Lady Windermere’s Fan. A Play About a Good Woman. London, Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893. First Edition. Pp [14], 132, [16]. Publisher’s salmon pink cloth boards with spine lettered in gilt and floral leaves by Charles Ricketts to upper & lower covers. A fine bright copy.

First published on November 9th, 1893, in an edition of only 500 copies.

Critics and scholars consider Lady Windermere’s Fan to be Wilde’s “first successful dramatic production” as well as an enduring masterpiece (Mendelssohn). Its success not only relied on his update to French comic models and tropes (including blackmail, revenge attempts, and the discovery of a lost child); success also came as a result of Wilde’s own management of the premier.