£279,800 Death Bed Photo Tops Oscar Wilde Sale

At Bonhams’ sale of material relating to the life of Oscar Wilde the top lot was the last photograph of the writer on his death bed on November 30 1900 by Gilbert Maurice which sold for £279,800 following an estimate of £3,000-£5,000.

The sale featured the collection of Wilde collector, bibliophile, and former dealer in Oriental antiques Jeremy Mason who has been collecting Wilde memorabilia for the last 60 years.

Other highlights of the sale included:

• two autograph Wilde manuscripts, a working draft and a fair copy of the sonnet titled The Grave of Shelley c.1881, sold for £60,090
• five autograph Wilde letters signed to J. Graham Hill, 1888 and 1891 (£57,550)
• a Wilde autograph letter signed to Reggie Turner, August 1897 (£57,550)
• Wilde's Salomé: drame en un acte, first edition, limited to 600 copies, author's presentation copy inscribed to Stuart Merrill, 1893, with two autograph letters signed by Merrill (£48,640)
• autograph letter from Wilde to Violet Fane on vegetarianism, November 1887 (£44,800)
• Cabinet card photograph of Wilde taken in New York, 1882, by Napaleon Sarony (£7,040)

Jeremy Mason began collecting Wilde when he bought actor Ernest Thesiger's first edition copy of The Importance of Being Earnest. “The collection just grew from there and now contains books, letters and manuscripts from each period of Wilde's life from childhood, school years, America, his fame as an author, the theatre 'golden years', and the tragedy and exile," he said. “Most importantly the collection has been enhanced by the inclusion of evocative items of ephemera which have added colour to the Wilde story and were so important to me when deciding which other items to add.”

The 156-lot sale made a total of £1,689,780 with 100% sold.