60 Great Books Bauman Rare Books - 60 - Signed Limited First Edition Of The Happy Prince, One Of Only 75 Large-Paper Copies 58. WILDE, Oscar. The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Illustrated by Walter Crane and Jacob Hood. London, 1888. Quarto, original full Japan vellum, custom clamshell box. $48,500. Large-paper limited first edition, one of only 75 copies on handmade paper, signed by Oscar Wilde and the publisher David Nutt. Extraordinarily rare. “Wilde’s reputation as an author dated from the publication of The Happy Prince and Other Tales… He presents the stories like sacraments of a lost faith… Their occasional social satire is subordinated to a sadness unusual in fairy tales” (Ellmann, 299). Wilde wrote these tales for his own children. His children later wrote of their father’s “never-ending supply” of fairy tales and tales of adventure. Many of his stories were never put to paper, unfortunately, but the ones that do survive are considered to be examples of his most creative writing. In addition to the title story, this collection includes “The Nightingale and the Rose,” “The Selfish Giant,” “The Devoted Friend,” and “The Remarkable Rocket.” With three pen-and-ink line cuts by Art Nouveau illustrator Walter Crane, each in double suite (black and brown) on mounted India paper, and with intricate head- and tailpieces by Jacomb Hood, also on India paper. Mason 314. Plates and text fine, light foxing to endpapers, slightest soiling and very mild toning to extremities of boards, far less than usual, and small bump to lower corner. A most superior copy, about-fine, of a delicate and rare production.
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