The Collins Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

Along with seemingly containing the entire life’s work of the Irish-born wit, The Collins Complete Works of Oscar Wilde includes photos of the author and his family, and a chronology of his life. This particular edition is Collin’s fifth of this title, which was published in 2003. And incidentally, as the text notes on its back cover, Harper Collins has published iterations of Oscar Wilde’s complete works since 1948. Interestingly, this edition also contains introductions each by Vyvyan and Merlin Holland—who are, respectively, the son and grandson of Wilde. For scholars, these paternally-proximate preludes may proffer personal insights into the oeuvre of the anthologized author.

The Collins text also includes a partial Wilde bibliography, which features major works, like De Profundis and The Importance of Being Earnest, along with their initial publication dates, houses of publication, and the number of copies first printed—often with ancillary details concerning the context of publication. What’s more, this text includes a seemingly comprehensive bibliography of scholarly articles and books written about Wilde and his works, which might prove useful to scholars of literature, who are seeking secondary sources. Along with the works mentioned in this bibliography, like E.H. Mikhail’s Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism, the Collins edition includes editorial descriptions. Intriguingly, this often includes qualifications on the validity of the sources included. For example, under the entry for Thomas A. Mikolyzk’s Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Bibliography, the Collins editors conclude that the source is “More comprehensive than Mikhail but packed with errors,” (1262).

This resource is available for students of English at Tennessee Tech, from the front desk of the Volpe Library, under “Two-Hour Course Reserves” whenever they take English 3820—a currently-required course for all English majors at this institution.

Work Cited

Wilde, Oscar. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, Fifth Edition. Harper Collins, 2003.