WILDE, Oscar (intro.); RODD, Rennell.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf. Deluxe edition, and the first with an introduction by Wilde. The collection was first published in England as Songs in the South in 1881, but Wilde had the collection reprinted under the present title during his visit to America in 1882. Wilde added nine previously unpublished poems, including "The Daisy", and omitted "Lucciole" and "Maidenhair".Rodd was a contemporary of Wilde's at Oxford and won the Newdigate Prize for English Verse two years after Wilde won for his poem Ravenna. Rodd was initially pleased with the publication despite Wilde's edits, writing to the publisher that "I have seen no édition de luxe in England to compare with it... I have to thank you for the great care and delicacy with which this little book has been published" but he later requested that the dedication written by Wilde be removed from all future copies as it was "too effusive" (quoted in Mason, p. 185).A trade edition in cloth was published simultaneously.

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