The Ballad of Reading Gaol. by Wilde, Oscar - 1900: By C. 3.3. [Oscar Wilde].

1900. One of the first pirated Editions of the first edition from June 1899. London, Leonard Smithers, [c.1900]. 8°. 31 pages. Original Hardcover ["cinnamon-coloured linen with with white linen back" / "on rough wove paper, all edges uncut" (Mason 584)]. Unusually excellent condition with only very minor signs of external wear. Important: Faded foxing throughout (see images). Exlibris / Bookplate of film critic Leonie Graetz (Exlibris was made by the artist Hermann Westphal) to the front pastedown. Very Rare in this condition ! [See: Stuart Mason - Bibliography of Oscar Wilde - No.584: "This is similar in appearance to Smither's edition of 1899 (Mason 378). His address is omitted on the title-page as he was bankrupt at the time. It was printed by G.Woolley of 137 Dalling Road, Hammersmith, who printed many of the piracies for which Smithers was responsible. The type differs slightly from the authorised editions printed on hand-made paper at the Chiswick Press, and there are some misprints in the text, but except in one or two places it is a line for line reprint of the earlier editions"].