An Ideal Husband. By the Author of Lady Windermere’s Fan. London: Leonard Smither’s and Co., 1899. First Edition. Pp, 211, uncut & unopened. Publisher’s lavender cloth boards, gilt design by Charles Shannon. Foxing to endpapers, mild spotting to margin of upper cover, otherwise a fine bright copy. Housed in collector’s solander box. [Mason 386].

One Thousand Copies Printed.

‘An Ideal Husband’ opened in London on 3 January 1895 and closed on 6 April, the day after Wilde’s arrest (the theatre was actually needed for another play). It reopened at another theatre on 13 April, but was finally withdrawn two weeks later.

The play remained unpublished until after Wilde’s release from prison. It was published in July 1899 while Wilde was living in France, with a dedication to Frank Harris.