The Happy Prince and Other Stories, Hardcover/Oscar Wilde

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. The richness of Oscar Wilde's way with words and ideas are given full range in this sparkling collection of short stories written between 1887 and 1891. There are ghost stories, moral tales, detective fiction and, above all, fairy stories here to delight and entertain. From the comically unsuccessful and unhappy spook in 'The Canterville Ghost' to the incompetent would-be murderer in 'Lord Arthur Saville's Crime' we are treated to the extravagance and dexterity of Wilde's wit. However it is particularly in the fairy stories that we see the brilliance of Wilde's vision of society and human action, with each tale having both beauty and simplicity while at the same time exploring complex moral issues. The challenge and pleasure of Wilde's short stories is the simultaneous appeal to both child and adult with their themes of Love, Truth and Sacrifice which are as relevant today as they were when they were written. About the Author: Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied at Trinity College Dublin and then at Magdalen College Oxford where he started the cult of 'Aestheticism', which involves making an art of life. Following his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he published several books of stories ostensibly for children and one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891).