Books

1904. First Edition. Paperback. 64pp. Privately printed. Place and date of publication unknown. 4to, original printed blue-gray wrappers. First edition of this collection, one of 300 numbered copies. Wilde's comic ghost story and two ironic society sketches issued in a pirated edition produced by Leonard Smithers, or by Wright & Jones, a firm of unscrupulous booksellers on Fulham Street, or by both of them. Seperately and in cahoots, they issued numerous piracies of Wilde's writings shortly after his death. Wrappers a little worn at the head and foot of the spine and slightly soiled; very good copy. Keywords: Literature - Rare - Irish - Wilde. First edition copy. . . .

The Sphinx is a one-act play written by Oscar Wilde. It's a dramatic monologue by a woman who laments the absence of her lover, who has died. The richness of the symbolic imagery intertwines themes of love with the mystery of the Sphinx.