The Collector as Artist: Lady Eccles and Oscar Wilde

British Library Lecture

The Collector as Artist: Lady Eccles and Oscar Wilde.

by John Stokes, Emeritus Professor of Modern British Literature in the Department of English at King's College London

Venue: Monday 11 January 2010 at 18.00 at the British Library Conference Centre 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB.

Taking Lady Eccles' magnificent donation of almost 2,000 items relating to Oscar Wilde and his circle to the British Library as its example, the talk will explore the ways in which the creativity of the collector can, in turn, inspire the imagination of the scholar.

Mary, Viscountess Eccles (1912 - 2003) collected an outstanding wealth of material relating to Wilde including manuscripts (correspondence, works, etc.) printed books (amongst them a number of presentation copies and books from Wilde's own library) and a wide range of ephemera which was bequeathed to the British Library.

The collection which is now available through the Library's online catalogues.

John Stokes and Dr Mark Turner, also of King's College, are now editing Wilde's journalism for the Oxford English Texts edition of the Complete Works.

The talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

Attendance is free, but please register your name with Teresa Harrington at the British Library teresa.harrington@bl.uk

The book illustrating this post is:

Oscar Wilde
Fairy Tales
Published: London, The Bodley Head, 1978
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Hardback

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall. Bound in quarter tan morocco, with a red title label. Illustr.: Mozley, Charles. Book Condition: Near Fine. Binding: 1/4 Morocco
Stock number: 35548.
£ 95.00 ( approx. $US 151.91 )

From the stock of Stephen Foster