Wilde, Oscar--Mathew Elkins and John Lane.

agreeing that Bodley Head would publish Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, The Duchess of Padua, The incomparable history of Mr W.H., and Salomé (in English translation), all in editions of 500 standard copies and 100 large paper copies, the first three with bindings designed by Charles Shannon, The Duchess of Padua with an introduction by Edgar Fawcett, Mr W.H. to have a binding and initial letters designed by Charles Ricketts, and Salomé to have "ten full page illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley ... produced at our expense: of these we agree to furnish you with clichés [blocks] to be used only for an edition to be issued in Paris and ... we further agree to pay you for translating", also confirming royalties, subscribed "I agree to the above" and signed by Wilde over a 6d postage stamp, docketed, 3 pages, 8vo, Bodley Head stationery, Vigo Street, London, 3 August 1893; splitting at folds, soiling, adhesive remains and tape repair on final verso

[Window mounted and framed together with:] contract letter signed by both Mathews and Lane, AGREED AND SIGNED BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY, offering 50 guineas for the provision of 10 full-page illustrations for Salomé, with full rights, which can include an illustration already published in The Studio, docketed, 2 pages, 8vo, Bodley Head stationery, Vigo Street, London, 8 June 1893; light soiling, adhesive remains and tape repairs on blanks

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A KEY DOCUMENT FOR THE PUBLICATION OF WILDE'S WORK, INCLUDING THE FIRST EDITIONS OF LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN AND A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE AND REFERENCES TO TWO BIBLIOGRAPHIC "GHOSTS". NO OTHER CONTRACT BY WILDE HAS BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION FOR THIRTY YEARS.

Bodley Head, founded by John Lane (1854-1925) and Elkin Mathews (1851-1921) in 1887, soon established itself as one of the most adventurous and influential publishing houses of the 1890s. The first book to carry the joint imprint of Elkins Mathews and John Lane was the 1892 edition of Wilde's Poems, and they were his principal publisher in the years of his greatest public success. This contract is the moment that this relationship was cemented. The inclusion of Wilde's stipulations of designers and artists is an example of his great concern with the appearance of his books - a concern that often made him a difficult author for his publishers. 

Lady Windermere's Fan was duly published on 9 November 1893, and included an advertisement announcing the further forthcoming volumes of Wilde's dramatic works. The English Salomé followed on 9 February 1894 but not before becoming a cause of considerable tension: Wilde commissioned Lord Alfred Douglas to translate his work but then found many inadequacies in Bosie's work, which led to a furious row between the two, into which John Lane also became drawn. Eventually it was agreed that Bosie's translation, extensively rewritten by Wilde, should be published under Wilde's name but dedicated to Bosie as translator. This compromise satisfied all parties, but the relationships on which this contract were grounded were, by this time, collapsing: Lane and Mathews were uneasy partners and neither man had any personal warmth for Wilde, who expressed his opinion of the men by giving their names to servants in The Importance of Being Earnest.  

A Woman of No Importance appeared on 9 October 1894, just after the dissolution of the partnership between Lane and Mathews. The final two works included in this contract were Wilde's early play The Duchess of Padua, which had previously been printed only in an edition of 20 copies in 1883, and The incomparable history of Mr W.H., an enlarged version of Wilde's story about the identity of the dedicatee of Shakespeare's Sonnets, which had been published in Blackwood's in 1889. Both had been included in Bodley Head lists as forthcoming from 1893, but neither appeared under the imprint. At the time of the split in September 1894 Wilde was initially happy to continue working with either one or both men, until Mathews refused outright to publish Mr W.H., no doubt uneasy about the story's homosexual overtones, and Lane told Wilde he would only publish the book once he had read and approved its content. Wilde was outraged at this clear breach of the previous year's contract and in September 1894 gave Lane an ultimatum: "I am ... content that Mr Lane should have all my books ... It is of course understood that the arrangement to publish Mr W. H. is to be honourably and strictly kept" (Complete Letters, p.609).

What lay behind this sudden wish to distance themselves from a highly profitable, if difficult, author, was a young man, Edward Shelley. John Lane had employed Shelley as a clerk at Bodley Head and gave him secret instructions to spy on Mathews. Shelley then met Wilde in 1892 when the author was regularly visiting the firm's offices to see Salomé through the press. Wilde befriended Shelley, offered him dinner, cigars and champagne, and the two became lovers. Their affair became common knowledge at Bodley Head - Shelley became known as "Mrs Wilde" - and the young man soon left the firm under a cloud.

These were the circumstances in which Lane refused to publish Mr W.H. He eventually agreed a payment of £25 to Wilde and returned the manuscript. The proposed edition of The Duchess of Padua, with its introduction by the minor American poet Edgar Fawcett, also disappeared with this breach between Wilde and Bodley Head. The manuscript of Mr W.H. is said to have arrived at Wilde's Tite Street home on the day of his arrest, 5 April 1895. It then disappeared, only to emerge some 25 years later. Yet Bodley Head could not avoid intanglement in the Wilde scandal (although Lane quickly removed Wilde's titles from Bodley Head lists when he heard of his arrest): not only was it was widely reported that Wilde went to his trial carrying a copy of The Yellow Book, published by Bodley Head, but a key prosecution witness at the trial was Edward Shelley.