WILDE, Oscar. Autograph poetic quotation signed in full ("Oscar Wilde"), New Orleans, n.d. [ca. 1882]. 1 page oblong (4 x 6¾in.), remnants of mounting along top edge of verso, verso discreetly silked . [WITH:] DOUGLAS, Alfred, Lord. Autograph document signed ("A. Douglas"), New York, 5 January 1902. 1 page, 4to, silked, closed tear in upper right corner and along horizontal crease, age-toned, tipped to another sheet . In pencil. [ALSO WITH:] WILDE and DOUGLAS. Cabinet card photo (6 3/8 x 4 3/16in.). A copy of the famous image of Wilde and Douglas, by the London Stereoscopic Corp.
WILDE, Oscar. Autograph poetic quotation signed in full ("Oscar Wilde"), New Orleans, n.d. [ca. 1882]. 1 page oblong (4 x 6¾in.), remnants of mounting along top edge of verso, verso discreetly silked . [WITH:] DOUGLAS, Alfred, Lord. Autograph document signed ("A. Douglas"), New York, 5 January 1902. 1 page, 4to, silked, closed tear in upper right corner and along horizontal crease, age-toned, tipped to another sheet . In pencil. [ALSO WITH:] WILDE and DOUGLAS. Cabinet card photo (6 3/8 x 4 3/16in.). A copy of the famous image of Wilde and Douglas, by the London Stereoscopic Corp. WILDE IN NEW ORLEANS AND "THE GARDEN OF EROS" On tour in America, Wilde quotes three lines from his 1881 poem, "The Garden of Eros": "...Creamy meadow sweet whiter than Juno's throat, and odorous as all Arabia..." The lines are accompanied by an exuberant full signature, dated at New Orleans, where Wilde lectured during his famous trans-continental American and Canadian tour in 1882. Upon arriving in New York newsmen asked his impressions of the new world. "I was disappointed in the Atlantic," came the reply. Legend has it he then followed this quip by telling a Customs official: "I have nothing to declare, except my genius." This appealing artifact from this youthful tour captures Wilde on the upswing of his career. By contrast, the accompanying cabinet card and the autograph poem of Alfred "Bosey" Douglas titled "Ad memoriam Oscar Wilde," evoke the tragic dissolution. Douglas, of course, was the loaded weapon Wilde chose to fire at himself, obliterating his career, his family, and eventually his life. The clumsy mixture of banal sentimentality and violent imagery in Bosey's poem is far more evocative of the author than the subject. "...I mourned the loss of unrecorded words Forgotten tales and mysterious half-said Wonders that might have been articulate And voiceless thoughts like murdered singing birds And so I woke, & knew that he was dead." The poem, according to a docket in Douglas's hand, was written out "for George Viereck," the infamous apologist for Germany in both World Wars. Together 3 items . (3)
WILDE, Oscar. Autograph poetic quotation signed in full ("Oscar Wilde"), New Orleans, n.d. [ca. 1882]. 1 page oblong (4 x 6¾in.), remnants of mounting along top edge of verso, verso discreetly silked . [WITH:] DOUGLAS, Alfred, Lord. Autograph document signed ("A. Douglas"), New York, 5 January 1902. 1 page, 4to, silked, closed tear in upper right corner and along horizontal crease, age-toned, tipped to another sheet . In pencil. [ALSO WITH:] WILDE and DOUGLAS. Cabinet card photo (6 3/8 x 4 3/16in.). A copy of the famous image of Wilde and Douglas, by the London Stereoscopic Corp.
WILDE, Oscar. Autograph poetic quotation signed in full ("Oscar Wilde"), New Orleans, n.d. [ca. 1882]. 1 page oblong (4 x 6¾in.), remnants of mounting along top edge of verso, verso discreetly silked . [WITH:] DOUGLAS, Alfred, Lord. Autograph document signed ("A. Douglas"), New York, 5 January 1902. 1 page, 4to, silked, closed tear in upper right corner and along horizontal crease, age-toned, tipped to another sheet . In pencil. [ALSO WITH:] WILDE and DOUGLAS. Cabinet card photo (6 3/8 x 4 3/16in.). A copy of the famous image of Wilde and Douglas, by the London Stereoscopic Corp. WILDE IN NEW ORLEANS AND "THE GARDEN OF EROS" On tour in America, Wilde quotes three lines from his 1881 poem, "The Garden of Eros": "...Creamy meadow sweet whiter than Juno's throat, and odorous as all Arabia..." The lines are accompanied by an exuberant full signature, dated at New Orleans, where Wilde lectured during his famous trans-continental American and Canadian tour in 1882. Upon arriving in New York newsmen asked his impressions of the new world. "I was disappointed in the Atlantic," came the reply. Legend has it he then followed this quip by telling a Customs official: "I have nothing to declare, except my genius." This appealing artifact from this youthful tour captures Wilde on the upswing of his career. By contrast, the accompanying cabinet card and the autograph poem of Alfred "Bosey" Douglas titled "Ad memoriam Oscar Wilde," evoke the tragic dissolution. Douglas, of course, was the loaded weapon Wilde chose to fire at himself, obliterating his career, his family, and eventually his life. The clumsy mixture of banal sentimentality and violent imagery in Bosey's poem is far more evocative of the author than the subject. "...I mourned the loss of unrecorded words Forgotten tales and mysterious half-said Wonders that might have been articulate And voiceless thoughts like murdered singing birds And so I woke, & knew that he was dead." The poem, according to a docket in Douglas's hand, was written out "for George Viereck," the infamous apologist for Germany in both World Wars. Together 3 items . (3)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
