Intentions. The Decay of Lying, Pen Pencil and Poison, The Critic as Artist, The Truth of Masks. London: Osgood, McIlvaine and Company, 1894. First Edition. Pp, 258. Original olive green cloth, titled in gilt on upper cover, spine lettered in gilt; light soiling to covers, neat ownership name to front free endpaper, contents in very good condition.

Intentions collects five essays by Wilde that had previously been published in periodicals, and then extensively re-worked by him for publication in volume form.

1,500 sets of first edition sheets were printed, of which 900 were issued in England and 600 were issued in the United States under Dodd, Mead and Co.’s imprint with a cancelled title. [Mason 341].