[WILDE, Oscar (1854-1900)]. The Ballad of Reading Gaol. By C. 3. 3. London: Leonard Smithers, 1898. 8vo. [vi], 1-31, [3, blank] pp. Publisher's white cloth backstrip over purple cloth boards, front board with gilt decoration after Charles Ricketts, spine lettered in gilt (backstrip a bit rubbed, soiled, some rubbing, soiling to boards, corners a bit bumped, front endleaves offset with remnants of a bookseller's description on the ffep.) Near fine.THIRD EDITION (?Author's Edition" as per Wilde) SCARCE; #69/99 COPIES SIGNED BY WILDE ON AN INSERTED LIMITATION LEAF. Housed in later chemise and quarter brown morocco, gilt, slipcase. ?C. 3. 3." Was Wilde's identification number while incarcerated at Reading Gaol. This book was published anonymously and without ads but still became a huge success after Wilde's authorship was established. This special signed edition was published two months after the first. This is the first edition with Ricketts' decoration on the front board. With the bookplate (on fp.) of Chauncey Lawrence Williams (1872-1924), publisher and businessman (he published L. Frank Baum's first children's book, Mother Goose in Prose (1897); he had commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build him a home in Oak Park, IL). Beneath Williams' bookplate is a penciled inscription by book collector Paul Lemperly (1858-1939) stating that this book was a gift to him from his dear friend, Williams. Mason 374. Measurements: 9"L x 8"W x 1"H.