The Argus - Saturday, June 1, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
SALE OF OSCAR WILDE'S
EFFECTS.
People who hurried up to the Oscar Wilde sale at 16 Tite-street, says a London paper, were grievously disappointed. The cupboard was bare. There was no house beautiful to explore. The treasures of art, the artistic furniture, the wonderful decorations, the carpets and rugs, and china and silver, and curious of all sorts and kinds which they expected to see, were not to be viewed. Instead the rooms were stripped of their garnishing, and little save bare walls and carpetless stairs were to be seen. But what there was to see they did not fail to inspect and, needless to say, Mr. Wilde’s own room - with its deep olive-green dado, its figured canvas paper, its queer-looking little alcove which Mr. Wilde had specially constructed, its frieze of beaten-brass sunflowers, garnished with scraps of poetry, at one end of the room, its antique Persian lamp hanging from the canvas-coloured ceiling - attracted much attention. But it cannot be said that the room in its present condition of indescribable dirt and disorder does full justice to the ideas of its designer.
The sale itself began at 1 o'clock, and proved a very lengthy and tiresome business, the drawingroom, in which it was held, being crowded to suffocation with lawyers and onlookers, though in its way the attendance was not so large as might have been anticipated. The books were taken first, and most of them seemed to go at very reasonable prices, the dealers, who were present in great force, naturally taking the great majority. They proved a decidedly miscellaneous collection, but not many were of any special rarity or value. Needless to say there were many lots of French novels, while poetry also was largely represented, though such works as Booth’s Darkest England, Spencer's First Principles, Lewes’s Life of Goethe, Darwins’s Origin of Species and Descent of Man, and, most curious of all, thirteen volumes of the report of the Parnell Commission, were also included in the list. Among the poets and books on poetry many works on Shakespeare were contained in the catalogue. Buxton Forman’s edition of Keats, in four volumes, went for 38s.; Shelley’s works in the same edition, also in four volumes fetched 34s. Swinburne’s works in fourteen volumes were knocked down at £4 15s., while thirteen volumes of Rosetti were run up to £2 13s. An 1858 volume of poems by Tennyson, with Carlyle’s autograph, went, with twenty or thirty other volumes – the books were sold in the most oddly assorted lots imaginable - for £2. Of course, for Oscar Wilde’s own works the competition was keen. For a copy of The Happy Prince and Other Tales (75 copies only printed), three copies of The Sphinx, bound in vellum, two large paper copies of Lady Windermere’s Fan, two copies of Salome and one of A Woman of No Importance, all sold in one bundle, the price given was £8 5s. For five copies of Dorian Gray £3 3s. was given. A parcel of manuscripts, concerning the nature of which no information was given, was purchased for £5 15s. Carlyle’s writing-table realised 14 guineas.
People who hurried up to the Oscar Wilde sale at 16 Tite-street (says a London Paper) were grievously disappointed. The cupboard was bare. There was no house beautiful to explore. The treasures of art, the artistic furniture, the wonderful decorations, the carpets and rugs, and china and silver, and curios of all sorts and kinds which they expected to see, were not to be viewed. Instead the rooms were stripped of their garnishing, and little save bare walls and carpetless stairs were to be seen. But what there was to see they did not fail to inspect, and, needless to say, Mr. Wilde's own room—with its deep olive-green dado, its figured canvas paper, its queer-looking little alcove which Mr. Wilde had specially constructed, its frieze of beaten-brass sun flowers, garnished with scraps of poetry, at one end of the room, its antique Persian lamp hanging from the canvas-colored ceiling—attracted much attention. But it cannot be said that the room in its present condition of indescribable dirt and disorder does full justice to the ideas of its designer. The sale itself began at 1 o'clock, and proved a very lengthy and tiresome business, the drawing-room, in which it was held, being crowded to suffocation with buyers and onlookers, though in its way the attendance was not so large as might have been anticipated. The books were taken first, and most of them seemed to go at very reasonable prices, the dealers, who were present in great force, naturally taking the great majority. They proved a decidedly miscellaneous collection, but not many were of any special rarity or value. Needless to say there were many lots of French novels, while poetry also was largely represented, though such works as Booth's "Darkest England," Spencer's "First Principles," Lewes's "Life of Goethe," Darwin's "Origin of Species" and "Descent of Man," and, most curious of all, 13 volumes of the report of the Parnell Commission, were also included in the list. Among the poets and books on poetry many works on Shakspere were contained in the catalogue. Buxton Forman's edition of Keats, in 4 volumes, went for 38s; Shelley's works in the same edition, also in 4 volumes, fetched 34s. Swinburne's works in 14 volumes were knocked down at £4 15s, while 13 volumes of Rossetti were run up to £2 13s. An 1858 volume of poems by Tennyson, with Carlyle's autograph, went, with 20 or 30 other volumes—the books were sold in the most oddly assorted lots imaginable—for £2. Of course, for Oscar Wilde's own works the competition was keen. For a copy of "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" (75 copies only printed), 3 copies of "The Sphinx" bound in vellum, 2 large paper copies of "Lady Windermere's Fan," 2 copies of "Salome," and one of "A Woman of No Importance," all sold in one bundle, the price given was £8 5s. For 5 copies of "Dorian Gray" £3 3s was given. A parcel of manuscripts, concerning the nature of which no information was given, was purchased for £5 15s. Carlyle's writing-table realised 14s.