Lord Alfred Douglas - Sonnets & Lyrics

London, Rich & Cowan, 1935. First edition. Cloth. Signed presentation copies of two volumes of poetry from Lord Alfred Douglas, accompanied by six letters from Douglas to Baroness Hazel Hergenhahn, containing frequent reference to the legacy of his relationship with Oscar Wilde First trade edition, first impression presentation copies of these two volumes of poetry from poet and journalist Lord Alfred Douglas, best known as the lover of Oscar Wilde. These two volumes are both signed by Douglas, and are accompanied by six typed letters - on thirteen sheets - from Douglas, dated between 1939 and 1940.Both volumes are inscribed to the front free endpaper to Hazel Hergenhahn and dated 1943, with each letter addressed to the same. Baroness Hazel Hergenhahn, was a well travelled Californian of extensive cultural acquaintance, and a frequent correspondent of Douglas in his final years.The correspondence is lively, with frequent mentions of Oscar Wilde and the ongoing struggle around Douglas's own legacy and reputation. Douglas goes on to mentions his struggles with American publishers, and makes occasional reports on the Second World War.Among the passages relating to Wilde are: 'I mean that it is strictly true that I constantly gave O.W. money (over and above the cheques recorded in the appendix of my book) and that over and over again I gave him considerable sums in ready money in restaurants when I asked him to dinner. In fact, as related in my Autobiography, whenever I asked him to dine, in the last years of his life in Paris, I invariably gave him a sum of money.'In another letter he discusses the same topic: 'These cheques only represented a portion of the money I gave him as, as often as not, I gave him the money in notes at personal interviews (as recorded in the play, "Oscar Wilde"), she simply ignores all this and repeats all the "bunk" about O.T. being "left to starve". Wilde was better off financially in his last years than I am myself today.' About his anger at a new biography of Wilde, he explains ' Bernard Shaw says that I have "an infantile complex" and his special name for me is "Childe Alfred"!&apos.He also discusses Wilde's legacy and his distrust of Wilde's literary executor, Robbie Ross, in relation to the misinformation presented by this biography: 'She pretends to think that when I induced my Mother to give Wilde L200 when I left him in my villa in Naples that this was part of a "debt of honour" which is the most fantastic rubbish, even though she says that Wilde himself wrote a letter (which I have never seen) about it to the scoundrel Ross, whom I exposed in the criminal courts in London in 1914. Anyone who knows anything about Wilde knows that his letters to Ross after his conviction are not evidence, as he said to me one day and contradicted it flatly the next day, and Ross himself was a Prince of Traitors as well as a thief and a blackmailer as proved at the Old Bailey in 1914&apos.   In the publisher's original cloth bindings, with price unclipped dust wrappers. Bumping to back strip heads and tails, with spotting to the cloth, most concentrated to 'Sonnets&apos. Inscriptions to front free endpapers. Discolouration to dust wrapper back strips and wrap perimeters, with small losses to back strip heads. Small closed tears to back strip heads of 'Lyrics&apos. Further minor loss to tail of 'Lyrics' volume. Mark to tail of front wrap of 'Sonnets', and head of front wrap of 'Lyrics&apos. Internally, firmly bound. Offsetting to title page of 'Lyrics', with light spotting to first few leaves of each volume. Pages otherwise generally clean and bright. Loosely inserted letters lightly age toned, with discolouration around the region of staple removal, and general edge wear Very Good Indeed . Ill.: None. Very Good Indeed/Very Good Indeed.

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