Books

London: John Lane, 1894. First edition. Hardcover. Publisher's full mauve cloth stamped in gilt, spine stamped and lettered in gilt. Very good. 154 pages. 27.5 x 16 cm. Limited edition, one of 500 with 16 pages of advertisements at end (dated March 1894), Cover gilt design florets by Charles Shannon considerably influenced by his lifetime partner Charles Ricketts, both of whom produced work for the Doves Press. MASON 364. The play premièred on 19 April 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre, satirizing English upper-class society. Spine dulled, spine extremities creased, binding tight; a sound copy.

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.