Pen, Pencil and Poison: A Study.
1889. London: The Fortnightly Review, January 1889.
8vo, pp. 41-54. The text is bound in marbled paper which is housed in an elaborate hand-painted vellum sleeve. The upper board is ruled in gilt with the title calligraphed in blue, black and red. Beneath the title there is a floral design of irises picked out in red against a geometric pattern of blue and black reeds. The binding is signed with an initial ‘B’ in red. Loosely enclosed are some pencil and ink drawings for the binding design. A remarkable binding. A sticker is attached to the front of the marbled paper to the text labelled “165 Mary Babe”. Possibly the binding was executed for an exhibition or competition.
§ First edition, extracted from the January 1889 issue of The Fortnightly Revue. The essay was later published in Intentions in 1891. Pen, Pencil, and Poison: A Study is Wilde's memoir of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, a writer who committed murder. He was convicted in 1837 of being a serial killer. In the essay Wilde muses on his life, and more generally on the intersection of art and morality. Item #125577
Price: $2,495.00