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Lot #579
Oscar Wilde

To the leading player in Lady Windermere's Fan: "I am greatly distressed to hear you are no longer Lord Darlington—what has really happened?"

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Estimate: $3000+
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Description

To the leading player in Lady Windermere's Fan: "I am greatly distressed to hear you are no longer Lord Darlington—what has really happened?"

ALS, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, no date but postmarked January 4, 1893. Letter to Gerald Maxwell, in full: "Thank you so much for your letter. I am greatly distressed to hear you are no longer Lord Darlington—what has really happened? I fear the tour was horribly mismanaged—I wish I had seen you in the part, I feel sure you were admirable. The amateur performance here I have not yet seen, as an East-Wind, not knowing, I suppose, who I was, has given me a cold…What are you going to do now in acting?" In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed in Wilde's hand. According to a review in The Artist, Maxwell had returned to the Lord Darlington role for performances of Lady Windermere's Fan by December 1893; in this role, he would have uttered the famous line, 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' A four-act comedy by Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan had premiered in 1892 at St. James's Theatre in London. A significant letter associated with his work.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs & Artifacts
  • Dates: #506 - Ended August 09, 2017





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