The Ballad of Reading Gaol
by Oscar Wilde
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile either in Berneval or in Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol on or about 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour in prison.
During his imprisonment, on Saturday 7 July 1896, a hanging took place. Charles Thomas Wooldridge (ca. 1866 – 7 July 1896) had been a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards. He was convicted of cutting the throat of his wife, Laura Ellen, earlier that year at Clewer, near Windsor. He was only aged 30 when executed. This had a profound effect on Wilde, inspiring the line "Yet each man kills the thing he loves."
The finished poem was published by Leonard Smithers in 1898 under the name C.3.3., which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3. This ensured that Wilde's name – by then notorious – did not appear on the poem's front cover. It was not commonly known, until the 7th printing in June 1899, that C.3.3. was actually Wilde.
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Ballad of Reading Gaol (Large Print Edition)
May 14, 2007, BiblioBazaar
Paperback
in English
- Lrg edition
143461526X 9781434615268
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol (Large Print)
October 9, 2006, Echo Library
Paperback
in English
- Lrg edition
1406832731 9781406832730
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The Ballad of Reading gaol
April 30, 2004, BookSurge Classics
Paperback
in English
1594567190 9781594567193
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The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
June 30, 2004, Kessinger Publishing
Paperback
in English
141915348X 9781419153488
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1937, Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club at the Harbor Press
Hardcover
in English
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1928, Macy-Masius: The Vanguard Press
Hardcover
in English
- First Thus Edition
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
1907, G. P. Putnam's Sons (The Knickerbocker Press)
Limp Leather
in English
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Die Ballade vom Zuchthause zu Reading
1907, Insel Verlag
Paperback
in German
- Fourth Edition; Vierte Auflage
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Die Ballade vom Zuchthause zu Reading
1905, Insel Verlag
Paperback
in German
- Third Newly Revised Edition; Dritte Neu Durchgesehene Auflage
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A gezang fun tefisah: The Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.C.3. ; fun English frei eiberzetst H. Rauzenblat.
1900, Kunst un Leben
in Yiddish
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
June 23, 1899, Leonard Smithers and Co
Hardcover
in English
- Seventh Edition
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
April 8, 1899, Benj. R. Tucker, Publisher
Hardcover
in English
- Unauthorized Second American Edition
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The Ballad of Reading Gaol
February 24, 1898, Leonard Smithers
Hardcover
in English
- Second Edition
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- Created April 1, 2008
- 15 revisions
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| September 11, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
| August 2, 2012 | Edited by ImportBot | import new book |
| October 24, 2011 | Edited by Violet | Edited without comment. |
| October 24, 2011 | Edited by Violet | Edited without comment. |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from Scriblio MARC record |