Oscar Wilde love letters published in time to honor author’s birthday

The Letters of Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas  is out to commemorate the literary legend’s October 16 birthday!

Warbler Press has announced the publication of My Own Dear Darling Boy: The Letters of Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas—the most complete collection of the surviving letters that Wilde wrote to his “own dear darling boy.”

The letters are a testament to the enduring power and radical force of queer love.

One of the greatest writers in the English language, Wilde was put on trial and sentenced to two years of hard labor for “gross indecency” — in other words, his homosexuality. His refusal to renounce his sexual orientation and his love for Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bosie”) made him first a martyr in English society and later an icon for free love and LGBTQ culture.

This edition of surviving letters that Wilde wrote to his “own dear darling boy” is a testament to the enduring power and radical force of queer romantic love. Included in this volume are the introductory essays by legendary bookseller A. S. W. Rosenbach and philanthropist William Clark, who first published these letters in 1924, and a little-known letter from Douglas to Wilde. Wilde’s letters to Lord Alfred Douglas are used by permission of Merlin Holland, the Executor of the Estate of Oscar Wilde.

“I think of you always, and love you always, but chasms of moonless nights divide us. We cannot cross it without hideous and nameless peril.” 

oscar Wilde to bosie, 1897

An Irish playwright, poet, and novelist known for his biting wit, defense of aesthetics, and defiance of social conventions Wilde was celebrated for comedies including The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband, and the iconic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Also included are Preface, Afterword, and Biographical Timeline by Ulrich Baer who holds degrees from Harvard and Yale, and has been awarded Guggenheim, Getty, and Humboldt fellowships. He is University Professor at New York University and has published books on poetry, photography, and free speech, a novel, short stories, and edited Dickinson, Nietzsche, Rilke, Shakespeare, and Wilde.

This book and others by Oscar Wilde are available at warblerpress.com.