Wilde Album: Public and Private Images of Oscar Wilde

I've read at least six biographies of Oscar's but this book gives new, unique information and it's especially interesting since Oscar's grandson wrote it.

This volume is more touching and insightful than mostworks about Oscar Wilde tend to be. It is filled withthe narrative commentary of Wilde's grandson,Merlin Holland, who gives honest opinions as wellas factual detail about the various stages ofOscar Wilde's life. The treasures, however, are the multitudes ofphotographs, memorabilia, and paintings that areincluded -- as well as drawings, satirical cartoons(mostly lampooning Oscar, both at Oxford and laterin life), and wonderful notations under the items. The most interesting photographs, for me, arethe ones which were done by Napoleon Sarony. Theyseem to touch a more thoughtful, poetic, dreamyOscar, rather than the posing bon vivant or thedeliberately provocative aesthete/decadent.The volume does well to have one of those photoson the cover, as well as having a different photobeside the title page. The grotesque photos,that almost make one cringe, though, are ofOscar in a skirted Greek national costume (with boots!) from April 1877; Oscar in acheckered suit and bowler hat at Oxford in1878, and Oscar at age 2 in a blue velvetdress, a daguerreotype which has been colortinted. The weirdest photos are of the"blond tiger/panther" Lord Alfred Douglas,would-be "friend" and lover of Oscar. Hiseyes look vacant, haunted, cold in most ofthe photos , except for the one on page 147,in which he looks touchingly sensitive andlonely...the caption below the picture saysit all: "Douglas aged 23. 'Your slim giltsoul walks between passion and poetry. I knowHyacinthus, whom Apollo loved so madly, was youin Greek days,' Wilde wrote to him around thattime." Truly a remarkable album of memories.

This is a sparkling gem for all fans of Oscar Wilde. It is a brilliant retelling of Oscar's life through pictures. Filled with everything from photographs of Wilde the aesthete to hilarious caricatures of him from Punch magazine to some of Wilde's own drawings and notes, this fabulous little book has it all. Many of the items I have not seen in any other volume. It goes wonderfully well coupled with Richard Ellman's gorgeous biography or it stands tall on its own. All and all, a marvelous book that I cannot possibly recommend highly enough.

Cutting to the chase, the real prize in this marvelous little book are the photographs. For once, we get something other than the usual lot that appear in books with a Wilde connection. Mr. Holland has achieved through his pictures (most seem to be from the family collection) something which most texts don't do..... a feel for the whole of Wilde the man. There is a human dimension to this slim volume that one does not find elsewhere. There are pictures of ancestors, parents, editorial cartoons, advertisements, all in relatively strict chronological order, from the child in a dress (as was customary for little boys in the period) to the student, the developing fop, the lampooned character, the ludicrous pairing with Bosie... who looks perpetually bored and thoroughly uninteresting... to the depressing denouement, death bed and funerary monuments. The text reveals nothing new but it is elegantly written. Both of Wilde's children were devoted to the memory of their father. It is evident that the grandson was raised in like manner. Of Wilde's two boys, Cyril died in WWI without issue. Mr. Holland is the grandson of the other, Vyvyan.If you are interested in the period, England and Ireland in late 19th century, Wilde, gay history, etc. buy this book. It is worth infinitely more than it costs.

Aside from the books Wilde actually wrote, this is the one book that should be on the shelf of everyone who loves Oscar. While its biographical story adds nothing new to the facts, the author's palpable sympathy for his grandfather is a welcome change from the cold and critical standard set by most critics of this pivotal genius and the wreckage of his life. More importantly, this small volume, which you can carry in a pocket, constitutes the largest single repository of Wilde memorabilia. Holland begins by lamenting the dissolution and loss of Wilde's scrapbooks and albums in the debtor sale of the author's entire household. By the end of his story his family's loss has taken on its true proportions as a loss to the rightful inheritance of all humankind.

This elegant little book is the first book about Oscar Wilde that I read and the one that made me fall in love with him. It's filled with beautiful pictures, some of which I haven't seen in other books. Besides the usual public pictures of Oscar, there are photos of personal objects like his wife Constance's wedding ring, letters and pages of manuscript, some in French, that show glimpses of the privet man behind the epigrams. There is enough biographical information to put the pictures in context; I knew very little about Oscar when I first read it and found everything to be quite clear. If you already have Vyvyan Holland's biography of Oscar (which would fit very nicely with this book, filling out the biographical information, as would Richard Ellmann's biography), there are more than enough pictures in this book that are not in Vyvyan Holland's book to make it worth adding to your library.