Oscar Wilde's inscription on The Importance of Being Earnest A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. London: Leonard Smithers and Co. 1899 ($80,000-120,000). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $362,250.
A dedicated first edition Japanese Vellum copy of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest A Trivial Comedy for Serious People comes up at Sotheby’s, New York on April 20. It was given to Robert Ross, a profoundly important figure in Wilde’s personal and professional life first as a lover, then as a close friend, ardent supporter and finally literary executor. It is inscribed by Wilde to Ross as follows: “To the Mirror of Perfect Friendship: Robbie: whose name I have written on the portal of this little play. Oscar. Feb ’99”.
Upon hearing of his arrest for ‘indecent acts’ Ross broke into Wilde’s flat to rescue potentially incriminating papers before the police arrived. At the trail Ross managed to get a space on the route to the witness stand. And it was Ross who Wilde’s increasingly stunned and bewildered wife Constance would contact when her husband disappeared. This copy is a true rarity. Only 12 Japanese Vellum copies were made. Six are known and only one has appeared at auction in the past 30 years. It will feature in the sale of the library of Jaques Levy, who acquired it in 1946. It is estimated at $80,000-100,000.
UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $362,250. The book was purchased by New York bookseller James Cummins.