For Love of the King (copy formerly owned by David Belasco) by Oscar Wilde - 1922: A Burmese Masque

For Love of the King A Burmese Masque (theatrical play) by Oscar Wilde (author of The Importance of Being Ernest, The Canterville Ghost, The Picture of Dorian Grey) First Edition - First Printing Limited to 1000 copies (as stated on the copyright page) London: Methuen & Co., 1922. Published posthumously, this play by all accounts was neither published nor performed during Wilde's lifetime but was discovered in 1921 long after the playwright's death in 1900. After its original release, some Oscar Wilde experts believed the play to be a forgery. See below.

This copy formerly owned by the theatrical impresario and controversial theater director David Belasco, as indicated by his bookplate on the front pastedown inside the front board in the art nouveau style.

Near Fine+ in Very Good++ Dust Jacket (almost Near Fine-). A wonderful copy of a relatively difficult book to find, especially in original dust jacket. The book itself is solid, especially since it's on hand-made paper. Some discoloration to the front board. Dust jacket has nicks tiny chipping to the top and bottom of the spine, but about 99.9% all there. A very nice copy with exceptional provenance.

"For Love of the King", a posthumous play discovered in 1921. In October 1921, Hutchinson's Magazine published an undiscovered play, For Love of the King, allegedly by Irish-English author Oscar Wilde. The play was subsequently published in book form by Methuen Publishing in 1922. E. V. Lucas, The manuscript was offered to Methuen by Wodehouse Pearse along with a letter from Wilde (written in November 1894) stating that he was sending her the fairy play "for the love of the king" for her "own amusement".[3] In 1925, Christopher Millard, a well-known biographer of Wilde, was approached by Wodehouse Pearse who tried to sell him some letters that she said were written by Wilde. Convinced that the letters as well as the play were forgeries, Millard published a pamphlet stating that Methuen had knowingly published a play that it knew to be a forgery.[5] Methuen sued Millard for defamation and won an award of £200. During the trial, Wodehouse Pearse could not be found to testify (she was later discovered in prison serving a sentence for theft). Apparently, the play is today understood to be by Wilde but controversy still surrounds the letters and the play itself.

NOTE: All modern books with dust jackets come with dust jacket covers.

ALSO: The pictures are of the actual item for sale. (The pictures are NOT stock photos.)