1901 The Sphinx

Description

Illustrated, Limited Edition, Publishers' Original Binding

A Limited Edition of this short and scandalous poem from Oscar Wilde, no. 116 of 250 copies printed on antique paper, from a privately printed pirated edition.

Written from the point of view of a young man who questions the Sphinx in lurid detail on the history of her sexual adventures, this 174 line poem was first published in an edition of just two-hundred copied in 1874, with contemporary reviewers condemning its sensationalism.

The disappointing reception resulted in George Bernard Shaw responding to a negative reviewer with the statement 'Wilde's wit and his fine literary workmanship are points of great value'.

In the publisher's original paper wraps, and with the verso of each of the thirty-two pages of poetry illustrated with woodcut depictions of Christ on the cross, and the head of the Sphinx. 

With the armorial bookplate of Charles Henry Littlewood to the front free endpaper.

Inspired by the French Decadent movement, this is a charming posthumously published edition of this sensual and controversial work from Wilde.