—The Question of Copyright—
Speaking of copyright, as I was in my recent post about The Sarony Case reminds me that the 1880s was a vexed period for authorship rights, and matters could get a little fraught.
Continue reading “Fleeced”Fleeced
Category: Article
The Sarony Case
Napoleon Sarony’s contribution to the photographs of Oscar Wilde was not primarily technical. Instead, he drew upon his artistic background to create the mise en scène of the image; and drew upon his buoyant personality to create the right mood for his sitter.
Meanwhile, it was his first and only operator, Benjamin J. Richardson who assisted with lighting and attending to the mechanical aspects of camera technique.
Continue reading “The Sarony Case”Summer Schedule
—OSCAR’S SUMMER OF 1882—
You may remember an earlier post about Wilde’s lecture in Narragansett Pier.
Perhaps we should place that visit into the wider context of Wilde’s Summer schedule of 1882 and his yearlong lecture tour of North America.
Continue reading “Summer Schedule”Wilde at the Pier
You may recall my discovery back in 2018 of a lecture that Oscar Wilde gave at the seaside town of Narragansett Pier.
In that earlier blog post I reported how Oscar was well-liked. The Narragansett Times described his talk as, “an eloquent, well-sustained plea for art in the household.” Afterwards, “he walked leisurely though the rooms of the house, and the ladies indulged themselves in a ‘good look’ at him.”
Now the following article from has emerged from the Providence Morning Star which corroborates the “universal satisfaction” of Wilde’s “social success” in adding to the general gaiety of the resort.
Continue reading “Wilde at the Pier”Facelift
You might have noticed that my online presence has undergone a bit of a facelift.
Continue reading “Facelift”The Gilded Gentleman
—A Podcast Interview with John Cooper—
Whitman and Wilde Part 2:
Oscar Wilde in New York, 1882
The Gilded Gentleman is a history podcast hosted by Carl Raymond in New York City that launched in 2021–and already it has garnered a million downloads.
In a series of bi-weekly interviews with academics, authors, and experts in their relevant fields, The Gilded Gentleman tells the story of the society, culture, architecture, food, fashion, design, music, and literature of Paris’ Belle Époque and England’s Victorian and Edwardian eras.
I was asked to contribute to a two-part episode contrasting how—thirty years apart—Oscar Wilde’s and Walt Whitman’s arrivals in New York inspired them to move onto greater fame and celebrity.
Click on the link below to listen to the show on the Gilded Gentleman Episodes page of the web site, or it can be found wherever you download your podcasts:
© John Cooper, 2023.
Born Too Late
Paternal Grandfather and Grandson
Here are two portraits from the Wilde family album: one of Oscar’s son Vyvyan Holland (left), and one of Oscar’s father, Sir William Wilde.
I showcase these particular images because they are less commonly seen; indeed most featured pictures of Sir William are of him in his more senior years.
Moreover, the photographs are worth while juxtaposing as they were evidently taken when the two young men were about the same age, thus allowing us to evaluate how much of a chip there was off the old block. No doubt a family resemblance can be seen.
Continue reading “Born Too Late”Correspondence
Little Oscar and the Art of the Illustrated Letter
Have you noticed how most of Victorian life appears to correspond? Everyone seems to know everyone else, and one thing usually leads to another. Well it’s the same with Victorian studies,
On my agenda last week were two pieces of business:
First was research into a parody of Wilde and Walt Whitman written by Helen Gray Cone entitled “Narcissus in Camden” which casts the two poets as ancient Greek poseurs, and needless to say, Wilde is Narcissus. It appeared in the November 1882 issue of the Century magazine. Incidentally, the reason for my Wilde/Whitman pursuit relates to the need to counter some juvenile online speculation about their famous meetings in Camden, New Jersey.
Second was a periodic pilgrimage to the Mark Samuels Lasner collection at the University of Delaware, one of the country’s foremost collections of books, manuscripts, letters, and artworks by British cultural figures who flourished between 1850 and 1900, One such figure was Edward Carpenter, and the ostensible purpose of my visit was to accompany an Edward-expert friend to see Carpenter’s inscribed books and Rothenstein’s chalk sketch. of the man.
These two diversions came together, in a roundabout way in a pleasing piece of Victorian correspondence.
Continue reading “Correspondence”Men of Letters
The Destiny of Two of Wilde’s Friends
Names like A.A. Milne and Z.Z. Top are not just at the opposite ends of the 20th century’s cultural and chronological spectrum, they are polar examples of another kind. I mean, of course, in the alphabetical use of two initials as a form of nomenclature, which, as a device, often makes for a memorable moniker.
Oscar Wilde, in his time, knew a few characters thus named, including two of the most celebrated: W. B. Yeats and H. G. Wells.
However, on this day I should like to focus on two similarly styled, but lesser known, artists in the Wilde story, for they share a bond more profound than the form of their familiar names:
I refer to F. D. Millet and W.T. Stead.
Continue reading “Men of Letters”Patti in Cincinnati
On February 20, 1882 Wilde was in Cincinnati but not to lecture. It was a stopover on his way to Louisville, KY where he lectured on the following night. Wilde did return to Cincinnati to lecture, as he had planned to do on February 23.
Continue reading “Patti in Cincinnati”