About
An independent Irish site with one aim: to be the best place on the web to read Oscar Wilde.
The texts
Wilde died in 1900, and everything he published in his lifetime is in the public domain. The texts here come fromStandard Ebooks, a volunteer project that produces carefully proofread editions and releases them under a CC0 dedication. We keep their text exactly as it is and only change how it is laid out on the page.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the 1891 book, the revised and expanded version, not the shorter 1890 magazine text. More of Wilde is being added, including Salome, the essays and the early plays.
The quotes
A lot of what circulates online as Wilde was never written by him. Every quote on this site has been checked against the text, and each one links to the page where he wrote it, so you can read it in context.
The illustrations
The watercolour covers and scenes were made for this site with an AI image generator and checked by hand. Historical photographs, where we use them, are public domain and credited to their source.
Reading here
- Your place in each work is saved in your own browser, so you can come back to it. Nothing is sent to us.
- Choose light, sepia or dark pages, and a text size, from the reading bar.
- Search covers every word of every work.
Get in touch
Corrections, suggestions and typos are all welcome at .