Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Wilde, Oscar. For Love of the King; A Burmese Masque. Methuen & Co. Ltd, London, 1922.
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very Good, lacking the jacket. Cream boards, soiled and bumped, gilt lettering and designs on the spine and front board. Square and firmly bound with a gilt top edge, clean internally. The first appearance of this posthumously published pantomimic play originally written around 1894 as a gift for Mrs. Chan Toon.
Seller: Carpetbagger Books, Woodstock, IL, U.S.A.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Squarish 8vo; (xiv), 40 pages; natural cream colored buckram, gilt titled on spine, gilt title and three round devices on front cover, top edge gilt. Limited to 1000 copies on very heavy handmade paper. Extremities unworn but as is often the case a little tanned. In its blue heavy paper dust jacket repeating the design of the book. About half of the jacket front is some tanned - as it was on the shelf near a smaller book. Otherwise this jacket is complete, and with no flaws. Added by Methuen as a final volume of their set of Works of Wilde. Not by Wilde, but by the devious Mabel Cosgrove, Wodehouse Pearse aka Mrs. Chan-Toon, Irish author, forger, thief and general scallawag. On the publication of Love of the King Christopher Millard (who knew more about Wilde than anyone) circulated a letter amongst the book trade claiming that this work was not by Wilde but rather by a Mrs. Chan Toon. Thus a fascinating literary tale of forgery and misattribution.
Seller: Richard Cady Rare Books, Prescott, AZ, U.S.A.
Wilde , Oscar.. For Love Of The King. A Burmese Romance.. Methuen & Co. London., 1922.
Price: US$85.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First printing, first printing. London,1922. A very good book in the original cream tab buckram. With heavy laid paper and limited to 1000 copies as such. Buckram binding is age soiled and a bit off white. Gilt on cover and spine clear. Clean with contents. excellent. Gilt titles on the front cover and spine. Illustrated historical.
Seller: Somewhere In Time Books, St. James, NY, U.S.A.
WILDE, Oscar.. For the Love of the King: A Burmese Masque.. Methuen, London, 1922.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: 39 [1] pp. 8vo, publisher's white gilt buckram. One of 1000 copies on handmade paper. A little tanned at the spine and edges of the boards.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Oscar Wilde. For Love of the King. Methuen and Co, London, 1922.
Price: US$192.49 + shipping
Description: A very smart copy of Oscar Wilde's uncommon play 'For Love of the King'. This is a very smart copy of this masque by Oscar Wilde which was first written in 1894 as a personal gift to Wilde's friend Mabel. The manuscript was accompanied by a letter, which has been printed as a preface to this work.A limited print run of 1000 copies. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Externally, very smart with minor bumping to the head and tail of spine. Fading to spine. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean. Very Good Indeed
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
WILDE, Oscar [Mrs. Chan Toon]. For Love of the King: A Burmese Masque. Methuen, London, 1922.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octavo, 39pp. A very good copy in the publisher's white cloth, stamped in gilt. Thin dust-soiling to extremities. In the uncommon dust jacket, chipped at a few corners, but overall about very good, with a faint ring stain on the front panel. Limited to 1000 unnumbered copies on handmade paper. This volume was purported to be a posthumously-discovered manuscript of Oscar Wilde's, though it was later revealed to be a forgery by Mabel Cosgrove Wodehouse Pearse (AKA Mrs. Chan Toon), an Irish novelist. Despite this unhappy history, nevertheless an important volume in the wider Wilde bibliographical canon.
Seller: Cleveland Book Company, ABAA, Rocky River, OH, U.S.A.
Wilde, Oscar. FOR LOVE OF THE KING - A BURMESE MASQUE. Methuen and Co., London, 1922.
Price: US$202.99 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Discoloration on the spine and some age wear; 39 pages
Seller: Neil Shillington: Bookdealer/Booksearch, hobe sound, FL, U.S.A.
Wilde Oscar.. For Love of the King. A Burmese Masque. Methuen., London, 1922.
Price: US$256.65 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A FIRST LIMITED EDITION .Cream covers with gilt lettering and decoration, slight shelf wear to edges and corners. D/W shows signs of wear to edges and corners small pieces missing top and bottom of spine, tear at front edge, some staining on d/w. This Edition on heavy handmade paper is limited to 1000 copies, pages are rough cut.
Seller: Karen Millward, Bantry,Co.Cork., IRL, Ireland
Wilde, Oscar. For Love of the King. A Burmese Masque. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1922.
Price: US$285.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition. Octavo. Text partially unopened. Original gilt stamped white cloth, t.e.g. Dust jacket (unclipped; small chip). Fine, fresh copy. 39 pages. No signatures or bookplates. One of 1,000 copies on hand made paper. Printed by Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Norwich.
Seller: Houle Rare Books/Autographs/ABAA/PADA, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
WILDE, Oscar.. For Love of the King.. Methuen, London, 1922.
Price: US$375.78 + shipping
Description: First edition. 1 of 1000 copies. 8vo., orig. gilt stamped ivory cloth, T.E.G., (18), (40)pp. Cloth somewhat discoloured as is common, a bit of soiling to the spine ends but still a much better than very good copy (not quite near fine) in the original dustwrapper which has chipping to the spine ends but is still very good.
Seller: David Mason Books (ABAC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Oscar Wilde. For the Love of the King. Methuen and Co, UK, 1922.
Price: US$692.96 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Near fine condition of For the Love of the King with DJ. First edition, limited edition of 1000 on handmade paper for the US and UK, added in 1922 to the original set of 14 by Methuen from 1908. The infamous fifteenth volume of The Collected Works, Methuen claimed it was a newly discovered play by Wilde, and published it in the same format as the first collected edition from 1908. Oscar Wilde's authorship of this work is questionable. The play has been attributed to Mrs. Chan Toon (Mabel Cosgrove). This edition was the cause of a legal dispute between Wilde's bibliographer, Christopher Millard and the publisher - during which the lady now largely accepted as the author could not be found (it was subsequently discovered, she was in prison having stolen a large sum from an elderly neighbour). Bound in finely woven white linen cloth stamped in gold with 3 gold decorated circles on the front boards and gilt to spine. This copy has not suffered from the normal darkening of the spine and loss of gilt. Water mark on the bottom of the rear cover. Top edge gilt and others uncut. Light browning sections on the end papers. Clean contents. The dust jacket has mils chipping and a few light marks.
Seller: Rare And Antique Books PBFA, Exeter, DEVON, United Kingdom