That Oscar Wilde continues to interest the collector is proved, if proof were necessary, by the splendid bibliography by Stuart Mason, in two large volumes. Its editor tells us that it was the work of ten years, which I can readily believe; and Robert Ross, Wilde’s literary executor, says in the introduction, that, in turning over the proof for ten minutes, he learned more about Wilde’s writings than Wilde himself ever knew. It gave me some pleasure, when I first took the book up, to see that Mason had used for his frontispiece the caricature of Wilde by Aubrey Beardsley, the original of which now hangs on the wall near my writing-table, together with a letter from Ross in which he says, “From a technical point of view this drawing is interesting as showing the artistic development of what afterwards was called his Japanese method in the ‘Salome’ drawings. Here it is only in embryo, but this is the earliest drawing I remember in which the use of dotted lines, a peculiarity of Beardsley, can be traced.”[9]
Another favorite bibliography is that of Dickens, by John C. Eckel. His “First Editions of Charles Dickens” is a book which no lover of Dickens—and who is not?—can do without. It is a book to be read, as well as a book of reference. In it Mr. Eckel does one thing, however, which is, from its very nature, hopeless and discouraging. He attempts to indicate the prices at which first editions of his favorite author can be secured at auction, or from the dealers in London and this country. Alas, alas! while waiting to secure prizes at Eckel’s prices I have seen them soaring to figures undreamed of a few years ago. In his chapter on “Presentation Copies,” he refers to a copy of “Bleak House” given by Dickens to Dudley Costello. “Some years ago,” he says, “it sold for $150.00. Eighteen months later the collector resold the book to the dealer for $380.00, who made a quick turn and sold the book for ten per cent advance, or $418.00.” These figures Mr. Eckel considers astonishing. I now own the book, but it came into my possession at a figure considerably in excess of that named.
A copy of “American Notes,” with an inscription, “Thomas Carlyle from Charles Dickens, Nineteenth October, 1842,” gives an excellent idea of the rise in the price of a book, interesting itself and on account of its inscription. At auction, in London, in 1902, it sold for £45. After passing through the hands of several dealers it was purchased by W. E. Allis, of Milwaukee; and at the sale of his books in New York, in 1912, it was bought by George D. Smith for $1050. Smith passed the book on to Edwin W. Coggeshall; but its history is not yet at an end, for at his sale, on April 25, 1916, it was bought by the firm of Dutton for $1850, and by them passed on, the story goes, to a discriminating collector in Detroit, a man who can call all the parts of an automobile by name. Fortunately, while this book was in full flight, I secured a copy with an inscription, “W. C. Macready from his friend Charles Dickens, Eighteenth October, 1842.” Now, what is my copy worth?