The auction of possessions of Oscar Wilde

1895 Many of Oscar Wilde's personal possessions -- books, crockery, furniture, and so on -- were auctioned in London to pay the solicitor's bills that he owed and was unable to pay during the infamous trial in which he was convicted.

Imagine, if you will, what might have happened to one of Oscar Wilde's books that was auctioned. See 'Walt Whitman Shall Not Sleep', in the Wilson's Almanac Poetry section for a speculative poem by your almanackist, which follows the book from England to Australia.

Categories: literature, poetry, history, biography