Beschreibung:

WILDE, Oscar -- DOUGLAS, Alfred, Lord. The Wilde Myth . [London: Martin Secker, 1916]. 8° (222 x 144mm). (Light, even browning.) Original tan wrappers, printed label on front cover (some repairs, light soiling and wear), and a separate trial binding of blue cloth lettered in gilt (spotting). With a small archive of related correspondence, 74 pages, primarily from Douglas to Secker, many with envelopes, and a signed photographic portrait of Douglas with a King Charles spaniel. All in a custom-made green quarter morocco folding box. Provenance : Alfred Douglas (inscriptions) -- J.O. Edwards (book-label). ONE OF ONLY TWO KNOWN PROOF COPIES OF THIS CONTROVERSIAL, UNPUBLISHED WORK BY THE AGENT OF WILDE'S DRAMATIC DOWNFALL -- THE UNIQUE COPY OF THIS IMPORTANT DOCUMENT, WITH DOUGLAS'S NUMEROUS MANUSCRIPT CORRECTIONS, AND WITH A REMARKABLE ARCHIVE OF RELATED CORRESPONDENCE. The proof bears Douglas's autograph dedication to the Right Reverend Monsignor William F. Brown, Vicar General of Southwark, and Martin Secker's inscription certifying that it is 'the only remaining set of proofs of this book: it contains the author's final corrections. No copies were ever printed, and the type was distributed'. The extraordinarily contentious nature of Douglas's book was certain to attract libel action, which ultimately prompted Secker to suppress its publication. The turbulent and absolutely central Wilde-Douglas relationship is now well documented, but was only acknowledged by Douglas much later in 1944. Here Douglas's view of Wilde is intemperate in the extreme: 'his prose is stained and marked throughout by the vileness of his life... he was possessed by a devil in the real sense of the words... he has become the centre of a cult of wickedness... he was one of the most powerful forces for evil that has happened in Europe for the last three hundred years'. The proof shows some corrections by an unidentified editor, including a three page deletion attempting to tone down libellous passages. The acrimonious correspondence joined to The Wilde Myth documents the breakdown with Secker and the inevitable consequences of Secker's reticence: 'you have refused to carry out your agreement as to publication thereby killing my book and inflicting an irreparable injury on me, you are so magnanimous as to say that you allow me to keep the £200 which you paid me... you might just as well knock me down and rob me of the money'. The correspondence also includes letters to Secker from the American literary agents Curtis Brown Ltd., who attempted to find a more adventurous American publisher. Secker had sent Douglas two copies of the proof; one, the present copy, Douglas corrected and returned; the other, uncorrected, Douglas kept: this is now at the Humanities Research Centre, University of Texas.