DOUGLAS ALFRED: (1870-1945) English Author & Poet, the intimate friend and lover of Oscar Wilde. An excellent ...

DOUGLAS ALFRED: (1870-1945) English Author & Poet, the intimate friend and lover of Oscar Wilde. An excellent A.L.S., `Alfred Douglas´, two pages, 4to, Hove, 23rd December 1929, on his personal printed stationery, to Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, in French. Douglas sends a letter to his correspondent full of reproaches for the articles published, and states in part `The day before yesterday I wrote you (in English) at the address of the Flammarion Publishing House… I would like to ask you to read the pages marked in the two issues of the Mercure de France of February 1st and March 1st. If, after reading them, you do not withdraw your book Les Amours d´Oscar Wilde from circulation, I will be truly amazed. The story you tell in your book is, as far as I am concerned, a jumble of falsehoods and lies.' further saying 'My ''Autobiography'', published this year in London by Martin Secker Publishers, puts an end to all those calumnies… If you want to read my book in English, you will see the cruelty of your calumnies. Also, should you want to learn more from Miss Lowther, I am sure, of the terrible injustice you have done me..´ Douglas concludes on a post-scriptum stating `I have also written two letters to Flammarion Publishers that you will surely hear about. Frank Harris does not dare set foot in England. If he came to this country he would be arrested on the spot and thrown in prison. Before his death, Ross was exposed as the worst of scoundrels, a briber and a thief. He stole my letters to Wilde.´ Accompanied by an orange Flammarion flyer advertising the publication of Les Amours d´Oscar Wilde. A letter of good association. Extremely small creasing, otherwise VG £1000-1500 Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (1874-1945) French Poet, Historian and Journalist. Author of Les Amours d´Oscar Wilde (1929) The Wilde-Douglas relationship was tempestuous and marked by frequent quarrelling and breakups. Douglas expected his lover Wilde to clear his gambling debts and cover his spending. He exposed Wilde to blackmail by leaving his love letters in clothing he gave to the male prostitutes he frequented. Nonetheless, their love affair endured for six years. Frank Harris (1855-1931) British Writer and Journalist, friend of Wilde. He wrote Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (1916)