitation page). Title page variant with period after the word "Gray." The novel was first published in Philadelphia's Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, July 1890; Wilde's famous preface, comprising 24 aphorisms ("the artist is the creator of beautiful things," etc.), first appeared in The Fortnightly Review, March 1891. Mason 329.