Oscar Wilde poem for sale at Bonhams

The manuscript of one of Oscar Wilde's most original and beautiful poems 'Les Ballons”, is to be sold on 8 May in Part II of the sale of The Roy Davids Collection Part III: Poetry: Poetical Manuscripts and Portraits of Poets at Bonhams, New Bond Street.

It is the only known copy of the entire poem in Wilde's hand and is estimated at £14,000 - 16,000, according to the auction house.


The poem, which was published in 1887, is a perfect fusion of the two artistic styles most associated with Wilde – the Esthetic Movement and Literary Decadence. It describes the poet's response to watching children flying balloons in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris where he lived from late January to mid-May 1883 on his return from a successful year long lecture tour of America and Canada. Wilde started work on the poem while he was still in Paris, though it is uncertain when and where the manuscript in the sale was written.


When Wilde wrote to the illustrator, Bernard Partridge, about the poem he specified that the children should look Japanese. Japan was a major inspiration for the writers and artists of the Esthetic Movement as well as a significant influence on French Impressionist painter such as Claude Monet of whom Wilde was a great admirer.


The manuscript was formerly in the collection of John Stetson Jr. whose father, also John, invented the Stetson hat.