The University of British Columbia just shelled out almost $40,000 for two books which may or may not have been written by Oscar Wilde.

 

Teleny and its sequel Des Grieux were written in the late 1800s. They were purchased for $16,000 and $22,000 respectively, with much of the money coming from a UBC student's crowdfunding campaign.

 

The books are two of the very first gay-themed novels ever published. However, the possibility that Wilde wrote them is difficult to prove, as they were written anonymously. 

 

Erotic bookseller and pornographer Charles Hirsch, a contemporary of Wilde's, claimed he was asked to hold the manuscript for a while. He said it was delivered by one of the boys who were often seen hanging out with Wilde, and that on two occasions, two of Wilde's boys would collect the package and later return with it.

 

Hirsch claimed he later peeked at the manuscript, which was Telany, and that he was convinced Wilde had written parts of it. As it was handwritten in different handwriting styles, scholars think it may have been written in a round-robin style by several different people.

 

"In less than a week I was over halfway to the goal. I wanted to raise around $3000, which I thought would be a very competitive bid," said Justin O'Hearn. He discovered that the books were up for sale while doing research on his PhD dissertation in Victorian literature. 

 

​"Teleny is very explicit. It's probably the first novel that focuses not on simply gay activities but on a romantic relationship between two men," explained Gregory Mackie, an assistant professor in UBC's English department. 

 

​The books are so expensive because they are extremely rare. Only three copies of Des Grieux are known to exist. Telany is less rare; there were about 200 copies of Teleny published, of which five full sets of the two-volume novel remain.   

 

We can hardly wait for the BBC miniseries! 

 

Rare Oscar Wilde books a ‘huge coup’ for UBC and queer studies []

 

Wilde times: rare book coup for UBC []