This Norton Critical Edition is the only edition available that includes both the 1890 Lippincott's and the 1891 book versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray, allowing students to compare the two published versions with the editorial guidance of Michael Patrick Gillespie.

This is the only edition available that includes both the 1890 Lippincott's and the 1891 book versions of “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. The backgrounds, and reviews and reactions sections allow readers to gauge the novel's sensational reception and to consider heated public debate that the novel's publication engendered. “Criticism” includes seven new essays on the novel. A bibliography is also included.

Born in Ireland in 1856, Oscar Wilde was a noted essayist, playwright, fairy tale writer and poet, as well as an early leader of the Aesthetic Movement. His plays include: “An Ideal Husband, Salome, A Woman of No Importance, ” and “Lady Windermere's Fan.” Among his best known stories are “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Canterville Ghost”.