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THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER STORIES
Oscar Wilde
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2015
Life & Times section © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
Gerard Cheshire asserts his moral right as author of the Life & Times section
Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from Collins English Dictionary
Cover by e-Digital Design
Cover images: Stockholm evening picture. From Slussen to Riddarholm church in sunset © yes-that’s-it / iStockphoto.com. Barn swallow (Hand Coloured Engraving) © Andrew Howe / iStockphoto.com. Statue by e-Digital Design.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008110642
Ebook Edition © May 2015 ISBN: 9780008110659
Version: 2015-05-01
CONTENTS
Copyright
History of Collins
Life & Times
The Happy Prince and Other Stories
The Happy Prince
The Nightingale and The Rose
The Selfish Giant
The Devoted Friend
The Remarkable Rocket
A House of Pomegranates
The Young King
The Birthday of the Infanta
The Fisherman and His Soul
The Star-Child
Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from the Collins English Dictionary
About the Publisher
In 1819, millworker William Collins from Glasgow, Scotland, set up a company for printing and publishing pamphlets, sermons, hymn books, and prayer books. That company was Collins and was to mark the birth of HarperCollins Publishers as we know it today. The long tradition of Collins dictionary publishing can be traced back to the first dictionary William published in 1824, Greek and English Lexicon. Indeed, from 1840 onwards, he began to produce illustrated dictionaries and even obtained a licence to print and publish the Bible.
Soon after, William published the first Collins novel, Ready Reckoner; however, it was the time of the Long Depression, where harvests were poor, prices were high, potato crops had failed, and violence was erupting in Europe. As a result, many factories across the country were forced to close down and William chose to retire in 1846, partly due to the hardships he was facing.
Aged 30, William’s son, William II, took over the business. A keen humanitarian with a warm heart and a generous spirit, William II was truly “Victorian” in his outlook. He introduced new, up-to-date steam presses and published affordable editions of Shakespeare’s works and The Pilgrim’s Progress, making them available to the masses for the first time. A new demand for educational books meant that success came with the publication of travel books, scientific books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. This demand to be educated led to the later publication of atlases, and Collins also held the monopoly on scripture writing at the time.
In the 1860s Collins began to expand and diversify and the idea of “books for the millions” was developed. Affordable editions of classical literature were published, and in 1903 Collins introduced 10 titles in their Collins Handy Illustrated Pocket Novels. These proved so popular that a few years later this had increased to an output of 50 volumes, selling nearly half a million in their year of publication. In the same year, The Everyman’s Library was also instituted, with the idea of publishing an affordable library of the most important classical works, biographies, religious and philosophical treatments, plays, poems, travel, and adventure. This series eclipsed all competition at the time, and the introduction of paperback books in the 1950s helped to open that market and marked a high point in the industry.
HarperCollins is and has always been a champion of the classics, and the current Collins Classics series follows in this tradition – publishing classical literature that is affordable and available to all. Beautifully packaged, highly collectible, and intended to be reread and enjoyed at every opportunity.
About the Author
Oscar Wilde had an erudite way with words and is often quoted to this day. He was known as a sharp wit, delivering lines that cut through conversation making him at once popular and vilified, depending on the nature of those at the receiving end. Sadly for Wilde, it was his enemies that got the better of him. At a time when it was illegal for men to have sexual relations with other men, Wilde was imprisoned and exiled for his sexual preferences.
Wilde wrote only one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as poetry and short stories, but he was first and foremost
