Basil Hallward

In Chapter XIII of Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray the painter, Basil Hallward, is brutally murdered by the still innocent-looking Dorian Gray whose “gracious and comely form he had so skilfully mirrored in his art”¹ eighteen years earlier.

But Basil, creator as he was of Dorian’s parallel life, was a resourceful fellow, and he was not about to let the mere fact of a frenzied knife attack, fatal though it was, prevent him from conducting his own secondary existence.

And so it was that Basil Hallward reappeared in 1904 to write the preface to a new edition of the very book in which he had long since died.

Charterhouse

The new edition in question² was the product of Charterhouse Press, a short-lived New York imprint active at the turn of the century, often associated with niche subjects.

In the early 1900s Charterhouse had supposedly secured the rights to Oscar Wilde’s works in America,³ and in 1904 they published an unauthorized American edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

False Start

As you can see from the small print of the advertisement below, a curious accompaniment to the Charterhouse edition was a preface “never before given to the public”.

Curious because the ostensibly ‘factual’ account given in the preface was written by (may I remind you, the fictional) Basil Hallward?

In the preface Basil Hallward professes to reveal Oscar Wilde’s real-life inspiration for Dorian Gray; the gist by the publisher being that the hitherto fictional Basil Hallward was passed off as a real person who in 1884 knew Wilde and a Radiant Youth—a “Dorian” prototype—and that Oscar had later written his novel based on the encounter.

The preface reads as follows:

THE ARTIST’S PREFACE.

During the Spring of 1884 Oscar Wilde was often in the studio. One of my sitters was a young gentleman of such peculiar beauty that his friends had nicknamed him ‘The Radiant Youth’. Each afternoon Wilde watched the work advance, enchanting us, meanwhile, with brilliant talk, until, at last, the portrait was finished and its original had gone his ways–rejoicing, without doubt, to be at liberty.

Now, the beauty of “Dorian” was of that kind which depends on color and expression for its charm. His hair was bright and wavy; the ruddiness of health suffused his cheeks; his eyes sparkled with wholesome fun, good humor, and high thoughts. He was the sort of boy who makes the world seem jolly even when the east wind blows. Goodness and merriment radiated from him visibly; the darkest room appeared to glow and brighten when he entered it.

“What a pity such a glorious creature should ever grow old,” sighed Wilde.

“Yes, it is indeed,” said I. “How delightful it would be if ‘Dorian’ could remain exactly as he is, while the portrait aged and withered in his stead. I wish it might be so!’

And that was all. I occupied myself with the picture for perhaps a quarter of an hour, during which Wilde smoked reflectively, but uttered not one word. He arose, presently, and sauntered to the door, merely nodding as he left the room.

Family affairs called me, by-and-bye, from London. I saw no more of either Wilde or “Gray”.

One day, years afterward, this book fell into my hands. I cannot remember where or how, although it startled me to find the germ, sown carelessly in idle talk, expanded by the writer’s art into “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Wilde must have brooded long upon the theme. “The Radiant Youth” was, to be sure, the very opposite of Wilde’s bad hero; but such was the author’s love of paradox that this antithesis of character was just the thing to fascinate the poet’s mind, from which the following pages grew.

BASIL HALLWARD.

Repeat Offenders

‘The Artist’s Preface’ continued to appear in subsequent editions issued in 1906 and 1911 by Brentano’s—who had effectively taken over the titles and publishing rights of Charterhouse Press in 1905.

The preface can also be found in other populist reprints of Dorian Gray in the early part of the last century such as the Modern Library edition, in 1926.

Puffery

The fabricated preface may be read as an amusing diversion, and coming from a fictional character it was probably intended to be understood as such. It was simply, as Charles Nickerson identified it, “an ‘elaborate bit of publisher’s puffery.”⁴

Harmless enough, you might think, because surely it was not a story that could possibly confuse serious biographers?

Well, it might if Basil Hallward became transmuted into an equally fictitious artist named Basil Ward…

[to be continued]

© John Cooper, 2026

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Featured image:

One of the seven engravings by Eugène Dété after Paul Thiriat, from an edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in Paris by Charles Carrington.

With thanks to Michael Seeney.

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Footnotes:

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ch. 1. ↩︎
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray, New York: Charterhouse Press, 1904. ↩︎
3. For more on Wilde and international copyright during this period see John Cooper & Philip R. Bishop: ‘A Wilde Ride for Mosher: Thomas Bird Mosher’s Oscar Wilde Publications”, The Wildean No. 66 January 2025. 55-58, ↩︎
4. Nickerson, Charles C. (Professor of English Emeritus, Bridgewater State University). ‘”Vivian Grey” and “Dorian Gray””, TLS, August 14, 1969, p. 909. ↩︎

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