Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)
First produced by George Alexander at the St. James’s Theatre, London, 20 February 1892.
First US production by Albert Marshman Palmer, Boston, January 23, 1893.
First published by Elkin Mathews & John Lane, the Bodley Head, 9 November 1893. (https://bit.ly/3cf43Fr)
GENESIS
“George Alexander, the young and zealous actor who had just become the manager of the St. James’s Theatre, begged Wilde to write him a modern comedy. Wilde was quite agreeable, but nothing happened.“ (Pearson, Oscar Wilde, p. 195)
“’I have a play in my mind … To-morrow I am going to shut myself up in my room, and stay there until it is written. George Alexander has been bothering me to write a play for some time and I’ve got an idea I rather like. I wonder can I do it a week, or will it take three? It ought not to take long to beat the Pineros and the Joneses.’“ (Oscar Wilde to Frank Harris, quoted in Harris, vol. I, p. 139)
“Received of George Alexander the sum of £50 in advance of fee of original three or four act play to be written by me and MS handed in to said G. A. not later than January 1st 1891.“ (letter to George Alexander, ?late January 1890, Complete Letters, p. 421)
“Lady Windermere’s Fan was commissioned by George Alexander in July 1890 when Alexander was negotiating (or about to negotiate) his initial lease for the St. James’s Theatre.“ (Guy and Small, Oscar Wilde’s Profession, p. 94)
“The conjectural dating provided by the editors of the Complete Letters of the letter from Wilde to Alexander acknowledging receipt of £50 as ‘[?Late Jan. 1890]’ is strongly confirmed by internal evidence: Wilde’s request to Alexander in the same letter for a pair of stalls for Hamilton Aide’s play Dr. Bill, which opened at Alexander’s Avenue Theatre on 1 February 1890. The date is six months earlier than the date of commissioning given by a series of modern scholars, all of whom come down in favour of July 1890, when Alexander was half-way through his first year of management at the Avenue. They base their dating mainly on a series of private letters, lately discovered, from Alexander to Clement Scott [theatre critic, Daily Telegraph] written between 4 January and 23 February 1892, in one of which Alexander claimed he purchased the future play from Wilde ’18 months ago when my larder was empty’ (?4-11 January 1892). From this reference they deduce the date of July 1890. But Alexander appears to have been wrong about the interval of time passed … .“ (Donohue, Complete Works, vol. V, p. 488)
“Monday [4 or 11 January? 1892] / My dear Scott / Every word you write is perfectly true. I bought this play 18 months ago when my larder was empty & because I believed it to be an interesting though conventional story, and I do think it will draw a class of people to the St. James with whom I am not at present in touch. I have had a world of labour with it to get it right as it is.“ (quoted in Kaplan, “A Puppet’s Power“, p. 71)
“Correspondence between Alexander and the theatre critic Clement Scott shows that the initial reason for commissioning a play from Wilde … was to use Wilde’s name to ‘bring to the St. James’s the smart society circles in which Wilde himself already moved.’“ (Guy and Small, Oscar Wilde’s Profession, p. 106)
“But when Sir George Alexander commissioned him to write a play for the St. James’s Theatre, Oscar was all diffidence. He did not, he declared, know how to begin. Time went on and at length he had to be bullied into writing his comedy.“ (Ella Hepworth Dixon, quoted in Mikhail, Interviews and Recollections, p. 434)
“My dear Aleck, I am not satisfied with myself or my work. I can’t get a grip of the play yet: I can’t get my people real. The fact is I worked at it when I was not in the mood for work, and must first forget it, and then go back quite fresh to it. I am sorry, but artistic work can’t be done unless one is in the mood; certainly my work can’t. Sometimes I spend months over a thing, and don’t do any good; at other times I write a thing in a fortnight.“ (letter to George Alexander, 2 February 1891, Complete Letters, p. 463)
“My dear Aleck, Of course I am in your debt £50 and I am very much disappointed I have not been able to write the play, but I want you not to ask me to pay you at present, as I am in a great mess about money, and really will not have any till September, when The Duchess of Padua goes on tour in America. Do let me wait till then, and believe me to be, with great regret for not having done the play …“ (letter to George Alexander, ?Summer 1891, ibid., p. 486)
“… Wilde delayed, to Alexander’s reported consternation, until the summer of 1891, when a draft was composed while Wilde was vacationing at Lake Windermere …“ (Beckson, Encyclopedia, p. 178)
“My dear Joe, I think after you have read the play you had better let me have it back, as I would like to touch it up a little before Daly [Augustin Daly, American theatre director] sees it.“ (letter to Joseph Anderson, ?Mid-September 1891, Complete Letters, p. 488)
“Evidence that Wilde had a completed draft of his play by the end of the summer of 1891 comes from a rather puzzling note, tentatively dated mid-September 1891, to a certain ‘Joe’, presumed to be Joseph Andersen (?1863-1943), the brother of Mary Anderson (whom Wilde had once hoped would stage The Duchess), and who was married to the daughter of Lawrence Barrett. Wilde had evidently sent Joseph Anderson a draft of the play, which he now asked to be returned to him, so that he could ‘touch it up a little before Daly sees it’ [see following mail].“ (Guy, Complete Works, vol. XI, p. 279)
“My dear Daly, I send my play A Good Woman (four acts). I should so much like you to read it and let Miss [Ada] Rehan see it also. I would sooner see her play the part of Mrs Erlynne than any English-speaking actress we have, or French actress for that matter.“ (letter to Augustin Daly, ?end of September 1891, Complete Letters, p. 489)
“I have finished my play, and have arranged for its production in London. But I want to have it produced first in Paris.“ (letter to HSH the Princess of Monaco, [?28 October 1891], ibid., p. 491)
“At first sight this would appear to refer to Lady Windermere’s Fan but having it ‘produced in Paris first’ makes little sense. … This raises the possibility that Wilde had already written much of Salomé before leaving for Paris (where he had already spent at least two weeks in the spring), had provisionally arranged for its production the following year, and was in France to polish its language.“ (ibid., p. 491n)
“The existence of the two early drafts of the play [Salomé] written in notebooks purchased in the Boulevard des Capucines, one of them dated November 1891, argues against this conjecture [see above Complete Letters, p. 491n]; moreover, there is no evidence that Wilde had arranged for a London production of Salomé at this point. In fact, in the closing months of 1891 he would be pursuing Paul Fort, the director of the Théâtre d’Art, in hopes of a production in Paris. … The further fact that the Texas manuscript of Salomé [see ‘Salomé’, no. 2], much worked over and in an unfinished state, is dated by Wilde ‘Paris Nov. ’91’ makes it virtually impossible that he can be referring to Salomé“ and not to Lady Windermere’s Fan … .“(Donohue, Complete Works, vol. V, pp. 341-2)
“Mon cher ami, A 9.30 demain matin je serai chez vous! Je vous remercie infiniment de l’interêt que vous avez porté dans cette affaire.“ (petit-bleu to Constant-Benoît Coquelin, 6 November 1891, Complete Letters, p. 493, referring perhaps to a translation into French of Lady Windermere’s Fan, see ibid., p. 493n)
“Coquelin has recommended me to have my play [Lady Windermere’s Fan] translated by Delair [Paul Delair (1842-1894), dramatist, novelist and poet], who has done La Mégère for the Française. I have had an interview with him, and he is fascinated by the plot, but I don’t know if he understands society-English sufficiently well, I mean the English of the salon and the boudoir, the English one talks. I am sending him the manuscripts tomorrow.“ (letter to HSH the Princess of Monaco, ?late November 1891, ibid., p. 495)
“My dear Scott, ‘Forgiveness’ [a four-act comedy by J. Comics Carr, which had opened on 30 Dec. 1891] is no good so I am rehearsing Oscar Wilde’s play as I think it best to do it next – Carton (R. C. Carton] has not finished his last act [of his play Liberty Hall], & has agreed to wait a while.“ (letter George Alexander to Clement Scott, 1 February 1892, quoted in Kaplan, “A Puppet’s Power“, p. 71)
“Alexander explains that Oscar Wilde first read Lady Windermere’s Fan from a ‘typed copy’ and that the original production was studied from a typewritten manuscript.“ (see letter from George Alexander to Walter Ledger, dated 7 Nov. 1905, Robert Ross Collection, Box 4, Ross Env e.38.iii)
“As part of the preparations for the 1892 production multiple typescripts of the play were commissioned from Mrs Marshall’s typewriting agency. These were not just carbon copies for various members of the cast and production team; rather, they seem to have been made at different moments in the rehearsal/staging process and reflect different ideas about how the play might be developed.“ (Guy, Complete Works, vol. XI, p. 282)
“Of importance, too, was Wilde’s conscientious attendance at rehearsals (except when illness kept him away). Although his presence was an irritation to Alexander, it enabled Wilde to see how his lines played on stage, and to intervene quickly when elements did not work. It gave him an appreciation of the importance of correct delivery and good direction, and thus a better understanding of when it was his own writing that was at fault, as opposed to an actor’s interpretation of his lines.“ (ibid., p. 324)
“Dear Aleck, I heard by chance in the theatre today – after you had left the stage – that you intended using the first scene a second time – in the last act. I think you should have told me this, as after a long consultation on the subject more than four weeks ago you agreed to have what is directed in the book of the play, namely Lady Windermere’s boudoir, a scene which I consider very essential from a dramatic point of view.
… If through pressure of time, or for reasons of economy, you are unable to give the play its full scenic mounting, the scene that has to be repeated should be the second, not the first. Lady Windermere may be in her drawing-room in the fourth act. She should not be in her husband’s library. This is a very important point.“ (letter to George Alexander, mid-February 1892, Complete Letters, p. 512)
“Dear Alexander, I am too unwell to attend rehearsal this morning. If there is one this evening I will come. Perhaps Mr Shone [business manager of the St. James’s Theatre] will kindly let me know. In any case I hope that there will be no repetition of the painful scene of last night. I have always treated you with personal courtesy, and I expect to be treated with equal courtesy in return.“ (letter to George Alexander, mid-February 1892, ibid., p. 514)
“Dear Alexander, I am still in bed by my doctor’s orders or would have come down to rehearsal, but will be there tonight for certain . … With regard to your other suggestion about the disclosure of the the play in the second act, had I intended to let out the secret, which is element of suspense and curiosity, a quality so essentially dramatic, I have written the play on entirely different lines. I would have made Mrs Erlynne a vulgar horrid woman and struck out the incident of the fan. The audience must not know till the last act that the woman Lady Windermere proposed to strike with her fan was her own mother. … the chief merit of my last act is to me the fact that it does not contain, as most plays do, the explanation of what the audience knows already, but that it is the sudden explanation of what the audience desires to know, followed immediately by the revelation of a character as yet untouched by literature.
The question you touch on about the audience misinterpreting the relations of Lord Windermere and Mrs Erlynne depends entirely on the acting. …
An equally good play could be written in which the audience would know beforehand who Mrs Erlynne really was, but it would require completely different dialogue, and completely different situations. I have built my house on a certain foundation, and this foundation cannot be altered. I can say no more.“ (letter to George Alexander, ibid., pp. 515-7)
“Strictly Private / Feby. 20th. 92 / My dear C. S. / Many, many thanks for your kind telegram. I have impressed this very thing on the author from the beginning – it could be done in Act I by a word or two from me or in Act II in Mrs. Erlynnes reading the letter – this very point has been the cause of great strife between Wilde & myself, but I find him absolutely unmoved in his belief that what he has done is right. Only yesterday I wrote him as follows ‘I once more impress upon you the necessity of telling the audience in Act I or at any rate in Act II of the relations between Mrs. Erlynne & Lady Windermere. The interest would not be diminished but greatly increased by this & both Mrs. Erlynne & Lord Windermere would not be in false positions during the first three acts’. To this he replied yesterday ‘With regard to your other suggestion about the disclosure of the secret of the play in the second act, had I intended to let out the secret which is the element of suspense and curiosity, qualities so essentially dramatic, I would have written a play on entirely different lines’. I shall see him today & beg him to allow these alterations – thinking, as I say, it is only a matter of about six words from me & another six from Mrs. Erlynne. I think the play otherwise is very fine indeed & therefore I hope you will help me as far as you can honestly & justly to smooth over this difficulty if I am still unable to persuade this conceited, arrogant & ungrateful man of his stupidity.“ (letter George Alexander to Clement Scott, 20 February 1892, quoted in Kaplan, “A Puppet’s Power“, p. 72)
“Of what happened next there is no doubt. Scott, putting on his critic’s cap savaged the play offering in his Daily Telegraph review (22 Feb ), the very advice Alexander had confided in his ‘Strictly Private’ letter of 20 February. Not only did Scott lament the manner in which a late disclosure rendered inexplicable the actions of Mrs. Erlynne and Lord Windermere, he proposed the remedy he and Alexander had already agreed upon, echoing the actor’s own words as to what might be added and where. He also managed to convey something of Alexander’s sense of urgency and crisis. On Monday, 22 February, the day Scott’s column appeared, Alexander notes Wilde’s capitulation: ‘Oscar has consented to the change today – thank goodness’. He also expresses gratitude for Scott’s assistance. A final letter, sent the following day, confirms that ‘the alteration was made last night, and it is a great improvement’.“ (ibid., pp. 66-8)
“My dear C. S. Oscar has consented to the change today – thank goodness. Many thanks.“ (letter George Alexander to Clement Scott, 22 February 1892, quoted in ibid.. p. 72)
“In the case of Lady Windermere’s Fan, it was a process which, famously, continued after the opening night, with changes made at Alexander’s strongly urged suggestion to reveal Mrs Erlynne’s relationship to her daughter Lady Windermere by gradual degrees, instead of reserving it for the fourth act. Following the first run of each play, Wilde would then make alterations and additions to the post-production printed text. No playwright before him writing in English had paid such minute attention to the text of both his performed and published work.“ (Raby, “Wilde’s Comedies of Society;“ in Raby (ed.), The Cambridge Companion, p. 144)
“Lady Windermere’s Fan was a highly popular and successful play: Wilde made £7,000 from it in 1892 alone.“ (Eltis, Revising Wilde, p. 55)
“This was the result of a wise decision on Wilde’s part. Alexander offered to buy the play outright for £1,000, but, impressed by his offer, Wilde replied: ‘A thousand pounds! I have so much confidence in your excellent judgement, my dear Aleck, that I cannot refuse your generous offer – I will take a percentage.“ (George Alexander, quoted in Evening Standard, 29 Nov. 1913, quoted in ibid., p. 55n, see also Ellmann, p. 315)
“I am much obliged to you for the press-cuttings: the play seems to have been a great success: but I thought Frohman [Charles Frohman, American impresario] was going to have his own production in New York: I see it’s Mr Palmer’s company who are to play.“ (letter to Elisabeth Marbury, February 1893, Complete Letters, p. 549)
“Mr. Wilde’s highly successful play, ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ is shortly to see the light in book form. The version will be much longer and more elaborate than that now being produced at St. James’s Theatre, as Mr. Wilde deliberately cut out some of the most brilliant dialogues in order that the play might not occupy more than a certain time. Those who have seen the book version of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ are of opinion that it reads even better than it acts. It is not unlikely that the play will be the subject of an action in France, as a type-written copy which Mr. Wilde had lent to a friend in Paris [possibly Paul Delair] was seen by some unscrupulous person, who made and circulated a wretchedly imperfect and mutilated copy.“ (“News Notes“, The Bookman, London, vol. II, no. 8, May 1892, p. 37)
“It was for me that he wrote Lady Windermere’s Fan. Why he ever supposed that it would have been at the time a suitable play for me, I cannot imagine, and I had never contemplated him as a possible dramatist.“ (Lillie Langtry, The Days I Knew, p. 93)
“Dear Mr Lane, I leave here Acts II, III and IV of Lady Windermere’s Fan – Act I I should bring next week.
Kindly have some pages set up for Shannon to see – or ask him to choose type. Of course the names must be printed in full.“ (letter to John Lane, ?May 1893, Complete Letters, p. 565)
“Dear Mr Wilde, Here is a specimen page of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ which I trust will meet your early approval. We are badly in want of Act I. Please let us have it soon.“ (letter John Lane to Oscar Wilde, 8 June 1893, see Small, Wilde Revalued, p. 84)
“Tell Shannon I am quite charmed with the setting of Lady Windermere’s Fan – it looks delightful and is exquisitely placed. It seems to be however too late in the season to publish now. What do you think?! (letter to Charles Ricketts, ?June 1893, Complete Letters, p. 566)
“I look forward greatly to knowing Strangman. His translating Lady Windermere’s is delightful.“ (letter to William Rothenstein, 9 June 1897, ibid., p. 892)
“In consideration of the sum of twenty pounds (£20) for which this is a receipt, I hereby assign to Leonard Smithers, Publisher, the copyright of the publication and printing of my two plays Lady Windermere’s Fan and the Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde, Paris, Aug. 22 ’99“ (letter to Leonard Smithers, 22 August 1899, ibid., p. 1163)
“The earliest handwritten draft of the play is similar in method and content to the conventional plays it mimics. Later drafts show Wilde carefully altering characters and dialogue to undermine the assumptions on which the more traditional dramas were based.“ (Eltis, Revising Wilde, p. 60)
“Through painstaking, detailed revision, Wilde used the plot mechanisms and characters of the traditional dramas of the fallen woman and delinquent mother to challenge the values on which those dramas were based.“ (ibid., p. 92).
“Revisions to and recasting of the text of that work [Lady Windermere’s Fan] were made soon after the beginning of the first West End run; the most important of these brought about significant changes in the structure of the play.“ (Small, “General Introduction“, [p. xi])
“When a reading edition of the play was published by the Bodley Head in 1893 Wilde had a further opportunity to work on his text. Freed at that point from Alexander’s influence, Wilde nonetheless preserved many – but importantly, not all – of the structural and other changes that had been made during the staging of the play.“ (Guy, Complete Works, vol. XI, p. 263)
“It also becomes clear that despite the frequent tensions between Alexander and Wilde, the development of Lady Windermere’s Fan was nonetheless a fully collaborative process, and productively so. Both men had strongly-held views, but both also made compromises, such that the successes and failures of the 1892 production should perhaps be viewed as Alexander’s and Wilde’s equally.“ (ibid., p. 265)
“… what seemed to make Lady Windermere’s Fan work on stage was the pleasing fit between the polish of Alexander’s production values and the lightness of Wilde’s touch: together the play’s wit with its more serious themes. And for achieving this winning combination both men were jointly responsible.“ (ibid., p. 325)
NOTES, DRAFTS, MANUSCRIPTS
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Present Location |
Shelfmark |
Provenance |
Catalogue Entries / Notes |
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1. Autograph Manuscript Act III 16 leaves / 24 pages [1891]
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The Morgan Library & Museum New York, NY
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Record ID 120344 no digital copy |
Gift of Frederick R. Koch, 1981 |
“Act 3, Lord D’s House : London : autograph manuscript, 1891. 1 item (24 p.), bound ; 23.0 A draft of Act III, Lady Windermere’s Fan; commissioned in 1890 and believed to have been written during the summer of 1891. Written on the rectos and 8 versos of 16 leaves with additions and revisions throughout; on lined pages of a notebook from ‘Harding, Stationer, 45 Piccadilly W.’ Blue cloth drop-spine box. (25.9 cm) Blue marbled paper wrappers. Gift of Frederick R. Koch in 1981; from the collections of Richard Butler Glaenzer and Marjorie Wiggin Prescott; purchased at the Prescott sale, Christie’s New York, February 1981.“ |
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“The numbering of PMMS [no. 1] is not in Wilde’s hand and in places the text is discontinuous, although it is not always clear whether this is because there are pages missing from the notebook, or whether Wilde had not yet worked out how to join up the various sequences of dialogue. As was his usual practice, Wilde appears to have initially written on one side of the page only leaving the other side blank for later thoughts. On some occasions, the material drafted on the verso appears to follow directly from that on the preceding recto; but in other cases, it seems to relate to dialogue on the facing recto, or to lines written a few pages further on. … PMMS appears top recede BLMS1, although there are places where lines found in PMMS but not in BLMS1 reappear in later typescripts.“ |
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Frederick R. Koch |
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?John F. Fleming / ?Jonathan Hill |
“Fleming bought most of the other Wilde autographs as well [see The Importance of Being Earnest, no. 10], except for a couple that went to Jonathan Hill, who was seated next to a representative of the Clark Library in Los Angeles.“ |
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The Prescott Collection: Printed Books and Manuscripts, including an extensive collection of books and manuscripts by Oscar Wilde, Christie, Manson & Woods (Christie’s), New York, February 6, 1981, lot 426 |
“Autograph manuscript of an early draft of Act III of Lady Windermere’s Fan. [probably early 1891], written in ink in a small 4to copybook of 16 leaves of lined paper (fol. 9 is a half-sheet only), eight leaves at end removed, text without break, with total of 21 pages bearing Wilde’s holograph, original marbled paper boards, with stationer’s stamp inside upper cover, board very worn, spine reinforced, quarter blue morocco slipcase. Act III of the play is presented here in a form closely resembling the published play, although as an early draft much of the dialogue is abbreviated or merely sketched and lacks the polish of the final version. … Another early draft, consisting of all four acts, is in the British Library; a typescript of Act I was sold in the Glaenzer sale in 1911, and a full typescript is in the William Andrews Clark Library sold for $10,000 [facsimile of one page of Act III (see p. 87 printed version, first edition), see sale catalogue, facing p. 187| |
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Marjorie Wiggin Prescott |
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The Library of the late John C. Tomlinson, New York City, Anderson Galleries, New York, Jan. 17-18, 1928, lot 560
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“Original Autograph Manuscript in sketchy form of a portion of Act 3 of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan.’ Written on 22 4to pages of a note book. 4to, wrappers. In a half blue levant morocco slip-case. This Manuscript evidently comprises the earliest conception of this Act, from which the finished manuscript was composed. There are deletions in the text, and interpolations both in the text and on opposite pages.“ |
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“MS., in sketchy form of a portion of Act 3 of ‘’Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ with corrections, 22 pp., 4to. In wrappers in lev. mor. case. NN (560) $220.00.“ |
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John C. Tomlinson |
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Two Hundred Books from the Library of Richard Butler Glaenzer, Anderson Auction Company, New York, Nov. 28, 1911, lot 150 |
“Lady Windermere’s Fan. Original MS of Act III, entirely in Wilde’s hand, written in black ink in a ruled copy-book, nine (9) inches high by seven and one eighth (71/8) inches wide, with the original covers of blue marbled paper bearing the name of the stationer ‘Harding, 45 Piccadilly W.’ There are 16 sheets, 32 unnumbered pages (including the half sheet , p. 15). The book originally had 8 additional sheets, which have been torn out, but there is every indication that this is the first draft complete as it stands [circ. 1891]. … |
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“Original Autograph Manuscript of Act III. of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ 32 pages. Written in a paper covered ruled note book. 8 sheets of the book torn out, but the manuscript apparently complete. Glaenzer, A., Nov. 28, ’11. (150) $375.00.“ |
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Richard Butler Glaenzer |
“The original autograph manuscript of the third act of Oscar Wilde’s play, ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ thirty-two pages, octavo, with many corrections and additions, realized $81 (Glaenzer).“ |
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Catalogue of Extremely Rare Books, First and Scarce Editions of Famous Authors, Early Printed Books, Rare Bindings and Manuscripts, Private Press Editions, The Merwin-Clayton Sales Co., New York, May 16-18, 1906, lot 825 |
“Lady Windermere’s Fan. Act III. Original Autograph Manuscript, with corrections and additions, all in the handwriting of Oscar Wilde. 32 pp. 8vo, paper covers.“ |
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“Original Autograph Manuscript of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan, Act III,’ with corrections and additions in Wilde’s handwriting, 32 pages, 8vo. Paper. M., May 16, ’06. (825) $81.00“ |
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2. Autograph Manuscript Act I [1891] |
unknown |
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[?belonging to no. 1] |
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3. Autograph Manuscript Act II [1891] |
unknown |
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[?belonging to no. 1] |
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4. Autograph Manuscript Act IV [1891] |
unknown |
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[?belonging to no. 1] |
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5. Early Autograph Draft 4 Acts 110 folios [1891]
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British Library
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Add MS 37943 digital copy: |
presented by Robert Ross in 1909 (together with mss of “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, i.e. “The Sphinx“ [no. 8], “De Profundis“) |
“Autograph draft of Oscar Wilde’s play, Lady Windermere’s Fan, with corrections and annotations. Incomplete and differing greatly from the published version. First performed at the St James’s Theatre, 20 February 1892, and published 1893. Paper 110 folios British Library binding“ [British Museum stamps] [titled simply: ‘Play’. Only five characters listed on first leaf: Lady Windermere, Mrs Alwynne, Lord Windermere, Lord Robert Erskine, Lord Darlington. Scenes: Act I ‘Library’, Act II ’Balloom’, Act III ‘Lord Darlington’s House, Act IV ‘Lady Windermere’s Boudoir’. Page numbers not in Wilde’s hand] |
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“Acts I-IV, first draft with corrections and additions. Title simply ‘Play’, the MS is handwritten by the author in ink. It is in many places incomplete.“ |
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“As was his usual practice, with BLMS1 Wilde initially wrote on one side of the page only; and these rectos are numbered from 1 to 110. This numbering, which appears not to be in Wilde’s hand, is none the less identical to that of PMMS [no. 1], suggesting that both BLMS1 and PMMS were at one point in the hands of the same person. There are, however, two rectos of BLMS1 which do have numbering in Wilde’s hand; these numbers, which are encircled (in the manner found in other MS with Wilde’s numbering) are out of sequence with the other recto numbering, which suggests that they may have been interleaved from a different draft. The double-numbered pages are 60 (also numbered 15 in Wilde’s hand) and 63 (also numbered 18 in Wilde’s hand). Although the British Library catalogue refers to BLMS1 as ‘the first draft’ of Lady Windermere’s Fan, this label is incorrect, as it is pre-dated by elements of PMMS. Furthermore, Wilde’s handwriting, which is generally very neat throughout BLMS1, together with the spare number of corrections and crossings-out, suggest a text being carefully copied from a preceding draft or drafts. |
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“Although it contains some features that Wilde deleted for the later acting editions and revived for the first edition, the BL manuscript draft is very different from other drafts of the play. There are only five characters, including a Lord Robert Erskine; Mrs Erlynne is Mrs Alwynne and Parker is Barker. …The draft has very little verbal polish and is marked by the absence of some of the scenes and characters of the later drafts (…). It has little of the wit of the later drafts; the basic features of the plot of the play are, however, present. It has as its subject the irresistible nature of adultery. There is no indication of Mrs Erlynne’s relationship with Lady Windermere until the final act.“ |
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Robert Ross |
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6. Typewritten Manuscript 4 Acts 132 leaves [?1892] |
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
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W6721M2 L157 no digital copy |
purchased in 1923, from A. S. W. Rosenbach |
“Wilde, Oscar. “A good woman. i.e. Lady Windemere’s fan. 1892 Typescript. 132 leaves. 10×8 in. In full red morocco slip-case, by Hyman Zucker : Original typescript with corrections, emendations and additions in Wilde’s hand.“ [?forgery, see below Hill,1909] |
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“ A good woman. [i.e. Lady Windermere’s fan]. |
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“As with other typescripts, CTS1 has type is on one side of the paper only, with the verso left blank; there are numerous corrections in Wilde’s hand. Each act of CTS1 has separate typed numbering, and there is a consecutive numbering of each page (running to 144 in total) that has been marked up in a hand other than that of Wilde in the bottom right-hand margin. (This numbering was probably added by a collector or librarian.)“ |
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“Four acts in four notebooks; typescript with corrections and additions in Wilde’s hand.“ |
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“A comparison of the emendations made to CTS1 with MCTS [no. 7] strongly suggests that CTS1 was the source text for MCTS and was probably produced by the same agency.“ |
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“Another feature of the Clark Typescript concerns inconsistencies between the four Acts, which indicate it is a composite document, with Act III probably deriving from a different source – although the pattern of correction across all typescripts is consistent.“ |
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“There are also important connections between the Clark Typescript and the MS of LWF in the British Library [no. 5] – this is to do with inconsistencies in the naming of the characters, with some readings in the Clark Typescript, and which do not appear in any published text of the play, deriving from the BL manuscript.“ |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
“[The typescript] was purchased through Rosenbach in 1923.“ |
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“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 …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 982 i.e. “Mr Hughes“ |
“ The name ‘A Good Woman’ was used as a title for the typewritten copy to prevent the real title of the work from being made public before the staging of the play. From the John B. Stetson, Jr. collection.“ |
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“Typed MS., Play, ‘A Good Woman,’ afterwards ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan.’ About 38,000 words, typed on 127 4to leaves, with over 700 additional words in autograph of Wilde. 4 acts, in wrappers. In cl. folder and lev. mor. case. From J. B. Stetson collection. G., April 16, ’23. (982) $350.00.“ |
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Colonel H. D. Hughes |
sold to Hughes, Sept. 18, 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 $450 |
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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 83 |
“LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN. Typewritten manuscript of ‘A Good Woman’ (afterwards altered to ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’). The Four Acts complete. 4 vols, 4to, wrappers, preserved in a full crimson levant morocco solander case. [1892] The separate Acts have been bound up for convenience in revising, and the author has corrected them very extensively, by deleting and adding. This manuscript varies in many instances from the printed version, whole passages being left out, and in some instances, passages deleted in the present copy have been re-instated in the printed text.“ |
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“Typewritten MS. of ‘A Good Woman’ (afterwards called ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’). 4 acts in 4 vols., 4to, paper covers in lev. more. case. [1892] Stetson, A., Apr. 23, ’20. (83) $450.00.“ |
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John B. Stetson, Jr. |
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Catalogue of a Choice Collection of Autograph Letters and Manuscripts, Walter M. Hill, no. XXVI, Chicago, February 1909, item 171 |
“ This Manuscript was given by Lady Wilde to the owner, an authoress who writes under the nom de plume of Princesse Chan-Toon [Mrs Mabel Wodehouse Pearse], and in whose possession it has been until recently.“ [possibly a forgery, see her For Love of the King, see also Hyde Christopher Millard, pp. 89-103. “She had received hundreds of pounds from firms in London, Dublin and New York for such fakes.“ (ibid., p. 99)] |
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Walter Hill |
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7. Typewritten Manuscript Acts I and II 69 pages Act I Act II [?1892] |
Magdalen College |
MS 300 no digital copy |
bequest by E. H. W. Meyerstein |
“An early typescript of Acts I and II of Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windemere’s Fan, under the title of ‘A Good Woman’, corrected in pencil, with many rewritten passages and addenda, in Wilde’s own hand. Some deleted passages were restored when the play was produced. The two Acts are separately bound in wrappers and total 69 pp. Quarto. It also includes a loose leaf from the TS of An Ideal Husband – a late transcript version (p.20) [see An Ideal Husband, no. 11]. Enclosed is a catalogue entry for the sale of the item, for £150, by Maggs Bros.. Ltd., 50 Berkeley St., London, together with a receipt made out for its purchase by E.H.W. Meyerstein (…) on 11 Dec 1952. The typescript was received as a testamentary bequest by Meyerstein to his former College“ |
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“Comprising sixty-nine pages post quarto on unmarked paper, it is an interleaved typescript of the first two acts of ’A Good Woman’, the play that eventually became Lady Windermere’s Fan. The acts are separately bound in dark green wrappers, and contained in a beige wrapper measuring 320 x 230 mm. Act I is thirty-one pages long. Act II thirty-eight. As the details on the wrapper and an enclosed catalogue entry indicate, the typescript was purchased from Maggs Bros. Ltd, for £135, on 11 December 1950 (and not for £ 150 in 1952, as stated in the Magdalen College catalogue). It was received by the College as a bequest from the purchaser, E. H. W. Meyerstein. The wrapper also contains a torn leaf (numbered ’20′) of a typescript of Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, measuring 256 x 183 mm (at its widest points), on the same unmarked paper. … There are many autograph corrections by Wilde throughout the manuscript, including rewritten and deleted passages.“ |
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“Act I of MCTS consists of thirty-one pages (but only pages 1 to 30 have typed numbers at the middle bottom, the last being unnumbered); and prefacing these are two unnumbered pages. … Act II of MCTS consists of thirty-eight pages: the first and last pages of Act II do not have typed numbers, which otherwise, and for the rest of the pages, run from 1 to 37, with page 29 missing. … . The format of MCTS is virtually identical to CTS1 [no. 6] with the same use of double and single underlining for character names and stage direction, and no vertical red margin to separate character names from their lines (as is found in the production typescripts).“ |
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“In its formatting (the underscoring in red ink of the character names and stage directions) and dimensions, the Magdalen manuscript closely resembles BL, Add. MS. 81621 [no. 12], described by Stuart Mason in his 1914 Bibliography of Oscar Wilde as the ‘Original typewritten MS’ of the play, and stamped ‘Mrs. Marshall’s Type Writing Office’.“ |
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“The Magdalen manuscript falls between the early (BC [no. 5] and C1 [no. 6]) and late (LC [no. 19], T [no. 10]) pre-production drafts, at a pivotal stage in the play’s development. Not only do Wilde’s autograph revisions to Act I and II of the play give lines to Agatha and introduce the character of Hopper (absent from BL and C1; present in LC and T), but the precise nature of these revisions allow us to see the genesis go Hopper’s character as it occurs. Other textual features of the Magdalen manuscript suggest its position between the ‘early drafts’ and subsequent texts, and, indeed, its crucial relevance for the rehearsal period, and first printed edition.“ |
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E. H. W. Meyerstein |
receipt made out for its purchase by Meyerstein on 11 December 1952 [i.e. 1950, see below. Meyerstein died on 12 Sept. 1952] |
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Maggs, 11 Dec. 1950 |
“As details on the wrapper and an enclosed catalogue entry indicate, the typescript was purchased from Maggs Bros. Ltd, for £135, on 11. December 1950 (and not for £150 in 1952, as stated in the Magdalen College catalogue).“ |
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Maggs, 3-4 April 1950 |
purchased for £105 0 0 |
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Valuable Printed Books, Important Literary Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, etc. … and A Very Remarkable Series of Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde, Sotheby’s, London, 3-4 April 1950, lot 208 |
“ [facsimile page of end of Act I, see sale catalogue, facing p. 28] “A Highly Important Series of Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde, Formerly the Property of A. B. Clifton, Partner with Ronald [Robert] Ross in the Carfax Galleries, And now Sold by the Order of Michael Sadleir, Esq.“ |
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“The 10 manuscripts fetched in all £1,592 …They were being sold for Mr Michael Sadleir who bought them shortly after the War.“ |
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Michael Sadleir |
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?unknown book dealer |
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?Madeline Clifton, |
[see “The Importance of Being Earnest“ no. 4] |
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Arthur B. Clifton |
“These ten Wilde items, sold by a well-known English collector, had formerly belonged to A. B. Clifton, partner of Robert Ross in the Carfax Galleries; it is to be presumed that they were obtained either by purchase or gift. Many years later they were discovered in an old trunk belonging to the estate of Mrs. Clifton, the wife of the original owner.“ |
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?Robert Ross |
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7a Autograph and Typed Fragment 1 page] |
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ex MS 300 no digital copy |
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belonging to no. 7 |
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“Not mentioned in the Magdalen catalogue, but labelled ‘ex MS. 300′, is a torn section of a single sheet found inserted at the nineteenth page of Act I. The fragment measures approximately 184 x 207 mm. One side is covered in writing by Wilde, the other indicates the paper’s provenance as a bill of terms by a company offering to ‘[under]take the copy[in]g of all kinds of Manuscrip[t]’ on ‘a Remington Typewriter’, with ‘Plays, Prompt books &c’ costing ‘4d. per page( quarto)’.“ |
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“This partially torn page [Guy: ‘MCMS1’], originally found tucked in front of page 19 of Act l of MCTS [no. 7], has typed information on one side listing the costs of a typing agency – presumably the one Wilde had employed to prepare MCTS – and which includes a line specifying: ‘Plays, Prompt Books & c … 4d. per page (quarto)’. Under this list, and where there was blank space, Wilde had turned the page upside down and written across what was now the top a fragment of dialogue relating to a description of Hopper in Act II: ‘Of course his manners are very bad. | That is to say he is one of nature’s gentlemen.’ The other side of the page, where there was no type, has a draft of material, also in Wilde’s hand, relating to the account of Hopper given by the Duchess in Act I.“ |
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7b Autograph Fragment 1 page |
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MS 300 no digital copy |
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belonging to no. 7 |
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“As with Act I, bound with Act II and prefacing it there is a torn page with autograph material in Wilde’s hand on both sides … . “This torn fragment of a page [Guy: ‘MCMS2], bound with Act II, has pencilled in Wilde’s hand on the recto what appears to be a list of characters for Act II, relating to the introduction of Hopper: ‘Duchess & Mr. Hopper | Dumby | Lord Darlington [Lord Augustus, see Duncan, p. 237] | Cecil Graham | Lady W&W | Lady Jansen | Mrs Erlynne’. The verso has: ‘Duchess with D’.“ |
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8. Typewritten Manuscript Act III |
unknown |
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[belonging to no. 7] |
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9. Typewritten Manuscript Act IV |
unknown |
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[belonging to no. 7] |
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10. Typewritten Manuscript 4 Acts 71 pages Act I Act II Act III Act IV n.d. [?1892] |
Harry Ransom Center University of Texas, Austin, TX
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MS-4515 digital copy: |
acquired with the second batch of T. E. Hanley’s collection in Nov. 1964 |
“A Good Woman / A Play in Four Acts / by / Oscar Wilde Typescript with author revisions.“ [title page of each act stamped ‘Mrs Marshall’s Type Writing Office, 126, Strand’]
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[see no. 11: both manuscripts, among others, come from the collection of Arthur Clifton and were sold at Sotheby’s, 3-4 April 1950] |
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“Type is on one side of the page only (the recto), the verso having been left blank for later corrections or additions. Black ink is used throughout with a double-red margin ruled down the left-hand side separating the characters’ names, which are also double-underlined in red ink, from their lines. Stage directions are underlined in single red ink, with double red underlining used for marking actors’ entrances, exits, and act numbers. In places, words have been underlined in black ink, apparently for emphasis when spoken. It is not possible to tell whether these last underlinings date from the production of the typescript itself and were the result of the typist’s interpretation of underlinings in the source text; or whether they were made later, and at the same time as other emendations to TTS.“ |
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“The typescript has been marked up in Wilde’s hand, mostly in pencil, but sometimes in pen, the pen markings generally superseding those in pencil, and suggesting that TTS was probably worked on by Wilde over a period of time. Mostly these markings, both pen and pencil, take the form of corrections made to the text itself, often running on to the facing blank verso (as was Wilde’s general practice). … there is no evidence of Alexander’s hand on any of the seventy-one pages of TTS.“ |
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“Act I No corrections. No emendations to verso. Act II Corrections in Wilde’s hand; additions to appropriate verso. Additions to stage directions not in Wilde’s hand; additions to business in text. Corrections in pencil and in ink in Alexander’s and Wilde’s hand. Particularly heavy revisions to verso of ff. 15, 16, 17, and 18. … Act III contains Wilde’s corrections on verso of ff. 5, 7, 8; and Alexander’s alterations to stage directions. Corrections are of two sorts – in pencil and in ink. Act IV contains Wilde’s MS corrections throughout, particularly on verso of ff.1 and 9.“ |
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“… the revelation in Act IV approximates to Lady Windermere’s Fan as first performed on 22 February 1892 … |
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T. E. Hanley |
Hanley bought the manuscript for $1000 as indicated by Hanley’s code CDDD on image 1 top right corner to denote price paid for the item: C=1, D=0. Hanley used the code “Cumberland“ to denote the price. [neither date nor auction or dealer given] |
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Jacob Schwartz |
purchased the manuscript for £140 “Jake [Schwartz] fed to Hanley nearly everything good that came his way: William Blake drawings and engravings, Whitman presentation copies, Shaw books, letters, manuscripts and memorabilia, Joyce, Wilde, Yeats, Dylan Thomas, both Lawrences, Pound, Eliot – the list is almost endless.“ |
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Catalogue of Printed Books, Autograph Letters & Historical Documents, Sotheby’s, London, 4-6 April, 1955, lot 157 |
“[ The script used by Wilde at rehearsals for the first production (20 February, 1892): among the numerous changes in his hand is the introduction of Mrs. Erlynnes discovery of her identity into Act II, an alteration strongly urged on Wilde by George Alexander (in the typescript version this discovery is not made until Act IV). On the last page of Act II is a rough draft of the soliloquy by Mrs. Erlynne which Wilde introduced when the change was made, and opposite the place for its insertion in the text he has written the note: ‘or here about daughter’. Included with the lot is a programme of the play’s first night“. [sold fo [Jacob] Schwartz for £140 0 0, see Sotheby’s price-list ] |
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Arthur Hedley |
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Maggs |
purchased for £110 0 0 |
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Valuable Printed Books, Important Literary Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, etc. … and A Very Remarkable Series of Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde, Sotheby’s, London, 3-4 April 1950, lot 209 |
“ “A Highly Important Series of Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde, Formerly the Property of A. B. Clifton, Partner with Ronald [Robert] Ross in the Carfax Galleries, And now Sold by the Order of Michael Sadleir, Esq.“ [see no. 11: both manuscripts come from Arthur Clifton and were sold at Sotheby’s, 3-4 April 1950] |
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“The 10 manuscripts fetched in all £1,592 …They were being sold for Mr Michael Sadleir who bought them shortly after the War.“ |
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Michael Sadleir |
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?unknown book dealer |
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?Madeline Clifton |
[see “The Importance of Being Earnest“ no. 4] |
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Arthur B. Clifton |
“These ten Wilde items, sold by a well-known English collector, had formerly belonged to A. B. Clifton, partner of Robert Ross in the Carfax Galleries; it is to be presumed that they were obtained either by purchase or gift. Many years later they were discovered in an old trunk belonging to the estate of Mrs. Clifton, the wife of the original owner.“ |
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?Robert Ross |
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11. Typewritten Manuscript 4 Acts (and duplicate typescripts of Acts II, III, IV) 71 leaves 15 November 1894
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William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
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W6721M2 L157 no digital copy |
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“Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900. “Lady Windermere’s fan. 1892 |
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“Lady Windermere’s Fan. |
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[see no. 10: both manuscripts, among others, come from the collection of Arthur Clifton and were sold at Sotheby’s, 3-4 April 1950] |
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“… an acting version in typescript … .“ |
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“… postdating LC [no. 19] …“ |
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“Typescript of play in 71 leaves. Four acts in four books, with duplicate copies of acts II, II, and IV. All copies typed at Mrs Marshall’s Type Writing Office; first four dated 15 Nov. 1894; duplicate copies undated. Acting copies with lists of props for each act and length of each act. All drafts without any MS emendations, suggesting that they could be copied for revivals, etc. Also 2 leaves of TLS from J. Schwartz to H. Richard Archer, with explanation about dating of typescript.“ |
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Jacob Schwartz |
[purchased for £5 0 0 [?printing error], see Sotheby’s price-list) |
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Valuable Printed Books, Important Literary Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, etc. … and A Very Remarkable Series of Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde, Sotheby’s, London, 3-4 April 1950, lot 210 |
“ “A Highly Important Series of Manuscripts of Oscar Wilde, Formerly the Property of A. B. Clifton, Partner with Ronald [Robert] Ross in the Carfax Galleries, And now Sold by the Order of Michael Sadleir, Esq.“ |
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“The 10 manuscripts fetched in all £1,592 …They were being sold for Mr Michael Sadleir who bought them shortly after the War.“ |
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[A. S. W. Rosenbach was present at the auction, and he bought heavily] “A series of 177 letters written by Charles Darwin … were bought by Dr. Rosenbach of Philadelphia.“ |
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Michael Sadleir |
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?unknown book dealer |
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?Madeline Clifton |
[see “The Importance of Being Earnest“ no. 4] |
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Arthur B. Clifton |
“These ten Wilde items, sold by a well-known English collector, had formerly belonged to A. B. Clifton, partner of Robert Ross in the Carfax Galleries; it is to be presumed that they were obtained either by purchase or gift. Many years later they were discovered in an old trunk belonging to the estate of Mrs. Clifton, the wife of the original owner.“ |
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?Robert Ross |
(Dickson (ed.), The Importance of Being Earnest, p. xv) |
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12. Typewritten Manuscript (“Lady Windermere’s Fan“) Act I 20 folios [1891]
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Eccles Collection
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Add MS 81621 digital copy: |
bequeathed to the BL in 2003 |
“Typescript of Act I of Oscar Wilde’s play, Lady Windermere’s Fan, with extensive autograph corrections and additions. … Stamp of Mrs Marshall’s typewriting office is visible on the title page and elsewhere. Extensive revisions and text added by Wilde in pencil.“ 20 folios Red full morocco slipcase |
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“This typescript of Act I, titled ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’, is extensively corrected in Wilde’s hand, and bears the stamp (but not date) of Mrs Marshall’s typewriting agency. BLTS1 post-dates TTS [no. 10] and was probably one of the several copies that were made (including CTS2 [no. 11] …during the first staging of the play. With regards to the typed text, BLTS1 is very close, in both words and format, to CTS2.“ |
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Eccles Collection |
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Mary Hyde / Viscountess Eccles |
sold by Fleming to Hyde, April 10, 1973 |
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John F. Fleming |
after the deaths of A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1952 and of his brother Philip in 1953, Fleming bought part of Rosenbach’s stock |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
purchased for $190 (for stock) |
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The Oscar Wilde Collection of John B. Stetson, Jr., Anderson Galleries, New York, April 23, 1920, lot 92 |
“LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN. Typewritten Manuscript of Act I of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan.’ 19 pp. 4to, brown wrappers, in full crimson levant morocco solander case. The Manuscript is profusely corrected by Wilde, in pencil, with many interpolations in the text, and complete dialogue inscribed on the opposite blank pages.“ |
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“Typewritten MS. of Act I of Lady Windermere’s Fan. 19 pages, 4to. Paper covers, in lev. mor. case. Stetson, A., April 23, ’20. (92) $190.00.“ |
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John B. Stetson, Jr. |
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A. S. W. Rosenbach |
“Dr. Rosenbach, the Philadelphia dealer, paid $350 for the corrected draft of the first act of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ …“ |
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Two Hundred Books from the Library of Richard Butler Glaenzer, Anderson Auction Company, New York, Nov. 28, 1911, lot 151 |
“Lady Windermere’s Fan. Act I. Original typewritten MS, with numerous additions, corrections and erasures in pencil by the Author. This copy is on heavy paper, with the names of characters (on the margins) and stage directions, underscored in red ink: with the text on the face of the sheet only. Title page and page of Dramatis Personae. Text appears on pp. 2-19 incl. 4to (101/2 x 81/2 inches), heavy brown covers, bearing the stamp ‘Mrs Marshall’s Type Writing Office,’ etc. Title on label. [Circ. 1892].“ “Collation indicates this to have been the next to final draft as it appears in the Library Edition (1893). There are numerous minor variations from both the text and the stage directions of the published version, but most important is the brilliant dialogue inserted on the blank pages, a small part of which was incorporated in the final version, but most of which is unpublished, evidently have been deleted from the last draft. There is one bit of dialogue in Wilde’s autograph on the difference between men and women, which he used eventually in ‘A Woman of No Importance.’ Opposite page 6 he has written for insertion: ‘Now, I don’t think it is of any importance what people do.’ This is omitted from the printed text. |
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“Typewritten Manuscript of Act I. of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ with numerous autograph corrections and additions by the author, in pencil. 4to. Corrected draft. Glaenzer, Nov. 28, ’11. (151) $350.00.“ |
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Richard Butler Glaenzer |
“Wilde’s ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ Act I, of the original typewritten manuscript, twenty pages, octavo, containing many corrections and additions in the author’s autograph; $40 (Glaenzer).“ |
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Catalogue of Extremely Rare Books, First and Scarce Editions of Famous Authors, Early Printed Books, Rare Bindings and Manuscripts, Private Press Editions, The Merwin-Clayton Sales Co., New York, May 16-18, 1906, lot 824 |
“Lady Windermere’s Fan. Act I. Original typewritten manuscript, with many additions, corrections and erasures in pencil, all in the autograph of Oscar Wilde. 20 pp. 8vo, paper covers. Many of the added and erased passages are of considerable extent.“ |
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“Typewritten Manuscript of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan, Act I,’ with corrections and additions in Wilde’s handwriting, 20 pages, 8vo. Paper. M., May 16, ’06. (824) $40.00.“ |
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13. Typewritten Manuscript 4 Acts 65 pages Act I Act II Act III Act IV n.d. [?1892] |
Hunt Library
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PR5818 .L2 1892 no digital copy |
given to the Libraries in memory of Ann Chalfant Mitchell and Walter S. Mitchell by Henry Chalfant |
“Lady Windermere’s fan : a play in four acts 1892? 4 acts (19, 17, 15, 14 leaves)” “Loose leaves in four paper covers within aqua morocco slipcase stamped and illustrated in gold ; inner aqua morocco folio and slipcase lined in patterned paper. Stamp on title page of each act: Mrs. Marshall’s Type Writing Office, 120 Strand. Typescript with some corrections in pencil at the end of act I ; stage directions underlined in red throughout.” |
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Autograph Letters and Documents, Literary and Musical Manuscripts … Various Owners, Anderson Galleries, New York, April 26, 1928, lot 108 |
“Typed Manuscript of ‘Lady Windemere’s Fan.’ The Four Acts complete. 4 vols., 4to, original brown wrappers. Preserves in a blue morocco slip-case, with blue morocco protecting covers. The four Acts have been separated for convenience in revising, and the original brass staples or binders have been removed. At the end of the First Act the Author has deleted a portion of Lord Windermere’s final ejaculation. The typed version reading: ‘Margaret! My God. What shall I do? I can’t tell her that that woman is her own mother!’ Wilde has altered to read: ‘Margaret! My God! What shall I do? I dare not tell her who this woman is. The shame would kill her.’“ |
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“Typed MS. of ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ the Four Acts complete. In 4 vols., 4to, orig. brown wrappers, in mor. covers and mor. slip-case. TU (108) $55.00.“ |
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14. Typewritten Manuscript Acting Version 93 leaves [?1892] |
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
W6721M2 L157 no digital copy |
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“Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900. “Lady Windermere’s fan. Manuscript acting version. 1892 |
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“Lady Windermere’s fan. Manuscript acting version. |
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“MS acting version of play in 93 leaves. Fair copy on lined paper in a notebook, in unknown hand, of a late version of the play, probably relating to the 1902 revival. Extensive business, etc. has been marked up.“ |
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“… postdating LC [no. 19] …“ |
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15. Acting Edition (“Lady Windermere’s Fan“) 4 Acts 54 pages n. d. [1893] |
Rare Books & Special Collections |
PR10.R4 W5 1893 L3 no digital copy |
“ |
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A Bookman’s Catalogue – The Norman Colbeck Collection of the Nineteenth Century, vol 2, Vancouver, 1987 p. 935 |
“Lady Windermere’s Fan: A Play in Four Acts. Copyright, 1893, by Oscar Wilde. [1893]. [Mason [no.] 360.] Tones cream wrappers, upper side lettered in red similar to title-page, 54 pages, edges cut. The 4 acts are paginated separately. This acting edition, which is metal-fastened, not sewn, and which bears no printer’s imprint, was probably prepared for the production of the play at Palmer’s Theatre, New York, in February 1893.“ |
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Norman Colbeck |
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Catalogue of the Library of Mr Richard Butler Glaenzer, The Merwin-Clayton Sales Company, New York, December 7, 1905, lot 218 |
“[Lady Windermere’s Fan.] A Play in Four Acts. With the Property Plot and Plan of the Stage and Stage Directions Throughout. 52 pp. 12mo, original wrappers. Lond.: Samuel French, Ltd., n. d. This is the acting edition of the play (and original text), as first presented in London, February 20, 1892, and in Boston and New York, January-February, 1893. It differs quite materially from the preceding Library Edition [of 1893].“ [may not belong to no. 15] |
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“Lady Windermere’s Fan. With Property Plot and Plan of the Stage. Lond., S. French, n.d. 12mo. Orig. paper covers, Glaenzer, M., Dec. 7, ’05 (218) $8.00.“ |
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Richard Butler Glaenzer |
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16. Acting Edition 4 Acts [?New York, 1893] |
unknown |
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Books, Autographs and Manuscripts of extreme Rarity from the Library of Mrs. Luther S. Livingston, Anderson Galleries, New York, March 5-6, 1923, lot. 518 |
“Lady Windermere’s Fan. A Play in Four Acts. 8vo, toned paper wrappers, printed in red, in a cloth case. New York, 1893. |
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Mrs Luther S. Livingston |
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17. Book edition 1893 |
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digital copy |
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“The first edition (1st ed.) was published in 1893, twenty-one months after the play was first performed. Once again the text was thoroughly revised and it is clear that Wilde returned to his earlier drafts for lines (and, indeed, whole speeches) that he had omitted from both the second and third group of drafts. As a consequence the published play is longer, and has more characters, than any of the drafts.“ |
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18. Book Edition 1893 |
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digital copy |
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“… was printed by the theatrical publishing house of Samuel French from a prompt copy held by George Alexander’s company in the St. James’s Theatre …“ |
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“This text is different from every other acting edition or published edition of the play and appears to be based upon an early (and perhaps pirated) acting edition as it has more textual features in common with [no. 14] and [no. 15] than with either the first edition or with other actions editions.“ |
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19. Lord Chamberlain’s License Copy (typewritten manuscript)
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British Library
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Add MS 53492 H |
15 February 1892 |
“… the copy lodges with the Lord Chamberlain’s Office made in order to obtain a license for performance, and which was often (as with An Ideal Husband) not an accurate record of the play-text which was performed on stage.“ |
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“… the only [manuscript] dated, for it bears the stamp of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office for 15 February 1892 …“ |
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“… before 15 February, no fixed text had been submitted to the Lord Chamberlain …“ |
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“This typescript bears the stamp of Mrs Marshall’s Typewriting Agency and is uniform in format to the other copies [nos. 11 and 14] that were issued from this office. On the front cover, and where it appears at the beginning of each act, the title ‘A Good Woman’ has been corrected in red ink (and not in Wilde’s hand) to ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’, which is also the title which appears on the dat-label from Lord Chamberlain’s Office.“ |
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“Differs in many places from final version, most significantly in revelation of Mrs Erlynne’s identity being reserved for the last act.“ |
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20. Library of Congress Copyright Copy
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Library of Congress |
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Sept. 12, 1893 |
Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916, Volume 1, Library of Congress, Washington, 1918, p. 1218
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Autograph / Typewritten Manuscript |
unknown |
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?Walter T. Spencer |
“After Wilde’s death I purchased the MSS. of Lady Windermere’s Fan and A Woman of No Importance, by private treaty. The two plays were written in ordinary cheap exercise books. They were purchased for very small sums, and I sold them for very small sums. To-day they are each worth a hundred times as much as I purchased and sold them for. The manuscripts differ from the published versions, several lines being omitted. One was, I remember, ‘It proves he wasn’t the son of his own father.’“ [possibly no. 2, with Robert Ross buying back the manuscript from Spencer] |
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?Philip and A. S. W. Rosenbach, |
“I remember my brother Philip telling me that directly after the trial, he went into a famous bookshop in London, looking for manuscripts of Oscar Wilde. … To his surprise he saw on a table the original drafts of Wilde’s three plays The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, and Lady Windermere’s Fan. … It was obvious that the sooner [the bookseller] got those manuscripts out of his shop, the better he would feel. So my brother bought them immediately …“ |
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Wilde’s own copy |
unknown |
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Wright & Jones [350 Fulham Rd., London], Publishers’ Weekly, New York, vol. LXVIII, no. 26, Dec. 23, 1905, p. 1857 |
“Wilde, Oscar Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1st privately printed issue for copyright purposes. Author’s own copy with autograph. |
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???Prompt Book George Alexander??? |
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