Books

London: John Lane, 1894. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First edition, one of 500 copies only printed. Octavo in lavender cloth decorated in gilt and with spine lettered in gilt. Fore edges uncut. 154 pp. plus 16 pp. of adverts for List of Books in Belles Lettres. This copy bears the rather scarce small publisher's bookplate on the front pastedown announcing "This Book Now Published by John Lane at the Bodley Head in Vigo St. London W." Very good. Scattered foxing to the endpapers. Shallow wear to the spine extremities and spine a bit rubbed. Some rippling to the lower portion of the cloth on the front board.

A Woman of No Importance is a play by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The play premièred on 19 April 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre. It is a testimony of Wilde's wit and his brand of dark comedy. It explores themes of English upper class society and highlights the double standards between men and women during the Victorian era.

To determine if a copy of 'A Woman of No Importance' is a first edition, one would look for the publication details from John Lane's The Bodley Head, check for the date of 1893, and any notes, prefaces, or forewords that are included in later editions would not be present.