Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Wilde, Oscar,
1854-1900.
The Oscar Wilde Collection is divided
fairly evenly between works and correspondence. Some of the works are by people
other than Wilde and a portion of the correspondence is written between people
who were associated with Wilde.
English and
French
Oscar Wilde Collection
1851-1957 (bulk 1877-1957)
Manuscript Collection MS-04515
3 boxes (1.26 linear feet)
Acquisition:
Purchases and gifts, 1959-1975
Access:
Open for research
Processed by:
Chelsea Dinsmore, 2002
Biographical Sketch
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, born in 1854 in Dublin, Ireland,
was the second son of Sir William Robert and Lady Jane Francesca Wilde. At the
age of ten, Wilde entered the well-known Portora Royal School, where he
excelled in Greek studies. His interest in Greek continued at Trinity College,
Dublin, where John Mahaffy, an eminent Greek scholar who later took Wilde on a
tour of Italy, was his tutor.
Wilde was awarded a scholarship in classics from Magdalene College,
Oxford, which he entered in 1874. During his fourth year at Oxford, Wilde won
the prestigious Newdigate Prize for imitative poetry with a verse praising
Ravenna, a city he had visited with Mahaffy and the burial site of Dante. In
addition to his studies, Wilde began to develop his role as poseur and
aesthete. Wilde received his BA in 1878 and, after an additional year at
Oxford, went to London where he began writing.
In 1880 Wilde published
Vera; or, The Nihilists, and in 1881 he
was hired by Richard D'Oyly Carte to boost Gilbert and Sullivan's new opera
Patience in America by means of a lecture
tour. Dressed in black velvet and a full length fur coat, he spoke on the new
aestheticism from New York to San Francisco. He met with Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman, and
Jefferson Davies, among others.
After America, Wilde went to Paris where he wrote another play while
visiting with Zola, Hugo, Degas, Pissarro, and other literary and artistic
figures. In 1883 an American producer agreed to produce
Vera in New York. Its abbreviated run left
Wilde disappointed and he returned to England and Ireland where he lectured and
wrote about his experiences in America. While visiting Dublin, he renewed an
acquaintance with Constance Lloyd, and in May of 1884 they were married. They
moved to London and Wilde spent the next few years writing reviews and essays
and giving lectures. They had two sons, Cyril (b. 1885) and Vyvyan (b.
1886).
Wilde began editing
Woman's World magazine in 1887,
contributed regularly to
Pall Mall Gazette, and worked on a
collection of fairy tales, which were published in 1888. His critical essay
Intentions and
The Portrait of Mr. W. H. appeared in
1889, and the first version of
The Picture of Dorian Gray was published
in
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. An
edited and expanded version of
Dorian Gray was published in book form in
1891.
1891 proved an eventful year for Wilde. His second play,
The Duchess of Padua, was produced under
the title
Guido Ferranti. He published a second book
of fairy stories,
A House of Pomegranates, as well as
The Soul of Man under Socialism, and
Lord Savile's Crime & Other Stories.
Wilde completed another play,
Salomé, which the Lord
Chamberlain found unsuitable for the English stage. Over the next four years
Wilde published
Lady Windermere's Fan (1893),
A Woman of No Importance (1894),
An Ideal Husband (1895), and his most
enduring theatrical work,
The Importance of Being Earnest
(1895).
In 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry, father of Lord Alfred Douglas
("Bosie"), an intimate of Wilde's, accused Wilde of posing as a sodomite. Wilde
sued for libel and a trial began in April of 1896. Wilde withdrew from the case
and was subsequently arrested on charges of gross indecency under Section 11 of
the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. After two trials he was found guilty
and sentenced to the maximum penalty of two years at hard labor. He served the
bulk of his sentence at Reading Gaol where the warden provided him with paper
to write what became
De Profundis.
After his release in 1897, Wilde lived in France, Italy, and
Switzerland. He renewed his relationship with Bosie; as a result his wife,
Constance, who with their children had fled England during his trial, refused
to see him. Constance died in 1898. Wilde underwent an operation for an ear
infection in October of 1900 from which he never fully recovered. He died in
his Paris hotel room on November 30, 1900.
Sources:
Dictionary of Literary Biography -- Volume 34: British Novelists, 1890-1929.
Thomas F. Staley, ed. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985.
Index Terms
Correspondents
Alexander, George, Sir,
1858-1918.
Harris, Frank,
1855-1931.
Holland, Vyvyan
Beresford, 1886-1967.
Leverson, Ada.
Ransome, Arthur,
1884-1967.
Ross, Robert Baldwin,
1869-1918.
Shaw, George Bernard,
1856-1950.
Sitwell, Sacheverell,
1897-.
Smithers, Leonard C.
(Leonard Charles), 1861-1907.
Tree, Herbert Beerbohm,
Sir, 1853-1917.
Turner,
Reginald.
Wilde, Constance,
1858-1898.
Subjects
Douglas, Alfred Bruce,
Lord, 1870-1945.
Hyde, H. Montogmery,
(Hartford Montgomery), 1907-.
Sherard, Robert Harbough,
1861-1943.
Art, Victorian.
Authors, English, 19th
century.
Authors, Irish, 19th
century.
English literature, 19th
century.
English poetry, 19th
century.
Trials (slander), Great
Britain.
Document Types
Page proofs.
Scope and Contents
The Oscar Wilde Collection, 1851-1957, is divided fairly evenly
between works and correspondence. Some of the works are by people other than
Wilde and a portion of the correspondence is written between people who were
associated with Wilde. The collection is organized into three series: Series I.
Works, 1878-1909 (1.5 boxes); Series II. Correspondence, 1877-1900 (1 box); and
Series III. Third-Party Works and Correspondence, 1851-1957 (.5 box). This
collection was previously accessible through the card catalog, but has been
re-cataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.
Series I is composed of five major works by Oscar Wilde.
The Importance of Being Earnest,
Lady Windermere's Fan, and
A Woman of No Importance are present as
complete typescripts while an incomplete draft of
A Florentine Tragedy is handwritten.
Salomé, in French, is a
complete holograph notebook. A few additional items are also present.
Series II is divided into outgoing and incoming correspondence.
Outgoing correspondence are letters from Wilde to friends and associates
including George Alexander, Frank Harris, and Ada Leverson, among others.
Incoming correspondence includes letters to Wilde from a wide variety of
friends and admirers. Recipients of letters from Wilde and the authors of
letters to Wilde are all listed in the Index of Correspondents at the end of
this guide.
Series III is divided into works by other authors and third-party
correspondence. Works by other authors include
Mr. and Mrs. Daventry (based on a plot by
Wilde) by Frank Harris and Robert Sherard's
Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy
Friendship. Third-party correspondence includes letters between people
who were associated with Wilde, his family, and his biographers, including
Vyvyan Holland, Arthur Ransome, and Constance Wilde. All correspondents in this
series are listed in the Index of Correspondence at the end of this guide.
Elsewhere in the Ransom Center are ten photographs of Wilde, his home
in Dublin, and Reading Gaol, located in the Literary Files of the Photography
Collection. Pencil and watercolor drawings by Wilde and related to Wilde are
located in the Art Collection. Other related pieces of artwork may be found in
the Max Beerbohm, Bernard Partridge, and Aubrey Beardsley manuscript
collections, among others. Programs, playbills and press clippings relating to
Wilde's plays, are present in the Performing Arts Collection, which also houses
photographs of Wilde and many of the actors and actresses who appeared in his
plays.
Other materials associated with Oscar Wilde may be found in the
following manuscript collections at the Ransom Center:
- Beerbohm, Max
- Brooke, Jocelyn
- Croft-Cooke, Rupert
- Douglas, Alfred Bruce, Lord
- Harris, Frank
- Houseman, Laurence
- Hyde, H. Montgomery
- Le Gallienne, Richard
- Mason, Alfred Edward Woodley
- Morley, Christopher Darlington
- Scott-Moncrieff, C.K.
- Orioli, Giuseppe
- Pansaers, C/ Lake Collection
- Whistler, James McNeill
- Wilkinson, Louis
Oscar Wilde Collection--Folder List
I. Works,
1878-1909
1
1
A-Z:
1
1
"and many an Afghan
chief..."
1
1
Desepoir
1
1
Lily-flower
1
1
The New Remorse
1
1
Pan: A Double Villanelle
1
2
A Florentine Tragedy, holograph
notebook with author notes, revisions, and sketches for the play, 43pp,
nd
1
3
The Importance of Being Earnest,
page proofs bound with revisions and layout notes, 160pp,
1898
1
4
Lady Windermere's Fan [
A Good Woman], typescript with
author revisions, 71pp,
1892
1
5
Salomé drame en un
acte (in French), holograph notebook with author revisions, 129pp,
1891
2
1-3
A Woman of No Importance [
Mrs. Arbuthnot], typescript with
author revisions and notes by Herbert Beerbohm Tree and other person(s), 129pp,
nd
II. Correspondence,
1877-1900
Outgoing letters
2
4
A-Z, Unidentified
2
5
Alexander, George, Sir
2
6
Harris, Frank
2
7
Ives, George
2
8
Quaritch, Bernard
2
9
Ross, Alexander Galt
Incoming letters
2
10
A-H, Unidentified
2
11
I-R
3
1
S-Z
III. Third-Party Works and Correspondence,
1851-1957
Works
3
2
A-Z; Unidentified
3
3
Harris, Frank,
Mr. and Mrs. Daventry,
mimeographed radio script, 39pp,
1956
3
4-5
Sherard, Robert,
Oscar Wilde: the Story of an Unhappy
Friendship, holograph with author revisions and preservation photocopy,
175pp,
1902
3
6
Turgenev, Ivan S.,
A Fire at Sea, bound
holograph translation by Oscar Wilde with translator revisions, 25pp,
nd
Correspondence
3
7
A-H; Unidentified
3
8
Brown, Margaret Lumley
3
9
I-Z
3
10
Morse, W.F.
Oscar Wilde Collection--Index of Correspondents
Names in bold appear in the RLIN
record.
-
Äide, Hamilton, 1826-1906--2.10
-
Alexander, George, Sir,
1858-1918--2.5, 2.10
-
Archer, William, 1856-1924--2.10
-
Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888--2.10
-
Barret, Laurence--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Bedborough, George--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Belincroft, Marie--2.10
-
Benson, Frank Robert--2.10
-
Blackwood, William, 1836-1912--2.10
-
Blanche, Jacques-Emile,
1861-1942--2.10
-
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen, 1840-1922--2.10
-
Bourchier, Arthur, 1863-1927--2.10
-
Bourget, Paul, 1852-1935--2.10
-
Brown, Margaret Lumley--3.8
-
Browning, Oscar, 1837-1923--2.4 (from Wilde),
2.10
-
Buchanan, Robert Williams,
1841-1901--2.10
-
Burke, Edmund--3.7
-
Burne-Jones, Edward Coley, Sir,
1833-1898--2.10
-
Carte, Richard D'Oyly, 1844-1901--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
Cazin, Jean-Charles, 1841-1901--2.10
-
Chambers, C. Haddon (Charles Haddon),
1860-1921--2.10
-
Churchill, --, Lady--2.10
-
Clifton, Arthur--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Coleridge, Stephen, 1854-1936--2.10
-
Coquelin, Constant, 1841-1909--2.10
-
Courtney, W.L. (William Leonard),
1850-1920--2.10
-
Crane, Walter, 1845-1915--2.10
-
Cranston, Maurice--3.7
-
Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion),
1854-1909--2.10
-
Croly, J.C. (Jane Cunningham),
1829-1901--3.7
-
Davis, Robert S.--3.7
-
Davitt, Michael, 1846-1906--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
De la Rameé, Louise--See Ouida,
1839-1908
-
De Vere, Aubrey, 1814-1902--2.10
-
Dilke, M.M.--2.10
-
Douglas, Alfred Bruce, Lord,
1870-1945--3.7
-
"Eighty" Club--3.7
-
Fawcett, Edgar, 1847-1904--2.10
-
Fish, Arthur--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Gladstone, W.E. (Wiliam Ewert),
1809-1898--2.10
-
Gosse, Edmund, 1849-1929--2.10
-
Hare, John, Sir--2.10
-
Harris, Frank,
1855-1931--2.6, 2.10
-
Heinemann, William, 1863-1920--2.10
-
Helena Augusta Victoria, Princess Christian of
Schleswig-Holstein, 1846-1923--2.10
-
Henley, William Ernest,
1849-1903--2.10
-
Hillyard, Fabienne--3.7
-
Holland, Vyvyan Beresford,
1886-1967--3.7
-
Hollingshead, John--2.10
-
Hotel Alsace--2.10
-
Houghton, Richard--2.10
-
Humphrey, -, Mrs.--2.4, (from Wilde)
-
Humphreys, Travers, Sir,
1867-1956--3.7
-
Image, Selwyn, 1849-1930--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905--2.11
-
Ives, George, 1867-1950--2.7 (from
Wilde)
-
Johnson, A.B.--3.9
-
Jopling, Louise, 1843-1933--2.11
-
Kendal, Madge, 1849-1935--2.11
-
Lamartine, Alphonse de, 1790-1869--3.9
-
Lane, John, 1854-1925--2.11
-
Lane, Violet--2.11
-
Langtry, Lillie, 1853-1929--2.11
-
Le Gallienne, Richard, 1866-1947--2.11
-
Leighton, Frederic--3.9
-
Leland, Charles Godfrey,
1824-1903--2.11
-
Lever, Charles James, 1806-1872--2.11
-
Leverson, Ada--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Lewis, George Henry, Sir,
1833-1911--2.11
-
Locker-Lampson, - --2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Lonsdale, E.--2.11
-
Loti, Pierre, 1850-1923--3.1
-
Louÿs, Pierre, 1870-1925--2.11
-
Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwar Lytton, Earl of,
1831-1891--2.11
-
MacMillian, Maurice Harold--2.11
-
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 1862-1949--2.11
-
Mahaffy, John Pentland, Sir,
1839-1919--2.11
-
Mallarmé, Stephane, 1842-1898--2.11
-
Mansfield, Richard, 1857-1907--2.11
-
Marin, Helena Faucit, 1814-1898--2.11
-
Mathews, Elkin, 1851-1921--2.11
-
Maxwell, Gerald--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Menpes, Mortimer, 1855-1938--2.11
-
Meynell, Wilfrid, 1852-1948--2.11
-
Millard, Christopher, 1872-1927--3.9
-
Milner, Alfred Milner Viscount,
1854-1925--2.11
-
Modjeska, Helena, 1840-1909--2.11
-
Morgan, -, Mr.--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Morris, William, 1834-1896--2.11
-
Morse, W.F.--2.110
-
Mountmornes, - --2.11
-
Myers & Co., Ltd--3.9
-
Nevill, Dorothy, Lady, 1826-1913--2.11
-
O'Reilly, John Boyle, 1844-1890--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
Ouida, 1839-1908--2.10
-
Palmer, Walter, b. 1868--2.11
-
Pater, Nöel--2.11
-
Pater, Walter, 1839-1894--2.11
-
Payn, James, 1830-1898--2.11
-
Quartich, Bernard, 1819-1899--2.8 (from
Wilde)
-
Ransome, Arthur,
1884-1967--3.9
-
Rauzand, Christine Wilson--2.11
-
Regnier, Henri de, 1864-1936--2.11
-
Reid, T. Wemyss (Thomas Wemyss),
1842-1905--2.11
-
Rennell, James Rennell Rodd--See Rodd, Rennell,
1858-1941
-
Richards, Grant, 1872-1948--3.9
-
Richmond, W.B. (William Blake), Sir,
1842-1921--2.11
-
Ricketts, Charles S., 1866-1931--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
Riddell, Charlotte Eliza Lawson Cowan--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
Robertson, Norman Forbes--2.11
-
Robinson, Lennox, 1886-1958--3.9
-
Rodd, Rennell, 1858-1941--2.11
-
Ross, Alexander Galt--2.9 (from Wilde)
-
Ross, Robert Baldwin,
1869-1918--2.4, 3.9
-
Rossetti, William Michael,
1829-1919--2.11
-
Rupert Hart-Davis Limited--3.9
-
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900--2.11
-
Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925--3.1
-
Sayce, A.H. (Archibald Henry),
1845-1933--3.1
-
Schreiner, Olive Emilie Albertina--3.1
-
Schwab, Marcel--3.1
-
Shaw, George Bernard,
1856-1950--3.9
-
Sitwell, Sacheverell,
1897- --3.9
-
Smalley, George--3.9
-
Smithers, Leonard C. (Leonard
Charles), 1861-1907--2.4 (from Wilde, 1 forgery, 2 authentic)
-
Speed, Emma Keats--3.1
-
Stanley, Dorothy, Lady, d. 1926--3.1
-
Stead, W.T. (William Thomas),
1849-1912--3.1
-
Steadman, Edmund Clarence,
1833-1908--3.9
-
Stoddart, Joseph Marshall--2.4 (from
Wilde)
-
Strauss, Richard, 1864-1949--3.9
-
Symmonds, John Addington--3.1
-
Taylor, Tom--3.9
-
Terry, Ellen, Dame, 1847-1928--3.1
-
Thursfield, Emily--2.4 (from Wilde)
-
Tree, Herbert Beerbohm, Sir,
1853-1917--3.1
-
Tree, Maud, 1863-1937--3.1
-
Turner,
Reginald--3.9
-
University of California, Los
Angeles--3.9
-
Vezin, Hermann, 1829-1910--3.1
-
Viaud, Julian--See Loti, Pierre,
1850-1923
-
Waller, Leris--3.1
-
Ward Genevieve, 1838-1922--3.1
-
Watts-Dunton, Theodore, 1832-1914--3.1
-
Westminster, Constance--3.1
-
Whistler, James McNeill,
1834-1903--3.1
-
White, Terence de Vere--3.9
-
Wilde, Constance,
1858-1898--3.9
-
Wilde, Lady, 1829-1896--2.4 (inscription by
Wilde)
-
Yates, Edmund Hodgson, 1831-1894--3.1
Oscar Wilde Collection--Index of Third-Party Works
-
Harris, Frank--3.3
-
Mr. and Mrs. Daventry
-
Hobsbaum, Philip--3.2
-
Review of Oscar Wilde: The
Aftermath by H. Montgomery Hyde
-
Holland, Vyvyan--3.2
-
Foreword for Constance
-
Proposed broadcast on the occasion of the centenary of Oscar
Wilde, October 16, 1954
-
Ross, Arthur Leonard--3.2
-
Article on Mr. and Mrs.
Daventry
-
Shaw, George Bernard--3.2
-
Bernard Shaw on An Ideal
Husband
-
Sherard, Robert--3.4-5
-
Oscar Wilde: the Story of an Unhappy
Friendship
-
Turgenev, Ivan S.--3.6
-
A Fire at Sea
-
Unidentified authors--3.2
-
Biographical notes about Frank Harris
-
Notes on works by Oscar Wilde
-
Une Comédie inédite d'Oscar Wilde