THE UNCOLLECTED JOURNALISM - OF OSCAR WILDE (1854 - 1900) A Brief Introduction to
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THE
UNCOLLECTED JOURNALISM
OF
OSCAR WILDE
(1854 - 1900)
A Brief Introduction to the
Microfilm Edition
BY
Professor Ian Small
Microform Academic PublishersTHE
UNCOLLECTED JOURNALISM
OF
OSCAR WILDE (1854 - 1900)
Comprising three Publications:
Woman 's World
Pall Mall Gazette
Dramatic Review
A Brief Introduction to the
Microfilm Edition
Professor Ian Smaii
From material held at
The British Library
Newspaper Library
London, England
Microform Academic PublishersMicroform Academic Publishers
East Ardsley, Wakefield, WF3 2AT
West Yorkshire, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1924 825700 Fax: (0) 1924 871005
Email: info@microform.co.uk Web address: www.microform.co.uk
OProfessor Ian SmallACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These records have been filmed from material held at the British
Library, Newspaper Library, 96 Euston Road, London, England.
This microfilm publication in no way constitutes the entire span of
each of the three newspapers represented in this microform collection
held at the above Library. Further information about the complete
span of each of the newspaper collection can be obtained from the
Publishers, or by contacting the British Library direct.
The Publishers wish to thank the staff in the Reproductions Dept at the
British Library for all their help and assistance with this project. In
particular, the publishers would like to thank David Way of the
Publishing Office, for his concentrated efforts throughout and in
ensuring that this projects comes to fruition.
The publishers would also like to thank Professor Ian Small of
Birmingham University, England, for his commitment, and scholarly
advice, which was essential to the completion of this publication.
No further microfilm reproduction of material appearing in this
microform edition is permitted without the prior consent of Microform
Academic Publishers, Main Street, East Ardsley, Wakefield, West
Yorkshire, WF3 2AT, England.
0Microform Academic PublishersThe Pall Mall Gazette
October 1884 - December 1890
Dramatic Review
February 1885 -May 1886
Woman’s World
November 1886 - October 1889 (incorporating the last edition of Lady’s
WorldN. Sarony, 1882
Oscar Wilde's Uncollected Journalism
Introduction
Ian Small
As a cultural icon, Oscar Wilde's status and reputation is now assured, so much
so that it is not unusual to see him described as one of the defining figures of the
Europeanfin de si2cle and of early modernism. This revaluation of Wilde's life and his
sexuality, both inaugurated and authorised by Richard Ellmann's popular biography
(Oscar Wilde, 1987), has in turn allowed two other significant issues to come to the
fore. The first of these has been a preoccupation with the question of Wilde's identity as
an Lrishman and therefore his relationship with contemporary Irish nationalism. The
second has been an interest in his career as a professional writer. That career, although
in effect lasting less than twenty years, spanned a period in which the culture industry in
Britain was undergoing profound changes. In this sense, Wilde's writing life can be seen
a paradigm example of the changed conditions of literary production in the 1880s and
1890s -- of what it meant to be a writer as the modem age of consumerism, advertising,
and mass markets was beginning to emerge.
The role of the periodical and popular press in defining that modernity has been
recognised by cultural historians for some time. The need for the journalist to become
what we would call a 'media personality', to acknowledge the supremacy of public
opinion and mass tastes, and to relinquish those powerful Romantic mythologies of
1creative autonomy -- all these imperatives required a professional writer like Wilde to
come to terms with the fact that the selling of literary art (even in its most elite forms)
was as important as its making, and that all forms of literature were in part
commodities. For these reasons, it is becoming clear that an understanding of Wilde's
early journalism is a prerequisite for understanding the shape of his literary career as a
whole. That understanding helps us to recognise a pragmatism and worldliness in
Wilde's attitude towards his works -- including the society comedies and The Picture of
Doriun Gray -- which he took great pains to conceal from the public. The claim which
Andre Gide attributed to him, that he put his genius into his life and only his talent into
his work, could not be further from the truth, and a familiarity with Wilde's early
journalism allows us to appreciate the extent of (and reasons for) Wilde's habitual
misrepresentation of himself
Wilde's entry into journalism can be explained by a number of factors. He
graduated from both Trinity College, Dublin, and later from Oxford, with high
academic honours, and he understandably looked first to an academic career, hoping to
be offered a fellowship at Magdalen College. When this was not forthcoming he turned
to what seemed the next best alternative, that of public office in the British Civil
Service, applying (as Matthew Amold had done) to be appointed an Inspector of
Schools. Wilde, however, was not successful. A further disappointment came with the
realisation that the sale of family property in Ireland would not produce enough capital
to support him or his mother and brother (both of whom had moved from Dublin to
2London in 1879). Interestingly, the success of his mother ('Speranza') and his brother
Willie in popular journalism may have persuaded Wilde of the wisdom of turning to
commercial writing: Wilde began his career as a journalist by writing for a number of
periodicals with which a family connection had already been established. These titles
included the World which (between 1879 and 1887) printed some of his poems and two
short stories ('The Model Millionaire' and 'The Sphinx Without a Secret') and the Pall
Mall Gazette, a magazine which employed Wilde in the capacity of a reviewer from
1884 until 1890.
It has been tempting for literary historians to read Wilde's career in journalism in
negative terms, as one dictated by financial necessities and by failures in other fields.
Such an explanation, however, is far too reductive. There is a good deal of evidence that
Wilde, like h s mother and brother, saw the move as a positive one. He was attracted to
those society circles with which much popular journalism was obsessed, and in which
many journalists were therefore required to move. Wilde's correspondence reveals that
he used his editorship of the Woman's World to give him access to 'polite' society, to
what Max Beerbohm called the 'upper ten thousand'. Many of his rather ingratiating
letters to aristocratic women, asking for a contribution to the periodical, were in effect a
method of self-promotion. More importantly perhaps, journalism did not appear to
conflict with Wilde's ambition to be what we can call a 'serious' writer. Rather the
opposite: the popular press could be used to help him achieve that ambition. For
example, many of the pieces in Poems (1881), the volume which seems to exemplify
3best his early artistic ambitions, were first published in the periodical press. It was also
in the pages of the periodical press (in the Biograph and Review in 1880) that Wilde
chose to advertise himself as a writer of 'a blank verse tragedy . . . essays on Greek art,
and a collection of poems'. More significantly, even when Wilde had stopped writing
popular journalism, he continued to use the pages of the popular press to publicise his
career, judiciously 'leaking' to trade magazines such as the Bookmun 'puffs' for work
which was never in fact completed. The lessons he learned as a journalist, that selling
was as important as writing, persisted to the end of his career, and are best seen in his
attempts to promote his poem The Ballad ofReodzng Gaol. He asked his publisher
Leonard Smithers to advertise the book 'like Pear's soap, and other more useful things',
while at the same time complaining that he felt 'like Lipton's tea'.
Another reason for resisting the temptation to bracket off the journalism as a
failed or journeyman phase of Wilde's career is to be found in the variety of his
contributions and in the range of magazines for which he wrote. The three titles
reproduced in this archive exemplify that diversity. Wilde's longest and most regular
relationship was with the Pall Mull Gazette. The magazine was established in 1865 by
George Smith of the distinguished publishing house of Smith, Elder; it was transferred
in 1880 to his son-in-law, Henry Yates Thompson. The first editor had been Frederick
Greenwood, who had previously worked as a sub-editor on the Cornhill Maguzzne
under William Makepeace Thackeray. The next editor (for a brief period) was John
Morley, who had moved from the immensely influential liberal magazine, the
4Fortnightly Review. During Wilde's period of employment the Gazette was edited by
the more politically active William Thomas Stead, who later founded the Review of
Reviews. Wilde's last contribution more or less coincides with the appointment of E. T.
Cook (who was to achieve more lasting distinction as the editor, along with Alexander
Wedderburn, of the works of John Ruskin). The Gazette advertised itself as 'an evening
newspaper and review'; priced at one penny, it was designed to reach a wide audience.
The eclecticism of subjects under review by Wilde speaks both to his versatility and to
the range of interests of the intended readership. In March 1885 we find him writing on
'Dinners and Dishes', in May reviewing two new novels, and in November of that year
discussing How to be Happy though Married: Being a Handbook to Murriage, calling it
the 'Baedeker of bliss'. But we also find reviews of a French book on Horace and Virgil
by Gaston Boissier, of a new translation of Homer's Odyssey, and a discussion of Emst
Eckstein's Aphrodite. Of course, not all these topics coincided with Wilde's own
interests, but as a professional reviewer, and in the words of Jasper Milvain, in George
Gissing's New Grub Street (1891) a novel about the contemporary writer's life, it was
his 'business to know something about every subject'.
This kind of journeyman work is the easiest for modem literary critics, usually
interested in Wilde's drama and fiction, to dismiss. Undoubtedly Wilde's primary reason
for undertaking review work was financial. Moreover, because the work appeared
anonymously, it was of little use in establishing his name and furthering his reputation.
On the other hand, the ability to come to a witty summarising judgement, and the
5recognition of the need to entertain the reader were lessons which would be put to good
use in later work, and are part and parcel of the development of what we identify as the
Wildean style. Moreover there is some evidence that the breadth of his enforced reading
during the 1880s contributed to the allusive qualities of Wilde's writing. For many years
-- perhaps since his first published book in 1881 -- readers have recognised derivative
qualities in Wilde's work, to the extent that he has consistently been accused of outright
plagiarism. This tracing of his 'literary debts' has tended to be confined to his borrowing
from well-known or major literary figures, such as Matthew h o l d or Walter Pater.
Relatively little attention has been paid to the use Wilde made of all his reading.
However recent studies of his undergraduate notebooks reveal a magpie-like quality to
his memory, in which snippets and phrases of what he had read in his twenties would
reappear many years later in wholly different contexts. All the evidence we have
suggests that this habit was a lifelong one. Wilde was not a writer with the fecund
imagination of Charles Dickens or Honore de Balzac, and was well aware that the very
stuff of his creativity was taken from others. As he put it in one of his pieces in 1885 for
the Pall Mall Gazette, 'the true artist is known by the use he makes of what he annexes,
and he annexes everything'. Wilde's early reviews therefore present the scholar with rich
material for investigating this intertextual aspect of his creativity.
The Dramatic Review was a different kind of periodical from the Pall Mull
Gazette. The first issue appeared on 1 February 1885, at a price of 3d. (it was reduced to
one penny in June 1886, an indication perhaps that it was not selling well). Edited by
6Edwin Palmer, it described itself as a ljournal of theatrical, musical, and general
criticism.' All the contributions appeared under signature. Unusually, Palmer had
printers' blocks made to reproduce his authors' signatures in facsimile, presumably in
order to emphasise the fact that the work was authentic. There is, however, something
of a paradox in Palmer's tactic -- mechanically reproduced handwriting works against
the uniqueness represented by a signature. More importantly, though, there is some
evidence that Palmer appended the signatures of his contributors to pieces he had
written himself, suggesting that there was duplicity as well as contrivance in his tactics.
These caveats notwithstanding, the Dramatic Review did trade quite explicitly on the
reputations and personalities of its authors. Palmer employed many eminent figures in
theatrical circles, includmg Harry Quilter, Hermann Vezin and William Archer (who
was involved in the founding of the journal). In addition, Palmer was prepared to take
on relatively new talent such as Wilde and the inexperienced George Bernard Shaw.
Wilde contributed ten pieces to the Dramatic Review -- seven reviews of
dramatic productions, two poems and one essay. It is easier to see a continuity between
this form of journalism and his later successful work. Reviewing contemporary
productions helped Wilde to develop aspects of stage-craft. It also allowed him to
develop contacts with theatre managers and actors. He reviewed Henry Irving's
performance in Olzvia in 1885, and Herbert Beerbohm Tree in Helenu in Troas in 1886;
he later wrote A Woman O f N o Importance for Tree and tried to interest Irving in
staging The Duchess of Paduu. Moreover Wilde's essay, 'Shakespeare on Scenery'
7(which appeared in March 1885) was a more substantial piece of criticism than any of
his reviews for the Pall Mall Gazette. He reworked it for an essay called 'Shakespeare
and Stage Costume', published in the prestigious Nineteenth Century in May 1885, and
then revised it further for inclusion in Intentions (1891) under the new title 'The Truth
of Masks'. Of the poems, 'The Harlot's House' was not reprinted until 1908, well after
Wilde's death. However it is usually judged to be one of Wilde's better poems and is
included in many modem anthologies of his work. 'Sonnet, On the Recent Sale by
Auction of Keats' Love Letters' was reprinted in Wilde's lifetime, in anthology edited by
William Sharp entitled Sonnets 0fThi.s Century (1886).
The highpoint of Wilde's career as a journalist was his appointment in May 1887
to edit a journal called the Lady's World. After some argument he persuaded its
publishers, Cassell and Co., to re-title it the Woman's World. To edit a periodxal was,
for the nineteenth-centulywriter, a mark of some distinction.
Wilde was following a pattern established by such famous predecessors as Dickens and
Thackeray. First and foremost, an editorship offered a financial security unavailable to
most novelists or poets. Second, it gave a writer an opportunity to establish a name and
a style. The editor became responsible for setting the tone of his publication and for
commissioning contributions; new editors would often make a point of changing or
restyling the publication they took over. A notable example was Frank Harris's
editorship of the Fortnightly Review in the late 1880s and early 1890s; under his
direction it became much more literaIy than political and sold much better.
8Against these advantages, it needs to be acknowledged that the Lady's World
was a small and failing magazine when Wilde took it over. Moreover the fact that it
targeted a female readership necessarily marginalised it from more heavyweight
publications. Nevertheless Wilde did attempt to modernise the magazine by
incorporating some elements of contemporary feminist debate. In his own words (taken
from what was in effect a form letter written to a number of potential contributors), he
was 'anxious to make it the recognised organ through which women of culture and
position will express their views'. As well as aristocratic women, Wilde also encouraged
young talents, some of whom, like Constance Naden, were associated with radical
ideas. He published work under signature and used 'names' to attract readers. As editor
Wilde wrote his own column entitled 'LiteraIy and Other Notes', in which he reviewed
new books, literary gossip and social events, work very similar to that which he
continued to submit to the Pall Mall Gazette. Indeed, on occasions Wilde reviewed the
same books for both publications. In addition to broadening the range of contributors,
Wilde increased the number of pages in the magazine, but reduced the number of
illustrations.
Despite these changes, however, the periodical did not succeed. Wilde resigned
his editorship in August 1889, and his name was removed from the cover in October of
that year. Cassell discontinued the title in 1890 after the third volume.
9Wilde's involvement in the Woman's World has been interpreted in conflicting
ways. Some contemporary testimony (and especially that of his sub-editor, Arthur Fish)
suggests that Wilde was less than conscientious in discharging his responsibilities.
Richard Ellmann perpetuates this view that Wilde was never really interested in his job.
By contrast, some recent feminist accounts of his editorship have been more generous,
emphasising the obstructions put in his path by Cassell, and Wilde's genuine interest in
the sexual politics of his time. A detailed study of Wilde's contributions and their
relationship to the rest of his journalism has yet to be undertaken. Similarly an
understanding of the role of the professional editor in preparing Wilde for his later
career as a professional author of plays and fiction is only just beginning to be
appreciated the continuities between these two phases of his life are more striking than
any differences.
Throughout his varied career as an author Wilde always wrote for money: an
awareness that literature was a product, and that readers had to be understood -- at least
in part -- as buyers, was an unavoidable fact of being a journalist, but it was also vital
for Wilde's success as a novelist and West End dramatist.
Professor Ian Small, August 2000
10Checklist Of Oscar Wilde's Known Contributions TO
the Pall Mall Gazette, the Dramatic Review,
and the Woman's World*
The following details are derived from Stuart Mason [Christopher Sclater Millard]
Bibliomaphv of Oscar Wilde (London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd., 1914).
Reel 1 - 2 The Dramatic Review
Keel 3 - 4 Lady's World & Woman's World
Reel 5 - 29 Pall Mall Gazette
11The Dramatic Review
1' February 1885 - 26* may 1886
Note:
The following list refers directly to the page and volume numbers used in the newspaper. Thus
''Shokespeaye onScenep: I , 7 (14March 1885), 99", the first enky below, for example, refers
to Volume 1, Issue number 7, date, and the page number, 99. The months of the year are clearly
listed on the microfilm itself.
The following article appeared under Wilde's signature in facsimile
REEL 1
'Shakespeare on Scenery', 1,7 (14 March 1885), 99.
'The Harlot's House', 1, 11 (11 April 1885), 167.
"'Hamlet" at the Lyceum', 1, 15 (9 May 1885), 227.
"'Henry the Fourth" at Oxford', 1, 17 (23 May 1885), 264-5.
"'Olivia" at the Lyceum', 1, 18 (30 May 1885), 278
"'As You Like It" at Coombe House', 1,19 (6 June 1885), 296-7
12REEL 2
'Sonnet, On the Recent Sale by Auction of Keats' Love Letters', 2, 52, (23 January
1886), 249.
"'Twelfth Night" at Oxford', 3,56 (20 February 1886), 34-5
"'The Cenci"', 3,68 (15 May 1886), 151
"'Helena in Troas"', 3,69 (22 May 1886), 161-2.
13The Woman’s World
November 1886 - October 1889 (incorporating the latter editions of Lady’s
World)
Note:
Lady’s World came under the editorial guidance of Oscar Wilde in Autumn 1887, whereby the
title changed to Woman’s World. The following list refers directly to the page and volume
numbers used in this monthly publication. Thus “Ziteratyand Other Notes. By the Editor’, I , 1
November 1887, 36-40”. the first entry below, for example, Volume 1, Issue number 1, date,
and the actual page number, 36-40, in this example. The numbers are annually chronological.
REEL 3
Lady’s World November 1886 - October 1887
REEL 4
‘Literaq and Other Notes. By the Editor’, 1, 1 (November 1887), 36-40.
Reviews of Princess Christina of Schleswig Holstein, ed., Memoirs of
WilhelmineMargruvzne of Baireuth; and Mrs William Sharp, ed., Women‘s
Vuices;Margaret i.Woods, A Village Tragedy.
’Literary and Other Notes. By the Editor’, 1,2 (December 1887), 81-5.
Reviews of Lady Bellairs, Gossips with Girls and Maidens Betrothed and Free;
Constance Naden, A Modern Apostle and Other Poems; Phyllis Browne, Mrs
Somerville and Mary Carpenter; [The Author of Hogan, MP., Flitters, Tatters,
and the Counsellor],Ismay’s Children.
14'Literary and Other Notes. By the Editor', 1, 3 (January 1888), 132-6.
Reviews of Madame Ristori (Ollendorf), Etudes et Souvenirs;Elizabeth Rachel
Chapman, The New Purgatory and Other Poems; Lady Augusta Noel, Hithersea
Mere, Alice Corkran, Margery Merton's Girlhood; Emily Pfeiffer, Women and
Work;Robert Ellice Mack, Treasures of Art and Song.
Literary and Other Notes. By the Editor', 1,4 (February 1888), 180-4.
Reviews of Michael Field, Cunute the Great; Frances Martin, Life of Elizabeth
Gilbert; Louise Chandler Moulton, Ourselves and Our Neighbours; Mrs De
Courcy Laffan, A Song of+Jubileeand Other Poems; Bella Duffy, Life of
Madame de Stael; John Evelyn, Life of Mrs Godolphin.
'Literary and Other Notes. By the Editor', 1 , 5 (March 1888), 229-32.
Reviews of Princess Emily Ruete of Oman and Zanzibar, Memoirs of an
Arabian Princess; Mrs Oliphant, Makers of Venice;Mabel Robinson, The Plan
of Campaign;Harriet Waters Preston, A Year in Eden; Rachel and Other Poems.
'A Fascinating Book. A Note by the Editor', 2, 14 (December 1888), 108-12.
Review of Emest Lefebure [trans. Alan S. Cole), Embroidery and Lace: Their
Manufacture and Historyfrom fhe Remotest History to the Present Day.'A Note on Some Modem Poets. By the Editor', 2, 14 (December 1888), 108-12.
Reviews of W. E. Henley, A Book of Verses;William Sharp, Romantic BuIlads
and Poems of Phantasy; A. Mary. F. Robinson, Poems, Ballads, and a Garden
Play; [the Author of John H a l f a , Gentlemun],Poems.
'Some Literary Notes. By the Editor', 2, 15 (January 1889), 164-8.
Reviews of Janet Ross, Three Generations of English Women;Lady Lindsay,
Curoline; Alice Corkran, Meg's Friend and Sarah Doudney, Under False
Colours, Florence Montgomery, The Fisherman's Daughter; Mrs Molesworth,
The Third Miss St Quentin and Mrs Molesworth, A ChristmasPosy; Rosa
Mulholland, A Girl's Story of Herself;'Agnes Gibeme, Rulph Hardcastle's Will;
Wdter Crane, Flora's Feast: A Masque of Flowers.
'Some Literary Notes. By the Editor', 2, 16 (February 1889,221-4.
Reviews of W. B. Yeats, ed., Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry; Violet
Fane, Helen Davenant; Dr Anna Kingsford, Dreams and Dream-Stories; Amy
Levy, The Romance of a Shop; Margaret Lee, Faithful and UnjaithfuI.
'Some Literary Notes. By the Editor', 2, 17 (March 1889), 277-80.
Reviews of E. Nesbit, Leaves ofLfe; W. B. Yeats, The Wanderings of Oisin and
Other Poems; Lady Munster, Dorinda; Mrs Walford, Four Biographiesfrom
Blackwood', Mabel E. Wotton, ed., Word Portraits of Famous Writers.
16‘Some Literary Notes. By the Editor’, 2, 18 (April 1889), 333-6.
Reviews of W. Knight, ed., Wordsworfhiana:A Selection of Papers Read to the
WordsworlhSociety; E. M. Edmonds, M a y Myles; Lady Dilke, Art in the
Modern State; Bret Harte, Cressy;Richard Day, Poems; Ella Curtis, A Game of
Chance.
‘Some Literary Notes. By the Editor’, 2, 19 (May 1889), 389-92.
Reviews of Caroline Fitz Gerald, Venetia Victriu;David Ritchie, Darwinism and
Politics; Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati, The High-Caste Hindu Woman.
’Some Literary Notes. By the Editor’, 2,20 (June 1 SS9),
446-8.
Reviews of An Author’s Love: Being the Unpublished Letters of Prosper
MkrirnQe’sYnconnue’;Graham R. Tomson, The Bird-Bride: A Volume ofBalla&
and Sonnets.
17The Pull Mull Gazette
(October 1884 - December 1890)
REEL 5
All but two of the following articles appeared anonymously; the exceptions were the
first piece and 'Mr Froude's Blue Book', (49, no. 751 1 (13 April 1889), which was
signed '0.W.'
'Mr Oscar Wilde on Woman's Dress', 40, no. 61 14 (14 October 1884), 6
'More Radical Ideas upon Dress Reform', 40, no. 6138 (1 1 November 1884), 11-12.
REEL 6
'Mr Whistler's Ten OClock', 41, no. 6224 (21 February 1885), 1-2.
'The Relation of Dress to Art. A Note in Black and m t e on Mr Whistler's Lecture', 41,
no. 6230 (28 February 1885), 4.
'Dinners and Dishes', 41, no. 6236 (7 March 1885), 5.
'AModernEpic',41, no. 6241 (13 March 1885), 11-12.
'A Bevy of Poets', 4 1, no. 6253 (27 March 1885), 5.
18REEL 7
'Parnassus versus Philology', 4 1, no. 6257 (1 April 1885), 6.
'Two New Novels', 41, no. 6293 (15 May 1885), 5.
'Modem Greek Poetry', 41, no. 6302 (27 May 1885), 5.
REEL 8
July - September 1885
REEL 9
'A Handbook To Marriage', 42, no. 6452 (18 November lSS5), 6.
REEL 10
'Half Hours with the Worst Authors', 43, no. 6501 (15 January 1886), 4.
'One of Mr Conway's Remainders', 43, no. 6515 (1 February 1886), 5.
'To Read, Or Not to Read', 43, no. 6521 (8 February 1886), 11.
'The Letters of a Great Woman', 43, no. 6544 (6 March 1886), 4-5.
19REEL 11
'News from Parnassus', 43, no. 6575 (12 April 1886), 5
'Some Novels', 43, no. 6577 (14 April 1886), 5.
'A Literary Pilgrim', 43, no. 6580 (17 April 1886), 5.
'Bkranger In England', 43, no. 6583 (21 April 1886), 5.
'The Poetry of the People', 43, no. 6601 (13 May 1886), 5.
REEL 12
'Pleasing and Prattling', 44, no. 6672 (4 August 1886), 5
'Balzac in English', 44, no. 6706 (13 September 1886), 5.
'Two New Novels,' 44, no. 6709 (16 September 1886), 5.
'Ben Jonson', 44, no. 6712 (20 September 1886), 6.
'The Poets' Corner,' 44, no. 6718 (27 September 1886), 5.
20REEL 13
'A Ride through Morocco', 44, no. 6728 (8 October 1886), 5
'The Children of the Poets', 44, no. 6733 (14 October 1886), 5.
'New Novels', 44, no. 6745 (28 October 1886), 4-5.
'A Politician's Poetry', 44, no. 6750 (3 November 1886), 4-5.
'Mr Swinburne and the "Quarterly Review"', 44, no. 6753 (6 November 1886), 6.
'Mr Symonds' History of the Renaissance', 44, no. 6756 (10 November 1886), 5.
'A "Jolly" Art Critic', 44, no. 6763 (18 November 1886), 6.
'A "Sentimental Journey" Through Literature', 44, no. 6774 (1 December 1886), 5.
'Two Biographies of Sir Philip Sidney', 44, no. 6783 (1 1 December 1886), 5
REEL 14
'Common Sense in Art', 45, no. 6806 (8 January 1887), 5.
21'Miner and Minor Poets', 45, no. 6826 (1 February 1887), 5.
'The Poets and the People. By One of the Latter', 45, no. 6840 (17 February 1887), 4.
'A New Calendar', 45, no. 6840 (17 February 1887), 5.
'The Poets' Corner', 45, no. 6856 (8 March 1887), 5.
'Great Writers by Little Men', 45, no. 6873 (28 March 1887), 5.
'A New Book on Dickens', 45, no. 6876 (3 1 March 1887), 5.
REEL 15
'Our Book Shelf, 45, no. 6885 (12 April 1887), 5
'A Cheap Edition of a Great Man', 45, no. 6890 (18 April 1887), 5 .
Mr Morris's Odyssey', 45, no. 6897 (26 April 1887), 5.
'A Batch of Novels', 45, no. 6902 (2 May 1887), 11.
'The Poets' Corner', 45, no. 6926 (30 May 1887), 5.
22'Mr Pater's Imaginary Portraits', 45, no. 6937 (1 1 June 1887), 2-3.
REEL 16
'A Good Historical Novel', 46, no. 6986 (8 August 1887), 3
'Two Biographies of Keats', 46, no. 7029 (27 September 1887), 3.
REEL 17
"'Sermons in Stones" at Bloomsbury. The New Sculpture Room at the British Museum',
46, no. 7045 (15 October 1887), 5 .
'A Scotcbman on Scottish Poetry', 46, no. 7052 (24 October 1887), 3.
'Mr Mahaffy's New Book', 46, no. 7066 (9 November 1887), 3.
'Mi Morris's Completion of the Odyssey', 46, no. 7079 (24 November 1887), 3.
'Sir Charles Bowen's Virgil', 46, no. 7084 (30 November 1887), 3.
'The Unity of the Arts. A Lecture and "A Five O'Clock', 46, no. 7094 (12 December
1887), 13.
23'Aristotle at Afternoon Tea', 46, no. 7098 (16 December 1887), 3.
'Early Christian Art in Ireland', 46, no. 7099 (17 December 1887), 3.
REEL 18
'The Poets' Corner', 47, no. 7128 (20 January 1888), 3.
'The Poets' Corner', 47, no. 7150 (15 February 1888), 2-3.
'Venus or Victory?', 47, no. 7158 (24 February 1888), 2-3.
REEL 19
'The Poets' Corner', 47, no. 7193 (6 April 1888), 3.
'M. Car0 on George Sand', 47, no. 7200 (14 April 1888), 3
REEL 20
July - September 1888
24REEL 21
'The Poets' Corner', 48, no. 7365 (24 October 1888), 5.
'Mr Morris on Tapestry', 48, no. 7373 (2 November 1888), 6.
'Sculpture at the "Arts and Crafts"', 48, no. 7379 (9 November 1888), 3.
'The Poets' Corner', 48, no. 7385 (16 November 1888), 2-3
'Printing and Printers. Lecture at the Arts and Crafts', 48, no. 7385 (16 November 1888),
5.
u r Lof
lThn Rla..t: e ~Bookbinding. bfr Cobden-Sanderson at the Arts and Crafts', 48, no.
7391 (23 November 1888), 3.
'The Close of the "Arts and Crafts." Mr Walter Crane's Lecture on Design', 48, no. 7397
(30 November 1888), 3.
'Sir Edwin Amold's Last Volume', 48, no. 7406 (1 1 December 1888), 3.
25'Australian Poets', 48, no. 7409 (14 December 1888), 2-3
REEL 22
'Poetry and Prison. Mr Wilfrid Blunt's "In Vinculis"', 49, no. 7425 (3 January 1889), 3.
'Mr Andrew Lang's "Grass of Parnassus"', 49, no. 7425 (3 January 1889), 5
'The Gospel According to Walt Whitman', 49, no. 7444 (25 January 1889), 3.
'The New President', 49, no. 7445 (26 January 1889), 3.
'One ofthe Bibles ofthe World', 49, no. 7459 (12 February 1889), 3.
'Poetical Socialists', 49, no. 7462 (15 February 1889), 3.
'Mr Brander Matthews's Essays', 49, no. 7472 (27 February 1889), 3.
'Mr William Moms's Last Book', 49, no. 7475 (2 March 1889), 3.
'Adam Lindsay Gordon', 49, no. 7494 (25 March 1889), 3.
'The Poets' Corner', 49, no. 7499 (30 March 1889), 3.
26REEL 23
'Mr Froude's Blue Book', 49, no. 751 1 (13 April 1889), 3
'Ouida's New Novel', 49, no. 7539 (17 May 1889), 3.
'A Thought Reader's Novel', 49, no. 7555 (5 June 1889), 2.
'The Poets' Corner', 49, no. 7571 (24 June 1889), 3
'Mr Swinbume's Last Volume', 49, no. 7574 (27 June 1889), 3.
REEL 24
,The,.,. L T -... TI.
AiuCjCj l v c w ruets', 49, no. 7587 (12 July 1889), 3.
REEL 25
-
October December 1889
REEL 26
January - March 1890
27REEL 27
'Primavera', 50, no. 7856 (24 May 1890), 3.
REEL 28
July - September 1890
REEL 29
October - December 1890
Note
1 This list is of Wilde's work as a critic and reviewer, and so excludes his letter of 11
December 1891 to the Pall Mall Gazette on A House of Pomegranates, and three letters
written to the same magazine on 20 September, 22 September, and 2 October, 1894
about 'the Ethics of Journalism' and the authorship of The Green Carnation. In his
corrected proof copy of his Bzbliography, now held at the William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, Stuart Mason identifies Wilde
as the author of two further reviews in the Pall Mall Gazette: 'Various Versifiers', 45,
no. 6899 (28 April 1887) and 'A Batch of Books', 48, no. 7288 (26 July 1888).
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