Von Eckardt, Gilman and Chamberlin - Oscar Wilde's London

[andydecker]

Wolf von Eckardt
Sander L. Gilman
J. Edward Chamberlin

Oscar Wilde's London

(Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, 1988, hardcover,285 pages)

Contents:

Introduction
1 Art and Life
2 Lilies and Sunflowers
3 The Call of the Stage
4 Readers and Writers
5 London's Growth
6 … and London's Shame
7 The Lower Classes
8 Religion, Spirits and Hosanna
9 The Sounds of London
10 Virtues of Sport
11 Jumbo and Sundry Diversions
12 Juliets of the Night
Epilogue
Notes
Selected Readings
Index



"This book is not about Oscar Wilde. It is about the city that made Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde.
It is about London from the fall of 1879, when Oscar Wilde, having graduated from Oxford, took rooms with Frank Miles at 13 Salisbury Street, until the spring of 1897, when Wile was released from Pentonville Prison and took the night boat to Dieppe, never return to England."

One of those books offered by the British Book Club in the 90s, this is a big hardcover. As the introduction says, these are very different chapters about the social and artistic history of London. From William Morris and his movement to the architecture, theatre, literature, traffic and living conditions of the time shortly before the new millennium.

There is wealth of information, many anecdotes – Doyle and Wilde met at a publisher's dinner and promised to write books. Doyle did The Sign of the Four, Wilde did The Picture of Dorian Gray - and a lot of photos and illustrations of the time. Some bits are amusing, some downright horrible. For some further reading there is a large list of books on the topics included.

Unfortunately it is OOP, but some online sellers sell it at low prices.