The Rise of Historical Criticism.
[Hartford, Conn.]: Privately Printed [by the Sherwood Press], 1905.
Price: $250.00
About the item
First edition, no. 41 of 225 numbered copies. 45 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Quarter green cloth and marbled boards, spine label.
Item #259306
An uncommon private printing, ostensibly preceding the appearance of this essay in the Methuen collected edition of 1908. Wilde wrote the essay as an entry in the Chancellor's English essay prize contest at Oxford in 1879. The ms., except for a portion in the Clark Library, was not recovered until the edition had progressed, so it appears in fragments, split between 2 volumes, and then is finally collected as a complete entity in the 1909 Miscellanies volume. This printing is unrecorded by Millard and was not present in the Dulau catalogue, so one might suspect a false imprint date. A copy did appear in the 1924 Quinn sale, with the date represented as literal. Mason makes reference to this title, but does not list a separate citation for it.
