An edition of The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

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Last edited by MARC Bot
September 11, 2020 | History
An edition of The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

  • 4.00 ·
  • 2 Ratings
  • 25 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 4 Have read

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile either in Berneval or in Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol on or about 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour in prison.

During his imprisonment, on Saturday 7 July 1896, a hanging took place. Charles Thomas Wooldridge (ca. 1866 – 7 July 1896) had been a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards. He was convicted of cutting the throat of his wife, Laura Ellen, earlier that year at Clewer, near Windsor. He was only aged 30 when executed. This had a profound effect on Wilde, inspiring the line "Yet each man kills the thing he loves."

The finished poem was published by Leonard Smithers in 1898 under the name C.3.3., which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3. This ensured that Wilde's name – by then notorious – did not appear on the poem's front cover. It was not commonly known, until the 7th printing in June 1899, that C.3.3. was actually Wilde.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
62

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1916, Joseph Ishill
in English
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1910, Duffield & Co.
in English
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1907, F. M. Buckles & Company
Hardcover in English
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1904, Thomas B. Mosher
Hardcover in English - First Edition
Cover of: The ballad of Reading Gaol
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1899, Leonard Smithers
Hardcover in English - Pirated Edition
Cover of: The ballad of Reading Gaol
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
May 21, 1898, Leonard Smithers
Hardcover in English - Sixth Edition
Cover of: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
February 13, 1898, Leonard Smithers
Hardcover in English - First Edition

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Book Details


Published in

New York

Edition Notes

Genre
Poetry.
Copyright Date
1907

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
821.914, 821.8, 821.89
Library of Congress
PR5818 .B2 1907
lccn_permalink
http://lccn.loc.gov/07016474

Contributors

Copyright
F. M. Buckles & Co.
Dedicated to
Charles Thomas Wooldridge
Illustrator
Latimer J. Wilson
Owner
Library of Congress

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
[2], 55, [5] p. : ill.
Number of pages
62
Dimensions
25 x x centimeters

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL6984210M
Internet Archive
balladofreadingg01wild
LCCN
07016474
OCLC/WorldCat
13245675, 463857080
Hathi Trust
009600762
Cornell University eCommons
6727068, 1438757
Canadian National Library Archive
30995790

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History

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September 11, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
August 2, 2012 Edited by ImportBot import new book
October 24, 2011 Edited by Violet Edited without comment.
October 24, 2011 Edited by Violet Edited without comment.
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from Scriblio MARC record.