The Sphinx (1894)
First published 11 June 1894 by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, the Bodley Head, London, and by Copeland and Day, Boston [200 copies]. – Wilde’s last publication before his imprisonment. (https://bit.ly/3j1HXaP)
“The date of the publication was September 29th, 1894 [?édition de luxe, 25 copies: “… a deluxe large paper edition, which took place after the regular edition of the poem was printed …“ (Fong and Beckson, Complete Works, vol. I, p. xxx)], the book having been entered for copyright the previous July.“ (Mason, Bibliography of Poems, p. 71).
GENESIS
“Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this remarkable poem (apart from its remarkable price) is the fact that it was written when the author was still a young man. The date usually assigned to it is about 1883, but I am inclined to think that portions of it, at least, were composed as early as 1878. The lines:
‘while I have hardly seen
Some twenty summers cast their green for Autumn’s gaudy liveries,’
are probably strictly autobiographical, and are repeated in ‘Ravenna,’ the Newdigate Prize Poem for 1878:
‘one who scarce has seen
Some twenty summers cast their doublets green,
For Autumn’s livery.’
I have recently been collating all Wilde’s poems for a bibliography, and I find nearly a dozen passages in ‘Ravenna’ taken from sonnets and other poems published before 1878, and not one instance of lines from ‘Ravenna’ being used in poems admittedly of later date. Stuart Mason. February 19 [1907].“ (Mason, “THE SPHINX“, p. 196)
“Mr. Robert Ross in a note to some of the later editions of ‘The Sphinx’ says that the poem was written before Oscar Wilde’s first volume was published in 1881, and that the author always told him that it was composed and written in Paris, in 1874. … But Sherard denies this and he was with Wilde when the poet was occupying a suite of rooms on the second floor of the Hôtel Voltaire, Quai Voltaire, overlooking the Seine and the Museum of the Louvre, and he states that Wilde gave him the impression that it was an entirely new work. …
It is very possible that the poem was commenced while he was at Magdalen College and later completed in Paris. Robert Ross tells us that the poem was polished and improved in 1889, ‘after he had unearthed the MS. from an old despatch box at Tite Street in my presence.’“ (Clark and Cowen, vol. 1, pp. 17-8)
“That the poem was begun during Wilde’s Oxford years can be inferred from a MS draft of lines 141–3, which also contains a cartoon sketch of a gowned professor (see Mason, [Bibliography] 396). ‘Sphinx’ was spelled ‘Sphynx’ in MS … assigned the date of 1877–8.“ (Fong and Beckson, Complete Works, vol. I, pp. 305-6)
“Hitherto [July 1892], the poem had been constructed in quatrains.“ (Fong and Beckson, Complete Works, vol. I, p. 306)
“Wilde continued work on the poem during his 1883 stay in Paris, writing to his friend and future biographer Robert Sherard (1861–1943) in April [from Hôtel Voltaire, see Complete Letters, pp. 205-6]: ‘The rhythmical value of prose has never yet been fully tested; I hope to do some more work in that genre, as soon as I have sung my Sphinx to sleep, and found a trisyllabic rhyme for catafalque’.“ (ibid.)
“It seems certain that Wilde began his long poem The Sphinx when he was still at Oxford and finished it now in Paris, though it was not published till 1894. For a rhyme to ‘catafalque’ he had to be content with ‘Amenalk, the God of Heliopolis’. (Complete Letters, p. 206n)
“Not that I have written here – the splendid whirl and swirl of life in London sweeps me from my Sphinx. I am hard at work being idle; late midnights and famishing morrows follow one another. I wish I was back in Paris, where I did such good work.“ (letter to Robert Sherard, May-June 1893, ibid., p. 211)
“… Wilde used to be fond of reciting it [The Sphinx] to his friends, in his wonderfully cadenced voice, a voice which I have been told made even publishers afraid to do business with him, so great was its charm. On one occasion after he had recited it, a friend asked him why he did not publish it? ‘No,’ he answered gravely, ‘it would destroy domesticity in England.’“ (Le Gallienne, “Introduction“, 1907, p. 24)
“Dear Mr Lane, I return you the agreement signed and witnessed. I have made some alterations in it. The maker of a poem is a ‘poet’, not an ‘author’: author is misleading.
Also the selection of reviews to which the book is sent must be a matter of arrangement between you and your partner and me. A book of this kind – very rare and curious – must not be thrown into the gutter of English journalism. …
Will you have a type-written copy made for me, so that I can correct the text before Ricketts writes it out: it would be a saving of time and money. “ (letter to John Lane, from Homburg, Germany, July 1892, Complete Letters, pp. 533-4)
“When it came to contracts, Wilde was one of the more difficult of the Bodley Head authors. Unlike most of the writers Mathews and Lane had to deal with, Wilde was very knowledgeable about business matters and insisted on carefully drawing-up contracts embodying various stipulations designed to protect his interests fully.“ (Nelson, The Early Nineties, p. 95)
“Drawn up by the legal firm of Markby, Wilde, and Johnson of 9 Lincoln’s Inn, the contract for Wilde’s The Sphinx is a far more elaborate contract. The formal agreement – bearing Wilde’s deletions of the word ‘author,’ which throughout is changed to ‘poet’ – is signed by Wilde, Ricketts, Shannon, Mathews, and Lane, and includes among the witnesses’ signatures that of Edward Shelley, the Bodley Head stock boy who was to figure prominently in Wilde’s trial.
Mathews and Lane agreed to purchase the rights to The Sphinx, and Ricketts agreed to illustrate the book on the following terms [original manuscript contract see. Elliott Collection MS Wilde/6, in Fay and Geoffrey Elliott Collection, Leeds University]:
(1) The publishers shall pay the poet a royalty of 10% on the gross sum received on the sales rendering accounts every six months.
(2) The publishers shall determine all details respecting the publication, the price at which copies are to be sold and the number of copies for publication in this country, America and elsewhere.
(3) The artist will before the 1st day of October 1892 submit to the publishers for their approval ten designs for decorating[,] colouring and fully illustrating the Poem also specimens of paper or other material and binding.
(4) The artist will execute and see to the reproduction of the designs when approved and prepare for and superintend through the press the said work and will make arrangements for the supply of all materials and labour for printing[,] issuing and binding the first and other editions thereof according to his own judgment but at the expense of the publishers with the stipulation that their total expenditure exclusive of advertisements[,] sales and fees paid to the author and artist shall not exceed £150 for an edition of 300 copies or less and £50 per 100 for any larger number which they may decide to produce.
(5) The publishers shall pay to the artist the sum of £45 which shall be paid as follows[:] £10 [£30 marked out by John Lane and £10 inserted] on the 18th of July 1892 and £10 on the eighteenth of each month until the total amount shall have been paid.
(6) The copyright of the work and of the illustrations and designs and of all future editions thereof shall belong absolutely to the publishers [Wilde has written in here: ‘personally.’ In the margin by (6) Wilde has written: ‘the publishers are not to have the right to sell the copyright of the poem, without the poet’s sanction.’]“ (July 1892, quoted ibid., pp. 96-7)
“The earlier success of the Bodley Head’s 1892 reissue of Poems (the edition of 220 signed and numbered copies sold out within days) may have persuaded Wilde, Mathews, and Lane that Wilde’s work was well suited to this developing market.“ (Small, Ian “Introduction“, p. xviii)
“My dear Ricketts, I return proof of The Sphinx. Will you kindly have a corrected proof sent to me, as I want to see if I could make the whole poem longer.“ (Goring-on Thames, ?June 1893, Complete Letters p. 566)
“I return proofs corrected. Don’t you think the pages are terribly few in number? Why not put fewer verses on each page? We could easily have four or five pages more … I want you not to allow Lane to have any advertisement pages in the book; silly things about Le Gallienne [partner of Mathews and Lane at the Bodley Head] are out of place in a work of art.“ (letter to Charles Ricketts, n.p., Spring 1894, ibid., p. 591)
“The book is printed throughout on vellum, fscap. 4to size, the smaller edition being 67/8 x 83/4 in., 36 unnumbered pages. The text is in small black Roman capitals, with the initial letters of each section, in green, of a larger size. The title on each page The Sphinx and the 10 full-page illustrations are in light red; the binding of full vellum, front and back being stamped in gold from a design by Ricketts. The volume was dedicated
TO
MARCEL SCHWOB
IN FRIENDSHIP
AND
IN ADMIRATION.
(Mason, Bibliography of Poems, pp. 71-2)
“The Sphinx was printed in green, red and black with illustrations and a sumptuous gold-blocked, vellum binding all designed by Ricketts. Published in 1894 at a high price it sold slowly, and many unsold copies were destroyed in a warehouse fire at the printers, the Ballantyne Press, thereby making the book extremely rare.“ (Stephen Calloway in Raby (ed.), The Cambridge Companion, p. 53 n17)
“Except for The Ballad of Reading Gaol, it is the only one of his poems published as an individual work in volume form … .“ (Atkinson, p. 44)
“The Sphinx was the Bodley Head’s most expensive book …“ (Small, Ian “Introduction“, p. xviii)
“And Wilde’s The Sphinx was done on an unbleached Arnold paper. Certainly much of the charm, the special feel of the Bodley Head book, derived from the avoidance of cheap pulp papers. and the care with which the paper was chosen.“ (Fong and Beckson, Complete Works, vol. I, p. 60)
“I have not yet received my copy of the édition de luxe of The Sphinx. What has happened to them?“ (letter to John Lane, Worthing, 3 September 1894, ibid., p. 606)
“Is it arranged in my Sphinx agreement that I am to have some of the édition de luxe? The document is with my lawyer. so I can’t verify it at present. In any case send me a copy.“ (letter to Elkin Mathews and John Lane, Worthing, September 1894, ibid., p. 609)
“How about the édition de luxe of The Sphinx? I have had no copy.“ (letter to Elkin Mathews and John Lane, Worthing, late September, 1894, ibid., p. 616)
“Manuscripts of The Sphinx were indiscriminately bound together over the years without regard to their provenance.“ (Fong and Beckson, Complete Works, vol. I, p. 305)
“W was in the habit of using De La Rue paper in composing his drafts.“ (ibid., p. 306)
“The history of the composition of The Sphinx, for which there are eleven surviving groups of manuscripts, is complex. Textual evidence and the watermarks of the paper of early manuscript drafts suggest that the poem (under the title The Sphynx) was begun during Wilde’s Oxford years (1874–8) and a fair copy of it made. A letter to Robert Sherard confirms that Wilde took the poem up again in Paris in 1883, and made a further fair copy. (This Paris version contains thirteen stanzas omitted from the final published work.) [?no. 7] After Wilde came to an agreement with the Bodley Head to publish the poem, he changed its quatrain structure to two-line stanzas, a feature which survives in a fair copy draft (with sketches by Charles Ricketts) now in the British Library (Add. MS. 37942) [no. 8]. Wilde sent this copy to John Lane, requesting that a typewritten copy of it be made. Wilde made further changes to the typescript; the text of this document is essentially that of the published poem, except for lines 75–88, which Wilde almost certainly added in proof, when a decision was made to standardize the spelling of the title). We cannot be sure of the exact date of the poem’s completion, except that it was at some time between June 1893 and its publication in September 1894.“ (Small, “Introduction“, pp. xxiv-xxv)
“Unusual in its structure, the poem consists of 174 iambic lines with eight stresses, each stanza of two lines containing internal rhymes (in an early draft, Wilde had used Tennyson’s stanzaic form of In Memoriam, then stretched out the lines of the quatrains into couplets).“ (Beckson and Fong, “Wilde as Poet“, p. 66)
“The poem consists of 87 couplets in sixteen-syllable lines, each containing internal rhyme: the rhyming word in the middle of one line rhyming with the last word in the other; indeed, Wilde had begun composing the poem by modeling his stanzas (with an abba rhyme scheme in iambic lines) after those in Tennyson’s In Memoriam, then stretching them out into couplets.“ (Beckson, Encyclopedia, p. 357)
NOTES, DRAFTS, MANUSCRIPTS
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Version |
Present Location |
Shelfmark |
Provenance |
Catalogue Entries / Notes |
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1. Autograph Manuscript on 41/2 pages folio and 2 pages 4to about 20 four-line stanzas [?1877-8]
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unknown |
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[possibly belonging to no. 4 and/or to no.5, see also no. 7, AAA, April 16-8, 1923, lot 972] |
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“Wilde was in the habit of using De La Rue paper in composing his drafts.“ |
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[a facsimile-reproduction of two pages of mss., with a cartoon sketch of a gowned professor, possibly belonging to this manuscript, see Mason, Bibliography, pp. 396-7 (https://bit.ly/3Gex3Jd)] |
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A Catalogue of Rare and Valuable Works, Bernard Quaritch, no. 316, London, July 1912, item 111 |
“Original holograph MS. of portions of The complete and final MS. of this poem was presented to the British Museum by Robert Ross, Esqre [no. 8]. The poem was commenced about 1882-3, but was not published till 1894.“ |
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[being a sale catalogue the item is not listed in Book-Prices Current, Book-Auction Records, American Book-Prices Current] |
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Bernard Quaritch |
purchased for £120 |
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Valuable Books, Autograph Letters and Illuminated and Other Manuscripts, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, 27 July 1911, lot 205 [Subtitle: “A Collection of Autograph Manuscripts, Printed Books, Newspaper Cuttings, &c., By and Relating to Oscar Wilde, the Property of a Gentleman“ – “Lots 195 to 200, and 204 to 212, 214 and 219 uniformly bound in green morocco extra, gilt backs, line sides.“] |
“ The complete and final autograph draft of this poem – the last work published by Wilde before his imprisonment – has been presented to the British Museum by Robert Ross, Esq. [no. 8]“ [facsimile page of seven autograph stanzas, see catalogue] |
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“The Sphinx, MS. on 41/2 pp. folio and 2 pp. 4to, an early draft of the poem. About 20 stanzas are complete, some of which survive unchanged in the printed version, while others are altered and others again entirely suppressed. (205) Quaritch, £120“ |
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Vyvyan Holland |
“Forgive me for having … [?] you. Poor Vyvyan Holland has come a fearful smash [?]. He has been repudiated by his broker & I have had to send him off to Spain, which has made a sudden & unpleasant strain on my resources. The sale at Sothebys which I made early on his behalf was not enough, & he has banked his share of his father’s estate long ago“ |
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?Christopher Millard / Stuart Mason |
Facsimile of two autograph pages, see Mason, Bibliography pp. 396-7 {https://bit.ly/3Gex3Jd) |
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Robert Ross |
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2. Autograph Manuscript 1 page 15 lines [1889] |
Private collection of Jeremy Mason |
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Oscar Wilde: A Man for Our Times – A Catalogue of Selected Items from the Collection of Jeremy Mason, London, Bonhams, [Feb.] 2021, item 45 |
“Autograph manuscript, a page of the working draft of ‘The Sphinx’ being a series of drafts of verse 25, [1889]. Wilde’s lengthy and weirdly exotic poem ‘The Sphinx’ was first published in 1894, but the evolution of its composition begins from at least as early as 1874, and Wilde is reported to have unearthed and then polished a manuscript of it in 1889. The present page of draft verse, which bears comparison in style and appearance to the draft page illustrated in Mason (p.397), is clearly a set of early jottings for, and revisions of, certain lines which were subsequently reworked yet again for the published version. The early manuscript version – [Did monstrous hippopotami] became in the final printed version Did monstrous hippopotami [facsimile of item, see sale catalogue, p. 36] |
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Jeremy Mason |
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Oscar Wilde, Sotheby’s, London, 29 Oct. 2004, lot 56 |
“A page of Wilde’s autograph working manuscript of his poem ‘The Sphinx’ being a series of drafts of three lines in the poem, here some fifteen lines in all, beginning ‘run sidling towards you in the mist’, drafted in black ink, with deletions and revisions. 1 page, 4to, on paper watermarked ‘De La Rue & Co’ London, integral blank, [1889], light spotting. Wilde’s lengthy and weirdly exotic poem The Sphinx was first published in 1894, but the evolution of its composition dates from at least as early as 1874, and Wilde is reported to have unearthed and then polished a manuscript of it in 1889. The present page of draft verse, which bears comparison in style and appearance to the draft page illustrated in Mason, p. 397, is clearly a set of early jottings for, and revisions of, certain lines which were subsequently reworked yet again for the published version. Thus, the two lines printed as ’Did monstrous hippopotami come sliding towards you in the mist? / Did gilt-scaled dragons writhe and twist with passion as you passed them by?’ (1894, p. [9]) are here cast as ‘run sidling towards you in the mist, / and did the huge worm wrestle and twist / In his salt marish as you passed’ among other variants. The line ‘Come forth my lovely seneschal! so somnolent, so statuesque!’ (1894, p. [2]) has its ur-version here as ‘come forth / so / serpentine, so somnolent’. |
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John Simpson |
“Autograph manuscript page from “The Sphinx“, 1 page, 1889. The Sphinx was polished and improved in 1889 after Wilde unearthed the Ms. from an old dispatch box at Tite Street in the presence of Robbie Ross; THIS IS CLEARLY AN EARLIER VERSION, WITH CROSSINGS-OUT AND INSERTIONS. The manuscript contains certain verses with interesting differences from the final published version. For example, ‘come forth so somnolent, so statuesque’ in the final version appears here as ‘so serpentine, so somnolent’; likewise the verses ‘Did some monstrous hippopotami come sidling toward you in the mist? Did gilt-scaled dragons writhe and twist with passion as you passed them by?’ vary considerably from their final form in this draft: ‘run sidling towards you in the (salt) mist (‘dusk’ is crossed out)’; the ‘dragon’ of the final verse is here the more mundane but symbolically potent ‘worm’: ‘Did the huge worm writhe and twist in his salt marsh as you passed?’“ |
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?Rick Gekoski |
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?J. O. Edwards |
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Fine Books and Manuscripts, …[among others] Property from the Library of the Col. Richard Gimbel Family …, Sotheby’s, New York, June 18, 1987, lot 206 |
“Autograph letter signed, 4 pages 8vo, [London], [no date], to the poetess Mrs. Emily Jane Pfeiffer; very slight soiling and spotting, original folds professionally restored. … Together with: WILDE, OSCAR Autograph manuscript, 1 page 4to, being a rough draft of portions of The Sphinx which differs significantly from the published version. This draft begins: ‘run sidling towards you in the mist, / and did the huge worm writhe and twist. . ./come forth so serpentine so somnolent. … Together 3 items.“ $2,860 [text from Rare Book Hub] |
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?Richard Gimbel |
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3. Autograph Fragments 4 leaves 14 [?four-line] stanzas |
Eccles Collection |
Add MS 81628, no. 9
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bequeathed to the BL in 2003 |
“Four fragments from the poem. ‘The Sphinx’ was started at the Hotel Voltaire, Paris, in 1874 in the presence of Robert Baldwin Ross, and published by Lane and Matthews in 1894 with an elaborate cover by Charles Ricketts in a limited edition of two hundred and fifty copies.“ |
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Eccles Collection |
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Mary Hyde / Viscountess Eccles |
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4. Autograph Manuscript 3 leaves four-line stanzas [?1877-8] |
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
W6721M1 S753 no digital copy |
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“Wilde, Oscar. “The Sphinx. 1894 |
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“[The sphinx]. |
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“AMS of 3 leaves, being an original MS of several verses, fragments and jottings for lines, with corrections and emendations.“ |
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“This early version represents the culmination of his efforts in 1877–8. Although pages are missing, W wrote in fair copy what had satisfied him to that point. In a continuous passage corresponding to lines 1–44 of the present text [Fong and Beckson, no. 118, The Sphinx], however, lines 3–10, 15–16, 19–20, 23–6, 29–30, and 35–6 are still missing.“ |
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5. Autograph Manuscript 4 leaves 14 four-line stanzas [?1877-8] |
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
W6721M1 S753 [1894]a no digital copy |
purchased on May 25, 1923, from A. S. W. Rosenbach |
“The Sphinx. 1894 |
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“[The Sphinx] |
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“AMS of an early draft in 4 leaves, with corrections and emendations; comprises 14 verses, three of which do not form part of published version.“ |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
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6. Autograph Manuscript 2 quarto sheets 8 four-line stanzas / 32 lines |
Private collection of Ömer Koç |
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[possibly identical with no. 10, and/or no. 11, and/or no. 12] |
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Books and Autographs from the Collections of Mrs Henry P. Quincy, of Boston, Mr J. Maus Schermerhorn, of New York, and from Other Collections, Anderson Auction Company, New York, May 25-26, 1914, lot 583 |
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“Original Autograph Manuscript of 8 stanzas of ‘The Sphinx,’ 32 lines, with two corrections and a number of variations from the printed poem. Quincey & Schermerhorn, A., May 25, ’14 (583) $105.00“ |
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“Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde brought the highest prices of autographs. … Eight stanza of ‘The Sphinx,’ consisting of thirty-two lines, went for $108. …“ |
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7. Autograph Manuscript on 24 folio and quarto leaves / 25 pages 90 stanzas four-line stanzas [?1883] |
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
W6721M1S753 no digital copy |
purchased in 1923, from A. S. W. Rosenbach |
“Wilde, Oscar. “The Sphinx. 1894 |
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“[The sphinx] |
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AMS in 24 leaves with corrections and emendations. Original MS of 90 stanzas of ‘The Sphinx,’ some of which is a fair copy.“ |
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William Andrews Clark |
sold to Clark, May 25, 1923 |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
purchased for $1,050 “While he [Rosenbach] had been in England, a telegram had come to the New York office from William Andrews Clark, Jr., asking Rosenbachs to buy for him a considerable group of Oscar Wilde manuscripts offered for sale at the American Art Association [April 1923]. Jerome Brooks was then in charge of the Madison Avenue store, but he was fairly new in his position and had no previous rare book training. He dutiful executed Clark’s commissions and obtained all the desired lots.“ |
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Books – Manuscripts – Drawings of Superlative Importance Acquired by or for a Noted Philadelphia Collector, American Art Association, New York, April 16-18, 1923, lot 972 i.e. “Mr Hughes“ |
“ The printed poem consists cf [of] 86 stanzas. In the present manuscript there are 90 complete stanzas, of which 54 agree more or less closely with the printed text, 21 are variations of stanzas included in the 54, and 15 are The various renderings of the different verses in this manuscript make it unusually interesting, and the differences shown between the finished verses as here written and the printed version would indicate that there were a number of revisions between this writing and the publication. Some of the verses which were not included in text are exceedingly beautiful, a notable instance of this being in the verse which occurs in his description of Ammon, following the line which ends with the words, ‘the merchants bear from Kurdistan,’ which reads, — ‘His feet were shod with sardonyx, From the John B. Stetson, Jr., collection, with his bookplate.“ [facsimile of two stanzas, notes and a sketch (mentioned above), see sale catalogue, item 972] |
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“The Rosenbach Company acquired several Wilde items. Among those was the original autograph manuscript of Oscar Wilde’s poem ‘The Sphinx,’ $1,050; the original autograph manuscript, signed, of the article ‘The true Function and Value of Criticism,’ $1,050; the original autograph manuscript of the drama ‘Vera; – or, the Nihilists,’ $755.“ |
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“MS. Poem ‘The Sphinx.’ About 2500 words, on 23 fol. and 4to leaves. Mounted and guarded, loose in lev. mor. covers, by Wood. From the John B. Stetson collection. G., April 16, ’23. (972) $1,050.oo.“ |
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“Original Autograph Manuscript of his poem, ‘The Sphinx,’ MS. of about twenty-five hundred words, comprising 90 complete stanzas and 8 parts of stanzas, written in ink on 23 folio and quarto ll. (25 pp.), mounted on guards or loosely laid in folio vol., full olive-green levant mor., gt. fillet borders on sides and in back panels, fac. signature of Oscar Wilde on front cover, doublures and fly-leaves of light green moire silk, g.e., by Wood (972), April 16, American Art Association $1,050.“ |
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Colonel H. D. Hughes |
sold to Hughes, April 30, 1920 |
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“Many of these items [of the Stetson sale] – fifty-one of Rosenbach’s purchases at the auction, in fact – were destined for Colonel H. D. Hughes, as is clear from the extensive listing in Rosenbach’s sales records. … Hughes, a collector for Pennsylvania, curiously paid off his sizable balance primarily through daily installments of $100.00.“ |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
purchased for $1,450 [but see below a) handwritten note in catalogue, b) American Book-Prices Current] |
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“At the sale of the Stetson collection of Oscar Wilde at the end of April, 1920, Dr. Rosenbach swept the board almost clean, taking virtually every item of real importance. He had been a Wilde enthusiast since his college days, when it was avant-garde to be mauve. His enthusiasm had been shared by Colonel H. D. Hughes of Philadelphia, who spent over $10,000 at the sale, wisely entrusting his bids to the Doctor.“ |
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The Oscar Wilde Collection of John B. Stetson, Jr., Anderson Galleries, New York, April 23, 1920, lot 96 |
“THE SPHINX. While but 86 stanzas comprise the poem as published, the present collection contains 90, including a number which were not used in the printed work. Not all the printed stanzas are present in the above collection, and as the variations between the two works are numberless there must have been revision after revision before the author had formed his Manuscript to his final satisfaction. sold for $350 (see handwritten note in sale catalogue: https://bit.ly/3CzogiQ) [facsimile of six stanzas, see sale catalogue, p. [19}] |
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“MS. of 90 stanzas of ‘The Sphinx,’ on 25 4to and folio sheets. Mounted on guards, or loosely laid in. Bound in lev. mor., g.e., by Wood. Stetson, A., April 23, ’20. (96) $1350.00.“ |
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John B. Stetson, Jr. |
bookplate |
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8. Autograph Manuscript 10 folios two-line stanzas [1892] |
British Library |
Add MS 37942 no digital copy |
presented by Robert Ross in 1909 (together with mss of “Lady Windermere’s Fan“ [see no. 5], “A Woman of No Importance“ [see nos. 5 and 6], “An Ideal Husband“ [see nos. 4 and 10], “The Importance of Being Earnest“ [see no. 5], plus additional mss, e.g. “De Profundis“) |
“‘The Sphinx,’ a poem, written at Paris in 1883 (Sherard, Life of Oscar Wilde, 1906, p. 238) and published in 1894, with decorations by Charles Ricketts. Final autograph draft, with designs in pencil for the decorations by Ricketts on the verso of ff. 1-5, 7-9. At the end (f. 10) are designs for the cover, etc., of ‘The Sphinx’ and the cover of an edition of the Poems, partly in colours. Presented by C. Ricketts to R. Ross, 4 Mar. 1904. Cf. f. ii., ‘This MS. was entirely lost sight of and forgotten for years. It was found again at Richmond in a portfolio containing old Dial manuscripts, proofs, etc., put carefully away, and again forgotten, till it was found in sorting the lumber which had been carted here and put in the garret.’ Paper; ff. ii. + 14. Bound in green morocco. 10 in. x 15 in.“ |
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“ The next fair copy draft MS of the poem (M3, location: BL Add. MS 37942) was also written in two-line stanzas with sketches by Ricketts. When W sent John Lane this MS in 1892, he requested that a TS (M4, location: Clark 2485) be prepared. [see no. 9]“ |
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“… the so-called ‘final draft’ of the poem in Wilde’s hand, though Wilde later provided some final revisions and additional lines.“ |
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“The final draft of the MS., one learns with interest, is now in the British Museum along with others, presented to the trustees by Mr. Ross.“ |
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Robert Ross |
presented to Ross by Ricketts, 4 March 1904 |
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Charles Ricketts |
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9. Typewritten Manuscript 4 leaves 80 [two-line] stanzas [1894] |
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
W6721M1 S753 [1894]c no digital copy |
no acquisition date |
“Wilde, Oscar. “The Sphinx. 1894 |
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“[The sphinx] [see no. 3] |
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“The Clark Library also has a TS. prepared from an untitled MS. in the British Library, presented by Robert Ross in 1909, the so-called ‘final draft’ of the poem in Wilde’s hand …“ |
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“That TS, which contains further corrections by W, is described in Mason 399, and collation reveals it to be a transcription of [no. 8].“ |
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“Original typescript in 4 folio pages, with corrections and emendations in ink in Wilde’s hand.“ |
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?A. S. W. Rosenbach |
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Rare Books and Manuscripts, Many of Superlative Importance, Including the Property of a Prominent Pennsylvania Collector, American Art Association, New York, April, 22-24, 1924, lot 849 |
“ This typewritten draft runs consecutively and forms a complete poem, but in the printed version a number of stanzas have been added. From the John B. Stetson, Jr. collection, with his book-label.“ |
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“Typed MS., Poem, ‘The Sphinx.’ 80 stanzas on 4 pp., fol., about 1,900 words. With several words written in Wilde’s autograph, and numerous corrections. Mounted on guards, and bnd., with blanks, lev. mor., by Wood. G., Apr. 22, ’24. (849) $67.50.“ |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
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Books – Manuscripts – Drawings of Superlative Importance Acquired by or for a Noted Philadelphia Collector, American Art Association, New York, April 16-18, 1923, lot 973 i.e. “Mr Hughes“ |
“ This draft runs consecutively and forms a complete poem. but in the printed version a number of stanzas have been added, chiefly in the description of Ammon. There are also many verbal differences between the two versions. From the John B. Stetson, Jr., collection, with his bookplate.“ |
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Colonel H. D. Hughes |
sold to Hughes, April 30, 1920 |
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“Many of these items [of the Stetson sale] – fifty-one of Rosenbach’s purchases at the auction, in fact – were destined for Colonel H. D. Hughes, as is clear from the extensive listing in Rosenbach’s sales records. … Hughes, a collector for Pennsylvania, curiously paid off his sizable balance primarily through daily installments of $100.00.“ |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
purchased by Rosenbach |
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“At the sale of the Stetson collection of Oscar Wilde at the end of April, 1920, Dr. Rosenbach swept the board almost clean, taking virtually every item of real importance. He had been a Wilde enthusiast since his college days, when it was avant-garde to be mauve. His enthusiasm had been shared by Colonel H. D. Hughes of Philadelphia, who spent over $10,000 at the sale, wisely entrusting his bids to the Doctor.“ |
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The Oscar Wilde Collection of John B. Stetson, Jr., Anderson Galleries, New York, April 23, 1920, lot 97 |
“THE SPHINX. Typewritten Manuscript of ‘The Sphinx,’ 4 pp. folio, with Manuscript corrections by Oscar Wilde, mounted with guards, and bound in full green levant morocco, gilt fillet back and sides, gilt edges, doublures and flys of white moire silk,, facsimile signature of Oscar Wilde on front cover, by Wood.“ sold for $130 (see handwritten note in sale catalogue: https://bit.ly/3CzogiQ) |
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John B. Stetson, Jr. |
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?A. S. W. Rosenbach |
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Bernard Quaritch |
purchased for £21 |
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Valuable Books, Autograph Letters and Illuminated and Other Manuscripts, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, 27 July 1911, lot 206 [Subtitle: “A Collection of Autograph Manuscripts, Printed Books, Newspaper Cuttings, &c., By and Relating to Oscar Wilde, the Property of a Gentleman“ – “Lots 195 to 200, and 204 to 212, 214 and 219 uniformly bound in green morocco extra, gilt backs, line sides.“] |
“The Sphinx, typewritten draft, 4 pp. folio, with manuscript corrections by Oscar Wilde. This draft runs consecutively, and forms a complete poem, but in the printed version a number of stanzas have been added, chiefly in the description of Ammon. There are also many verbal differences between the two versions.“ |
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“The Sphinx, typewritten draft, 4 pp. folio, with manuscript corrections by Oscar Wilde (206) Quaritch, £21“ |
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Vyvyan Holland |
“Forgive me for having … [?] you. Poor Vyvyan Holland has come a fearful smash [?]. He has been repudiated by his broker & I have had to send him off to Spain, which has made a sudden & unpleasant strain on my resources. The sale at Sothebys which I made early on his behalf was not enough, & he has banked his share of his father’s estate long ago“ |
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?Christopher Millard / Stuart Mason |
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Robert Ross |
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Version |
Present Location |
Shelfmark |
Provenance |
Catalogue Entries / Notes |
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10. Autograph Manuscript 9 pages, 20 quarto leaves 93 verses |
unknown |
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Collection J. D. [Jean Davray] – Manuscrits et livres précieux du quinzième au vingtième siècle, autographs historiques et littéraires, Palais Galliéra, Paris, 6-7 décembre 1961, lot 266 |
“The Sphynx. – Manuscrit autographe; 9 pages sur 22 ff. in-4. Ces brouillons comprennent quatre-vingt-treize vers, complets ou à l’ètat d’ébauche, avec des corrections et des reprises. Le manuscrit est conservé sous cellophane, dans une reliure es soie grise `s bords de maroquin.” |
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Jean Davray |
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11. Autograph Manuscript 2 leaves 8 stanzas |
unknown |
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[possibly identical with no. 6, and/or no. 12, and/or no. 13] |
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A Catalogue of Original Manuscripts, Presentation Copies, First Editions and Autograph Letters of Modern Authors, The Rosenbach Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1933, item 388 |
“ $3850.00“ |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
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12. Autograph Manuscript 1 page 8 stanzas |
unknown |
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[possibly identical with no. 6, and/or no. 11, and/or no. 13] |
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Selections from the Libraries of Heyward G. Hunter, Doswell, VA, The late William R. Powell, New York City, and Others, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, Jan. 23, 1931, lot 224 |
Autograph Manuscript. Manuscript of eight stanzas for ‘The Sphinx’. 1 p., folio. Mounted and bound in cloth (binding worn). Original autograph draft of eight stanzas for ‘The Sphinx’, with a number of deletions and changes. The stanzas commence: Who were your lovers, who were they that wrestled for you in the dust? Four of the eight stanzas were used almost verbatim in the published version, two were considerably altered, and two were entirely suppressed. Although ‘The Sphinx’ was not published until 1894, the poem was completed in Paris in 1883, and it is known that some parts of it were written during Wilde’s Oxford days. The final manuscript is in the British Museum.“ [text from Rare Book Hub] |
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13. Autograph Manuscript 2 pages 8 verses / stanzas 1894 |
unknown |
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[possibly identical with no. 6, and/or no. 11, and/or no. 12] |
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Fine Books from the Library of Charles J. Groves of Boston, and from Other Consignors, Anderson Galleries, New York, Dec. 12-13, 1917, lot 460 |
“Autograph MS. of eight verses of his poem, ‘The Sphinx’ 2 pages, 4to, 1894. Differs materially from the printed version of the same verses. The word ‘Traders’ in the MS. having been changed to ‘Merchants’ throughout the published version, and the fourth verse of the MS. differs considerably in wording construction from that of the corresponding verse in the printed text. |
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“Autograph manuscript, 8 stanzas of his poem, ‘The Sphinx,’ 2 pages, 4to, 1894. Varying somewhat from the printed text. Groves, A., Dec. 12, ’17. (460) $150.00“ |
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?Charles J. Groves |
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A Remarkable Collection of Rare Autographs, American and Foreign, Anderson Galleries, New York, March 27-28, 1916, lot 479 |
“Autograph MS. of eight verses of his poem, ‘The Sphinx.’ 2 pp. 4to. Differs materially from the printed version of the same verses. The word ‘Traders’ in the MS. having been changed to ‘Merchants’ throughout the published version, and the fourth verse of the MS. differs considerably in wording and construction from that of the corresponding verse in the printed text.“ |
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“Autograph Manuscript, 2 pages, 4to. Eight stanzas from his poem, ‘The Sphinx,’ varying from the printed text. A., Mar. 27, *16. (479) $110.00.“ |
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14. Autograph Manuscript 6 quarto pages |
unknown |
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A Catalogue of Rare and Valuable Books and Autograph Documents and Letters, Bernard Quaritch, no. 286, London, March 1910, item 1272 |
“Autograph MS. of some part of ‘The Sphinx,’ rough draft, 6 pp., 4to. |
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A Catalogue of Selected Editions of Works in English Literature, Bernard Quaritch, London, 1908, item 1629 |
“Autograph MS. of some part of ‘The Sphinx,’ rough draft, 6 pp., 4to.; |
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A Catalogue of Documents and Autograph Letters of Historical and Literary Celebrities, Bernard Quaritch, no. 253, London, [Nov.] 1906, item 188 |
“Autograph MS. of some part of ‘The Sphinx,’ rough draft, 6 pp., 4to. |
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15. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) four-line stanza / 35 words |
unknown |
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Transatlantic [Virtual] Book Fair, Shapero Rare Books, London, 11-13 July 2022, ref. 106146 |
[Wilde, Oscar] “The Sphinx, London, Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894.” “Laid into this copy a sheet of hand-made paper water marked ‘DE LA RUE & CO LONDON’, on which in Wilde’s hand are seven lines of manuscript comprising couplet 32 (as published) and slightly variant versions of the preceding and succeeding lines.” offered for £17,500 |
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Signed – Inscribed – Limited, Shapero Rare Books, London, May 2022, item 135 |
“WILDE, Laid into this copy a sheet of hand-made paper water marked ‘DE LA RUE & CO LONDON’, on which in Wilde’s hand are seven lines of manuscript comprising couplet 32 (as published) and slightly variant versions of the preceding and succeeding lines. [reduced facsimile, see title-page of catalogue] |
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Fine Books and Manuscripts, James Cummins, New York, cat. no. 142, Dec. 2021, lot 117 |
“The Sphinx. London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane At the Sign of the Bodley Head, 1894. One of 200 copies. … Manuscript with old fold, early pencil annotations in another hand. Laid into cloth slipcase and chemise. or did you make Till from each black sarcophagus [beneath:] Desire <waked> shook the swathèd dead With an autograph manuscript fragment of the poem, when the work was still written in quatrains. The text comprises a variant part of line 62, the complete lines 63-64, and a variant of the 63rd line which appears in the the second known draft of the poem. The manuscript is written on a leaf of De La Rue folio paper, torn in half, and similar to the fragments in the Clark and Hyde collections described as F2 by the editors of Wilde’s Poems and Poems in Prose (Oxford, 2001). The manuscript is loosely inserted in a choice copy of Wilde’s Sphinx, “the most beautiful and consummately designed trade book of the 1890s” (Nelson), and the last book Wilde published before his imprisonment. $12,500“ [reduced facsimile, see sale catalogue, p. 73] |
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Private U.S.-collector |
After the collector’s death in the 1930s, his library was preserved, essentially unchanged, until 2020. |
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16. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) |
unknown |
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Rare First Editions, Autograph Letters, Manuscripts … The Distinguished Library of Howard J. Sachs, Stamford, Conn., Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Feb. 1, 1944, lot 132 |
“The Sphinx. With decorations by Charles Ricketts. Small 4to, original pictorial vellum, uncut. In a green morocco-backed cloth slip case. London, 1894 |
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“The Sphinx, Lond., 1894. 1st Ed. Small 4to, vellum. Sheet of auto. ms, notes by the author laid in. O (132) $25 |
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17. Fragment of Autograph Manuscript (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) |
unknown |
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A Remarkable Collection of Rare Books, Autograph Letters, and Original Manuscripts. Sold by order of a Boston Private Collector, Estate of John T. Colworth, and Various Other Owners, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Dec. 8-9, 1943, lot 404 |
“—Same [The Sphinx]. Dust-soiled. Fragment of Auto. Ms. by the author inserted. *k (404) $11.“ |
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18. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) |
unknown |
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“Weekly Sale“ of the City Book Auction, New York, Dec. 1943, lot 334 |
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“[The Sphinx] 1-page auto. ms. by the author laid in. k (334) $15 |
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19. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) two-line stanzas |
unknown |
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[possibly a forgery] |
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?Kim Herzinger, book dealer, Greenwich Village |
[Gardner, Anthony, “The Oscar Wilde Forgeries“, Sunday Times Magazine, [8 July] 2007, see https://bit.ly/3fu033s] |
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Books, Autographs, Manuscripts from the Libraries of Mrs. Frederick A. DePeyster, New York City, James M. Kennedy, Garden City, L. I., and Others, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, Feb. 9, 1932, lot 269 |
“The Sphinx. Decorations by Charles Ricketts. Small 4to, original vellum, gilt decorations, uncut. In a half morocco slip case. London, 1894. |
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“The Sphinx, with Decorations by Charles Ricketts. London [1894]. Sm 4to. Orig. vel., uni.; in hf.mor.case (laid in is leaf of orig. MS.). NN (269) $52.50.“ |
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20. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) |
unknown |
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Selections from the Library of Mr. Walter H. Richter of New York City, Anderson Galleries, New York, Nov. 6, 1922, lot 267 |
“The Sphinx. With decorations by Charles Ricketts. Small 4to, original vellum, uncut. In half red morocco slip case. London, 1894. |
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“The Sphinx., Lond. 1894. Sm. 4to |
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21. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) 6 lines |
unknown |
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[possibly identical with no. 22] |
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Walter T. Spencer |
“My copy of ‘The Sphinx’ (London, 1894) contains an autograph inscription in Wilde’s most beautiful hand: ’Eugene Lee Hamilton from his friend the author In memory of one delightful afternoon and many delightful sonnets. June 1894.’ This edition was limited to two hundred copies, which makes my copy rare enough in any case: but its value is considerably enhanced by the two loose sheets of paper accompanying it. One is a statement of account, dated February 12th, 1895, from the publishers, addressed to Wilde at Tite Street, Chelsea: showing the number of copies of ‘The Sphinx’ in stock, ‘as per last statement September 29, 1894’ to be eleven ‘lp’ copies and 131 ‘sp’ copies, of which one ‘lp’ copy at 87s 6d. has been sold and nine ‘sp’ copies at 35s. This throws an interesting light on Wilde’s popularity at that time (when his name was on everyone’s lips), or the lack of it. The other sheet of paper contains in Wilde’s writing six lines from ‘The Sphinx,’ which never appeared in the published version: ‘Have you no other house of rest But this that is the house of joy, And must you make of / use / me / as / your toy And must I hold you to my breast, And love and loathe you day and night, And loathe and love you night and day …’“ (Spencer Forty Years, pp. 249-250) |
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[Spencer’s copy of Wilde’s presentation copy to Eugene Lee Hamilton’s was auctioned by Sotheby’s (The Library of an English Bibliophile, Part VI, Sotheby’s, London, 20 October 2016, lot 185) – without either of the two sheets mentioned] |
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22. Autograph Manuscript one sheet (inserted in a copy of The Sphinx) |
unknown |
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[possibly identical with no. 21] |
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Walter T. Spencer |
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Library of E. Platt, etc., Puttick & Simpson, London, May 27-28, 1914, lot 523 |
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“The Sphinx, 1st. end., a leaf of the original manuscript inserted, sm. 4to, 1894 (P. May 28; 523) Spencer £12 15s.“ |
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E. Platt |
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23. Autograph Manuscript |
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Catalogue of a Remarkable Collection of Author’s Manuscripts, Presentation Copies, Association Books, The Rosenbach Galleries, Philadelphia, Nov. 6 – 20, 1911, lot 122 |
“’The Sphynx.’ Original manuscript, with corrections in Wilde’s hand.“ [attribution is not possible owing to lack of information] |