Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

6W Oscar Wilde. London: Collins, 1971. Notes Oscar Wilde stands as one of the most brilliant, foundational figures of late 19th-century European literature and the defining avatar of the Aesthetic Movement. Writing under his full legal name, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, he produced a diverse and dazzling body of work that challenged the rigid moral hypocrisies of Victorian society. His literary legacy spans multiple genres, including his masterfully witty society comedies like The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband, his profound and haunting fairy tales gathered in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, and his legendary, controversial gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde’s work is characterized by its razor-sharp epigrams, unmatched conversational wit, and a passionate devotion to "art for art's sake"—the belief that art should exist for its own beauty rather than to serve a moral or political lesson.  The publication history of Wilde's later works is permanently intertwined with the personal tragedy that cut his career short. At the height of his fame in 1895, Wilde was imprisoned for "gross indecency" due to his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, a devastating ordeal that inspired his raw, poignant jailhouse letter De Profundis and his monumental poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol (originally published under his prison identification number, C.3.3.). Description black canvas binding with red label to spine. Original jacket with black and red illustration to cover and spine. Some fading to clarity of color on spine. With lovely letter from previous owner to the recipient loosely inserted. Fine condition.