Oscar Wilde’s British Library card reissued 130 years after it was canceled over gay conviction

The British Library has honored the late Irish writer Oscar Wilde by reissuing a reader’s card in his name, 130 years after the original was revoked following his “gross obscenity” conviction.

The celebrated writer, poet and playwright was expelled from the library’s reading room in 1895 on charges that he had homosexual relations, a criminal offense at the time.

The new card, which will be collected by his grandson, writer Merlin Holland, on Thursday, aims to “acknowledge the injustices and immense suffering” Wilde faced, the library said.

Mr Holland said the new card was “a wonderful gesture of forgiveness and I’m sure his spirit will be touched and delighted”.

The decision to withdraw Wilde’s pass to the library – then the reading room of the British Museum – was recorded without comment in the trustees’ minutes for 15 June 1895.

At the time, he had been in prison for three weeks after receiving a two-year sentence of hard labour.

The author was convicted after losing a libel case against Lord Queensberry, who accused him of homosexuality after discovering that his son, Lord Alfred Douglas, aka Bowie, was Wilde’s lover.

Library policy at the time stated that anyone convicted of a felony must have their card revoked.

The British Library holds manuscript drafts of some of Wilde’s most famous plays, including How Earnest It Is, An Ideal Husband, An Insignificant Woman, and Lady Windermere’s Fan.

His collection also includes De Profundis, the letter he wrote to Bowsey from Reading Gaol.

Mr Holland will collect the new card at a ceremony at the venue on what would have been his grandfather’s 171st birthday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Thursday, Mr Holland said he felt both “proud” of his grandfather and slightly burdened by the responsibility of dealing with his legacy.

“People write to me so often and say, ‘I can’t tell you how much your grandfather’s De Profundis meant to me,'” he explained.

“There’s a touch of positivity at the end … he’s going to get out of jail and do something again.”

“And people wrote to me saying, ‘In a moment of terrible depression about my own life, I read De Profundis and I just wanted you to know that your grandfather’s letter from prison meant so much to me.’

Dame Carol Black, president of the British Library, described Wilde as “one of the most significant literary figures of the nineteenth century”.

She said that by reissuing his library card, “we hope not only to honor Wilde’s memory, but also to acknowledge the injustices and enormous suffering he faced as a result of his conviction.”

She added that they were “delighted” to welcome his grandson – who is the author of a new book, After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal – to receive the library card on his behalf.