Oscar Wilde Galop.
Boston, Massachusetts: W. A. Evans & Bro. [1882]. Folio, illustrated wraps. Pages detached from each other, small chip to corner, images and music fine, remains good to very good and quite attractive. Good to very good. Item #List3658
A visually striking example of Oscar Wilde–related ephemera issued during the height of the writer’s American lecture tour of 1882. Though lacking a printed date, the title strongly suggests publication in connection with Wilde’s appearance at the Boston Music Hall on January 31, 1882, where he delivered his lecture “The English Renaissance” as part of his widely publicized tour across the United States. Contemporary accounts describe the event as a notable cultural moment, including the presence of Harvard students dressed in exaggerated aesthetic costume who occupied the front rows of the hall, reflecting both the fascination with and satirical reception of Wilde’s aesthetic persona.[1]
The lithographic cover prominently depicts a figure carrying an oversized sunflower, an image closely associated with Wilde and the broader Aesthetic Movement. Such illustrated sheet music functioned not only as musical publications but also as collectible artifacts capitalizing on the figure of Wilde. Over the course of several months he traveled widely across the United States and Canada, delivering lectures on art, decoration, and cultural taste, and quickly became a subject of both admiration and parody in the American press. Although he never returned for a comparable national tour, Wilde maintained a lasting connection to American audiences. We know of a variant edition of the Evans imprint, with a different illustration, as well as a different version published in Boston by Ditson the same year.
OCLC 500491189, specifying this edition with the large sunflower illustration, locating five copies.
[1] “Freshmen at Oscar Wilde’s Lecture,” The Harvard Crimson, February 1, 1882.
Price: $450.00