Oscar Wilde's Decorated Books is a welcome addition to any bookshelf. He paints vivid portraits of the material conditions that shaped Wilde's decorated books. In order to show how books are 'scenes of production, collaboration, and inevitable compromise' he constructs historical narratives. Frankel does much more than describe the multiple marks that constitute Wilde's decorated books. 'Frankel focuses on Wilde's interest in and contributions to artistic book design. Nicholas Frankel is Assistant Professor of English, Virginia Commonwealth University.

While its principal appeal will be to students of Oscar Wilde and the Victorian fin-de-siГЁcle, this book will also appeal to textual and literary scholars, art historians, and linguistic philosophers interested in the graphical nature of the linguistic sign. Extensive illustrations support Frankel's arguments. With extensive reference to and exposition on Wilde's theoretical writings and letters, the author shows that, far from being marginal elements of the literary text, these decorative devices were central to Wilde's understanding of his own writings as well as to his 'aesthetic' theory of language. Nicholas Frankel approaches Wilde's writings as graphical or 'printed' phenomena that reveal their significance through the beautiful and elaborate decorations with which they were published in Wilde's own lifetime. It examines the role played by graphic designers in the production of Wilde's writings and demonstrates how marginal and decorative elements of the printed book affect interpretation. Oscar Wilde's Decorated Books addresses Wilde's obsession with the visual appearance or 'look' of his published writings.

Oscar wilde books