Dorian Gray - no. 21

Complete Works (Geddes and Grosset, 2005)

Price: Insultingly cheap, something like £2.

History: I found this while looking around universities, in one of those terrible bookshops which sells cheap editions of a random selection of books. It wasn't even in alphabetical order, and was mostly made up of non-fiction.

Look: This is a really nice size, nice to hold and read - more the plays than the books, because the text is set out in two columns, newspaperstyle, and my eye wanders all over. I'm not sure what to make of the cover image - I suppose its Ok, but not what I would have chosen. I'm in two minds about the orange as well.

Introduction/Appendices: None.

Dorian Gray - no.17

Oscar Wilde: the complete works (illustrated)

Price: suprisingly cheap.

History: This is the absolute baby of my collection. It also came from the aptly name "7th Heaven" new Zealand shop - I could hardly leave it behind.

Look: This is also the most beautiful thing you ever laid eyes on. Green hardback, gold-edged pages, and did I mention it was illustrated? Particularly lovely are Aubrey Beardsly's Salome illustrations. Despite its size, it is also luxury to read.

Introduction/Appendices: nothing special - a two-page potted biography, with focus on the literature - but quite frankly, with a book this adorable, who cares?

Dorian Gray - no.6

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, 2003

Price: £20. Ouch...

History: Xmas 2004, all I wanted was the complete works. Instead I got a small card from my parents reading something along the lines of "Oscar Wilde regrets that it's out of print". I finally got one in the spring of 2005, and it's fantastique! I'm especially fond of the poems in prose. Does this really count as a copy of Dorian? Not as such, but I thought I'd list it anyway...

Look: It's a big hardback thing, with really thin pages...and photos! Not nice to read at all, but it beats not having the "little bits" at all - the essays, poems in prose, those plays and poems which are obscure for good reason...

Introduction/Appendices: Well there are to introductions to the complete works, and an individual introduction to each section (poetry, essays etc) but nothing really specific about Dorian Gray.