A lock of Anglo-Irish playwright, poet and critic, Oscar Wilde’s hair is to be sold at auction.
Wilde was born in Dublin, whose birthday would have been on Monday was born in 1854 but died at the young age of 46.
He was best known for his works The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
His only son, Vyvyan Holland, then aged 74, presented a lock of his father’s hair to renowned Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir after the first London performance in 1960 of his pioneering one-man show ‘The Importance of Being Oscar’, compiled by him from Wilde’s writings.
Mac Liammóir and English actor Hilton Edwards were for many years Ireland’s best-known gay couple, at a time when active
homosexuality was a breach of the law. They followed the law and were received at all levels of Irish society.
In 1890, Holland’s father fell in love with the much younger Lord Alfred Douglas and then began a double life of winning fame and fortune but shielding his private life from public scrutiny.
However, five years later in February 1895, Douglas's father, the Marquis of Queensberry, accused Wilde of being a “somdomite" which was used as a term of abuse and disparagement for a gay person.
Wilde sued him for libel, lost, and was subsequently found guilty of gross indecency. He spent two years in prison, most of it in Reading Gaol.
In the month of his release from prison he composed The Ballad of Reading Gaol published in 1898 under the name ‘C.3.3.’, referencing his prison cell.
Bankrupt and shunned by society, his health broken by imprisonment, Wilde spent the rest of his life in Europe. He died in Paris on November 30th, 1900.
George Mealy, director of Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny said that the lot was “a unique memento” to have “of such a renowned playwright.”
Mr Mealy explained that the lock of Wilde’s hair came from MacLiammoir’s estate, and was in “unbroken family possession since his death in 1978 and that of his partner Hilton Edwards four years later in 1982.”
Sold by Mealy’s auction in Dublin in 2007 it was purchased there by the present vendor, unopened since purchase. Presented in Mealy’s sealed custom made box, also containing a manuscript note reading “Piece of Oscar Wilde’s hair: Very important”, written by MacLiammoir it is estimated to be worth between €5,000 and €7,000.
Offered with this lot is a copy of MacLiammóir’s published script, 1963, a selection of eight publicity photographs of MacLiammóir in various roles and from his own collection, some inscribed by him, Where Stars Walk, a typescript (carbon copy) of his unpublished play.
Also included is a page torn from a notebook bearing a manuscript goodwill message from him to performers in a late 1970s Gate Theatre production, “Love and prayers for triumph for you all from morbid bedridden jealous MacLiammóir”, with a pencilled message on the rear complaining about lack of advance publicity for the production.
“Possibly his last message to the theatre he loved so well,” added Mr Mealy.
The lot is just one of 1,000 lots of the Christmas Rare Book & Collectors' Sale which will be held at The Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, on December 5th and 6th.
