DE PROFUNDIS (First Edition, 1905)

First edition. ix + 151pp + 40pp publisher’s catalogue dated February 1905 (usually dated March 1905). Hardcover binding with gilt lettering to spine and front board, and inlaid gilt illustration on front board. Preface by Robert Ross. Top edge gilt. Deckled edges. Very good condition. Slight rubbing to boards, slight shelfwear and sunning to spine. Light browning to endpapers and pastedowns. Text clean, well bound.

First edition, published 1905.

‘De Profundis (Latin: "from the depths") is a letter written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to his friend and lover Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas.

In its first half, Wilde recounts their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle which resulted eventually in Wilde's conviction and imprisonment for gross indecency. He indicts both Lord Alfred's vanity and his own weakness. In the second half, Wilde charts his spiritual development in prison and identification with Jesus Christ, whom he characterizes as a romantic, individualist artist. The letter begins "Dear Bosie" and ends "Your Affectionate Friend".

Wilde entrusted the manuscript to the journalist Robert Ross (another former lover, loyal friend, and rival to "Bosie"). Ross published the letter in 1905, five years after Wilde's death, giving it the title "De Profundis" from Psalm 130. It was an incomplete version, excised of its autobiographical elements and references to the Queensberry family; various editions gave more text until in 1962 the complete and correct version appeared in a volume of Wilde's letters.’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Profundis_(letter))

Size: 8vo (19,6 x 13,6cm)

London: Methuen & Co. 1905