Oscar Wilde; [Graham Greene]; [Raymond Greene]

Poems by Oscar Wilde with The Ballad of Reading Gaol [Graham Greene's copy]

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1921. Very Good +. Item #14580

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1921. Fifteenth Edition. Small octavo (17.5cm.); publisher’s green cloth, gilt-lettered spine; 320pp. Graham Greene's copy with his ownership signature to front free endpaper, and that of his older brother Raymond Greene in ink below. Light shelfwear to boards; a touch of foxing to endpapers, though pages otherwise unmarked. Overall a Very Good, sound and attractive copy.

With Greene's ownership signature "d.d.H. Graham Greene" presumably from his time at Balliol College and of his poorly received book of poetry, Babbling April. Raymond Greene was a doctor and accomplished mountaineer who participated in the fourth British expedition to Mount Everest.

Though we know little of young Greene’s thoughts on Wilde’s poems, his comic play The Return of Mr. Raffles (1974) drew heavily from two historical figures who played an integral role in Wilde’s life and subsequent imprisonment: Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bunny” in the play) and his father the Marquess of Queensberry.

Price: $900.00