Books

Third edition (so stated). Octavo. Half white over purple linen, gilt stamped spine, upper cover with gilt stamped floral design by Charles Ricketts, uncut. Very good. 31 pages. Enclosed in a 1/2 brown morocco slipcase with folding chemise. One of 99 copies, printed March 4, 1898, signed by Wilde in black ink on limitation page, with characteristic paraph to the final "e." Mason #374. Bookplate of Chauncey Lawrence Williams on the front free endpaper and a signed pencil notation by Paul Lemperly noting he received the book from Williams. Williams (1872-1924), former member of Way and Williams, publishers and the F.W. Dodge Corp. With his memorial booklet laid in loose. Lemperly (1858-1939), noted American book collector.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand, after his release from Reading Gaol (/rɛdɪŋ dʒeɪl/) on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour in prison. During his imprisonment, he witnessed the events leading up to the hanging of Charles Thomas Wooldridge, a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards, for the murder of his wife; these events inspired the poem.