“A Large Signet Ring On His Little Finger”
When Oscar Wilde arrived in America, at the beginning of 1882, the press came out to meet him on his ship the SS Arizona. A principal aim was to satisfy the public’s anticipation about what this aesthetic curiosity actually looked like.
A reporter from the New York Sun described Oscar’s appearance:
He stood at least six feet two inches tall, with broad shoulders and erect carriage. He wore a long ulster, lined with two kinds of fur, patent leather boots, and had a small round fur cap set squarely on his head. He stood at ease with one hand thrust into his ulster pocket and the other, with a large signet ring on its little finger…1
In retrospect, we might suspect of Oscar that if something as subtle as his signet ring managed to form part of the journalist’s first impression, it was not the last impression the ring was going to make.
Continue reading “First Impression”