In 1883 after Wilde returned from his year long lecture tour in America he penned notes for a talk entitled Impressions of America (aka Personal Impressions of America) which he gave in various cities across Britain and Ireland in the following few years.
The Huntington Library has Wilde's autograph notes for the talk in outline form on 12 leaves.
In March 1906 Stuart Mason, Wilde's future bibliographer, published a booklet of the text (above, Mason 653) in a limited edition of 500 copies. In addition to the essay, the published edition contains two of Wilde's early poems, Le Jardin and La Mer, together with a Preface by Mason, and an afterword about Wilde in an interview, taken from the Lady's Pictorial.
Below is the complete text of the essay. Unlike other versions online it is complete and paginated:
On visiting Leadville, Colorado
I was told that if I went there they would be sure to shoot me or my traveling manager. I wrote and told them that nothing that they could do to my traveling manager would intimidate me.
Oscar Wilde, Impressions of America
Oscar Wilde In America | © John Cooper, 2024
