An album to wit
A 19th century Q&A elicits some puzzling responses from a youthful Oscar Wilde.
It was 20 years ago when I walked into the famous hatters Lock’s of St James’s in London to buy a new Panama and, noticed, as any halfdecent reporter would, a framed cheque for £3.30 in settlement of a debt incurred by Oscar Wilde in 1895. The playwright, novelist and wit either forgot to pay the bill or was already in prison for the then-crime of homosexuality. Either way, artist Royston du Maurier, of Worthing, West Sussex, was quick to rectify the oversight when he heard about the £3 6s debt a century after Wilde’s death.
Mr du Maurier explained: “Wilde produced all this wonderful work and people have capitalised on him ever since. This is my small bit towards putting matters right.”
I was reminded of Wilde’s unpaid hat bill when a part self-mocking, part conceited questionnaire he filled in while an undergraduate at Oxford University in 1877 surfaced at Sotheby’s in London.
To the question: “What is your favourite occupation?”, the youthful Wilde answers: “Reading my own sonnets.” And he surely had tongue firmly in cheek when asked which character traits he most detests in men and women. His response: “Vanity, self-esteem, conceit.”
In an apparent admission of his own shortcomings, he lists his “distinguishing characteristics” as “inordinate selfesteem”. In response to the question of his favourite “book to take up for an hour”, Wilde replies tartly: “I never take up books for an hour.”
Wilde’s responses are contained in a two-page hand-written entry in the laboriously titled Mental Photographs, an Album for Confessions or Tastes, Habits and Convictions – an album which allowed the compiler to elicit answers to 40 questions from friends or celebrities.
Another – “If not yourself, who would you rather be?” – evokes the response:
“A cardinal of the Catholic Church.” His idea of happiness is “absolute power over men’s minds [minds underlined], even if accompanied by toothache”, while his idea of misery is “living a poor and respectable life in an obscure village”.
To the question “What is your aim in life?”, Wilde responds: “Success, fame or even notoriety.” He achieved all three in an eventful life which saw him rise to the highest literary heights, yet be socially and financially ruined by a trial arising from his homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.
I first came across the questionnaire in 1998 when the album fetched £23,000 at Christie’s, against an upper estimate of £3,000, after being consigned by a descendant of the presumed compiler, theatrical impresario and actor Adderley Millar Howard. Now, 22 years later, it has sold at Sotheby’s for £47,800.
As for that unpaid Lock’s bill, I was told that the cheque in payment of the debt arrived “out of the blue” and would not be not banked. Presumably, it’s still on the wall – a reminder of one of the store’s celebrity customers who have also included Lord Nelson, Winston Churchill, Charlie
Chaplin and the Duke of Windsor.