Model of 1 Merrion Square, Dublin
Model of 1 Merrion Square, Dublin
The Wilde family moved to Merrion Square in 1855, a year after Wilde’s birth. The four-storey house needed six servants to run, and was the first location of Lady Wilde’s famous Dublin salons. Sir William Wilde, a leading eye and ear surgeon, ran part of his medical practice from the ground floor. He also served as Oculist-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria.
From the collection of Julia Rosenthal
Poems (1864) by Lady Jane “Speranza” Wilde
Lady Wilde was an Irish poet, nationalist, suffragist, and translator. Before her marriage, she gained international fame writing for the revolutionary Young Ireland movement. She dedicated this book of Poems to her two sons.
From the collection of Francis Spiteri Paris
Irish Popular Superstitions (1852) by Sir William Wilde
Sir William Wilde was also an author, publishing works on medicine and archaeology as well as folklore. After a scandal involving the daughter of a colleague, Sir William’s health declined, and he died in 1876, during Oscar’s second year at Magdalen.
From the collection of Francis Spiteri Paris
Oscar and Willie Wilde at a Shooting Party
(Mid-1870s)
William Charles Kingsbury Wilde was Oscar’s elder brother; they attended Portora Boys’ School and Trinity College Dublin together. Brilliant in writing and speech, Willie’s career at Vanity Fair and the Daily Telegraph was hampered by his alcoholism. The brothers became estranged, but Willie vehemently defended Oscar from scandal. Willie Wilde died of alcoholism in 1899.
From the collection of Michael Seeney
Dublin University Magazine (1876)
Between 1871–4, Wilde studied Classics at Trinity College Dublin, as the holder of a prestigious royal scholarship. Even after joining Magdalen in 1874, Wilde chose to publish his first poems in the Dublin University Magazine. The attribution here partly abbreviates the author’s full name: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde.
Magdalen College Library, Magd.Wilde-O. (DUB) no. 522