1891 The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde
The
Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s famous story of a
portrait which ages while its human subject stays young, was first published in
the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Magazine. The story was regarded as quite
immoral by many at the time; indeed, the editor of Lippincott’s Magazine, J. M.
Stoddart, removed about 500 words from Wilde’s original manuscript, without the
author’s permission, because he held it to be indecent due to its homoerotic
content.
The first edition in book form followed in 1891, and because of the
widely-voiced criticism of the initial version, Wilde wrote a preface to the
book defending his point of view, although he did also agree to edit out a few
of the more contentious passages. A complete uncensored version, in which all
Stoddart’s excisions and Wilde’s enforced additional amendments have been
reversed, was not published until 2011 by the Belknap Press.
The 1890 magazine form of the novella is famously scarce and
the book form is much more likely to be accessible to the keen collector.
Lippincott’s Magazine cover for July 1890 is shown below.
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