The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, edited by Merlin Holland and Rupert-Hart Davis, was published in 2000, a century after Wilde's death. Hart-Davis had edited previous collections in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but even before then it was possible for the public to read Wilde's epistles.
Some of them were printed in newspapers, either because they were written to editors or because their recipients thought they deserved a wider readership. These letters have always been available to those who cared to dig them out. In the first decades of the 20th century, Wilde's friends wrote memoirs in which they published their correspondence with the Irish author. Collectors bought letters at auction, and the auction catalogues were printed and distributed.
Although many letters were redacted (usually to conceal references to the famously litigious Lord Alfred Douglas), by the middle of the 1920s Wildean aficionados had access to hundreds of letters. That is, if they knew where to look.
Many of Wilde's letters are still under copyright. But, as time marches on, more and more enter the public domain. This year (2020), the US copyright lapsed on works published in 1924, meaning that I could post a copy of William Andrews Clark's volume of letters from Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas to the Internet Archive.
It also meant that it was the perfect time to record an audiobook of all of Wilde's letters that are currently in the public domain. So that's what I've done.
I collected letters from everywhere I could find them: newspapers, auction catalogues, and memoirs. I even uncovered letters that are not to be found in The Complete Letters. I split the letters into five volumes, recorded them, and uploaded the results to the public domain audiobook website LibriVox.org. You can download and listen to all 17 hours of recordings for free now.
- Letters of Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (1868-1890)
- Letters of Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (1890-1895)
- Letters of Oscar Wilde, Volume 3 (1895-1897)
- Letters of Oscar Wilde, Volume 4 (1897-1898)
- Letters of Oscar Wilde, Volume 5 (1898-1900)
Since I began recording these collections I have discovered more public domain letters, so at some point I will record a supplementary collection.