23 BAUMAN RARE BOOKS Oscar Wilde’s Ideal Husband, Rare Theatrical Association Copy Of Eva Le Gallienne 23WILDE, Oscar. An Ideal Husband. London, 1899. Octavo, original lavender cloth gilt. $5500 Limited first edition, one of 1000 unnumbered copies, an especially memorable association copy with the bookplate of award-winning actress and director, Eva Le Gallienne. Wilde’s play premiered in January 1895 to an audience that included the Prince of Wales, and was an immediate success. Four months later, Wilde was in disgrace following his arrest for soliciting homosexual acts. This especially memorable association copy contains the bookplate of Eva Le Gallienne who, as “actress, producer, director, translator, writer and teacher, was for many decades one of the grand figures of the American stage” (New York Times). Born in London, she was the daughter of Wilde’s colleague Richard Le Gallienne, who is best remembered for his novel Quest of the Golden Girl and for his work with The Yellow Book. Text quite fresh with only lightest foxing to preliminaries, tiny bit of soiling to bright gilt boards. A lovely near-fine copy with a fascinating theatrical provenance. “A Peak Of English Poetry” 22YEATS, William Butler. The Winding Stair. New York, 1929. Octavo, original gilt-stamped dark blue cloth. $4500 Signed limited first edition, one of only 642 copies, signed on the half title by Yeats. The Winding Stair, along with The Tower (published in 1928), contains “the greatest poetry of Yeats in his difficult later manner… a peak in English poetry” (Connolly 56B). “Many critics have felt that Yeats’ greatest achievement was the development of a symbolic language to express an equilibrium between the conflicting demands on the poet of the outside world and his art… This theme is central to the two volumes which are often thought to be Yeats’ best, The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair (1929)” (Hamilton, 595). Without scarce original glassine and slipcase. Faint tape offsetting to free endpapers. About-fine condition. "I summon to the winding stair; Set all your mind upon the steep ascent."
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