back to article 'Picture of Dorian Gray' borrowed in 1934 is finally returned

A rare book telling the story of a young man who sells his soul in a bargain whereby he stops ageing has been returned to a library after having been taken out in 1934. The tome in question is a valuable first edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray, the novel written by noted 19th-century writer, wit and theatrical luvvie Oscar …

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  1. Bernard

    No offence to Stephen Fry

    But Oscar Wilde was a bit more than the Stephen Fry of his time.

    Similar mannerisms and proclivities, but to my knowledge Stephen Fry has yet to pen any works that reach worldwide acclaim or which will still be commonly referenced in popular culture long after his death.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No offence to Stephen Fry

      Then you clearly haven't seen his twitter feed

      1. Jason Togneri
        WTF?

        Re: No offence to Stephen Fry

        Or this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/18/stephen_frytard/

    2. Arctic fox
      Thumb Up

      @Bernard Re: "No offence to Stephen Fry"

      I have admit that although I have enjoyed a great deal of Fry's work as a comedian I cannot dispute what you say. Wilde's talents were considerable including a mastery of the epigram, what we perhaps might today often be tempted to call "the soundbite". He was a past master at summing up a socio-political point he wanted to make whilst making it extremely funny. In the hope that no techies from the Countryside Alliance are going to log on and hose me, I feel that his description of fox hunting as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable" is an example of an absolute mastery of encapsulating a point in one sentence and cracking a very funny joke at the same time.

    3. Bonzo the Wonder Dog
      Stop

      Re: No offence to Stephen Fry

      "There is only one thing worse than being compared to a fatuous fanboi, and that is NOT being ... um, hang on... no there isn't." - O. Wilde, spinning, in grave, 2012.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    The Stephen Fry of his time.

    That's a bit of an insult to Wilde.

    1. proto-robbie

      Re: The Stephen Fry of his time.

      Seconded.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Stephen Fry of his time.

        Thirded?

        I'll get me'coat now...

  3. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Joke

    Sir

    I also think Oscar Wilde had a better grasp of modern technology than Mr Fry.

  4. magickmark
    Childcatcher

    Movies

    Interestingly Stephen Fry played the part of Oscar Wilde in a 1997 movie opposite Jude Law

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120514/

  5. Roger Kynaston
    Joke

    does that mean

    That we can expect Stephen Fry to be banged up in Reading Nick in the future?

    1. hammarbtyp

      Re: does that mean

      Actually Mr Fry has already spent time at her majesties pleasure for stealing credit cards I believe in his early years

      1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge
        Meh

        Re: does that mean

        ..but did he write a poem about it...?

  6. 0765794e08
    Happy

    It's not what you know....

    I’m not a fan of Stephen Fry but he does have one endearing quality - he's sung on an album by Kate Bush!

    1. Alan 6

      Re: It's not what you know....

      "I’m not a fan of Stephen Fry but he does have one endearing quality - he's sung on an album by Kate Bush!"

      Not really singing - he spoke 50 words for snow.

      Damn fine track though

    2. Mark Dempster
      Thumb Up

      Re: It's not what you know....

      He also, if I recall, appeared in Kate's video for Experiment IV many, many years ago - alongside Hugh Laurie & French & Saunders.

      1. 0765794e08
        Trollface

        Re: It's not what you know....

        I don't think he was in Experiment IV but Hugh Laurie and Dawn French were.

        As an aside, Kate Bush seems to be working her way through the cast of Blackadder in terms of collaborations - Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson, and Stephen Fry the latest.

        Which basically leaves Tony Robinson and Rik Mayall. Kate Bush and Rik Mayall - oh God please let it happen...

        1. GitMeMyShootinIrons
          Thumb Up

          @ 0765794e08

          I suppose Tony Robinson could take the Time Team and rummage around her collection of hits. It could be broadly categorised as archeology.

          1. Roger Kynaston
            Stop

            Re: @ 0765794e08

            Step away from La Kate my good Sir!

          2. 0765794e08
            Megaphone

            Re: @ 0765794e08

            Funny gag, kind Sir, but you seem to be behind the times yourself.

            Kate Bush’s R.U.T.H. 2012 remix, which featured in the Olympics opening ceremony, entered the UK charts at no.6 on 19 August, and peaked at no.3 on iTunes on 21 August. Dig it!

        2. Aqua Marina

          @0765794e08

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QeyRIyBJy4

          One of my favourites!!

      2. The Envoy
        Pint

        Re: It's not what you know....

        Stephen in Experiment IV? No. But Dawn French and Hugh Laurie both are.

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTUcoR8_pyE&

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Hmmm...

    Duno about the rest of you, but I'd have been seriously tempted to borrow some 1930's clothing to wear when returning the book...

    1. Lee Dowling Silver badge

      Re: Hmmm...

      "Yes, I'm a very slow reader but it's a very good book, I've barely put it down in... Good God, is that the year!?!?!"

  8. Steven Roper

    Wow, and I thought I was a record holder

    for late library books.

    While clearing out an old storage shed a couple of years ago, I discovered a copy of Wind In The Willows that I'd borrowed from the local library as a primary school kid in 1977 and forgotten to return. I also was trepidatious about the late fees, but I reckoned if the library tried to hit me up for that many times the book's value I could make enough of a song and dance about it in the local media that I'd most likely get away with it.

    So I took it back, explaining to the librarian how I'd borrowed it as a primary school kid back in 1977 and forgotten to return it. She was so gobsmacked that she simply waived the late fees - which we computed just out of interest; adjusted for inflation it came to $955.50 AUD (for our UK readers, about £620.) The librarian said it had to be the latest book she'd ever seen returned - 33 years, although she was quite young and had only worked there for 4 years. The fact that I'd checked the book out 10 years before she was even born was a point of amusement for both of us!

    In fact, the book wasn't even in the system any more, and hadn't been for years. Obviously it had been written off as lost decades ago, and since then the system had changed so many times any record of it was long since gone. The librarian had to enter it into the system as a new acquisition.

    But yeah, I reckon 1934 beats my 1977 by a fair old chalk. Kudos to that woman!

    1. Aqua Marina

      Re: Wow, and I thought I was a record holder

      That's the kind of feelgood story I would have expected would have made an appearance in the local free paper, if only for the sakes of advertising the existence of the local library. It would have taken up half a column along with the obligatory picture of you handing over the book sheepishly 33 years late to an annoyed looking librarian pointing to a calendar.

      Thumbs up from me!

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Fibbles
      Unhappy

      Re: Wow, and I thought I was a record holder

      You've not borrowed a book from your local library since 1977?

      Everybody should visit their library from time to time otherwise some bureaucrat will decide there aren't enough people using it to justify its cost. We'll all be worse off if that happens.

      1. Steven Roper

        @ Fibbles

        Absolutely agree on that point, but I suppose there is reason for it...

        You see, the "local" library is in town, and my parents' house is in (what was then) the outer suburbs, and I was in grade 6 at the time, so as you can imagine I required Mum and Dad's Taxi Service to get me in and out of town. By the time I was old enough to go into town by myself I was more interested in discos and girls than libraries and books. After that I got into computers (which wasn't good for my interest in girls or books!), and the rest, as they say, is history.

        But you're right, of course, and I'll try to make a bit more of an effort to visit the library in future. If only because it's something different to do!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another vote for Wilde

    Stephen would love nothing more than to be compared to Wilde, but it's really like comparing Katie Price to Audrey Hepburn - Bless Him!

    1. Severen

      Re: Another vote for Wilde

      I'm sure Stephen Fry would be the first to decline any comparison between himself and Oscar Wilde.

      But to compare Mr Fry to Katie Bloody Price is grossly unfair to the gentleman!!!

      And you, sir, are a cad and a bounder of the highest order for doing so.

      Grrr, etc.

      1. Steve Knox
        Boffin

        Re: Another vote for Wilde

        AC didn't compare Mr Fry to Ms Price.

        Analogies don't work that way.

        A is to B as C is to D says exactly nothing of any relationship between A and C or between B and D.

    2. Fibbles

      Re: Another vote for Wilde

      Everybody likes to mock Katie Price but she's attained a lifestyle and wealth most of us can only dream of. And, whilst she may not be a MENSA candidate, she's certainly more intelligent than she lets on. I say kudos to her. She's worked to get to where she is today and it's a shame she gets lumped in with the likes of Paris Hilton who appears to be famous for nothing other than being born to a rich family.

      1. Goat Jam
        Headmaster

        Re: Another vote for Wilde

        "Everybody likes to mock Katie Price but she's attained a lifestyle and wealth most of us can only dream of"

        Well, yes, that is what usually happens when you win the genetic lottery, natch.

        She'd be working as a checkout chick if she looked more like say, Stephen Fry.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "genetic lottery"

          I would put forward that the two original reasons for Katie Price's fame had nothing to do with genetics or chance.

          1. David Neil
            Coat

            Re: "genetic lottery"

            The original reasons were indeed down to genetics, the rest was bolted on later.

            Mine is the grubby mac

      2. Sir Runcible Spoon

        Re: Another vote for Wilde

        "Everybody likes to mock Katie Price but she's attained a lifestyle and wealth most of us can only dream of"

        She doesn't look happy though. I'd even go as far as to say she's a bit of a shrew, she's also totally arrogant and self-centered...what's not to mock?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another vote for Wilde

      Yeah but I heard a rumour that Katie could sing without being dubbed, not maybe as well as Julie Andrews, but hey ... :P

  10. Timo

    probably preserved it better than the library would have

    I'd posit that losing the book was the best way to preserve it.

    I don't know about other libraries, but ours turns over a large portion of the collection every year. A book like this may not have been determined to be a classic for quite a while, at which time most of the copies would have been lost, sold off, or destroyed.

    And many books that seem to turn up most valuable or rare may be because they were deemed crap at the time, and just generally thrown out. When the one or two stragglers that were forgotten about show up they're valuable.

    1. John McCallum
      Joke

      Re: probably preserved it better than the library would have

      By George I think he's got it (don't know what it is but he's got it)!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wilde v Fry

    Granted, Fry is no Wilde, but can any commentards think of a closer comparison?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wilde v Fry

      "Your majesty is like a dose of clap; before you arrive is pleasure, but after is a pain in the dong."

    2. Steve Knox
      Happy

      Re: Wilde v Fry

      I do believe that the most apt comparison would be to say that Oscar Wilde was was the Oscar Wilde of his day.

      And I'm quite surprised that it has not yet been said in this forum.

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. mhenriday
      Pint

      Re: Wilde v Fry

      The AO of the thinking classes ? (OK, I know I'm being unfair to Mr Fry, but still....)

      Henri

    5. proto-robbie
      Pirate

      Re: Wilde v Fry

      A Beetle to a Bentley, perhaps.

  12. PTW

    1st edition!

    No mention in the article but my first thought was how much must it be worth?

    A reasonable sum it turns out...

    http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/picture-of-dorian-gray/author/oscar-wilde/first-edition/pics/sortby/1/

    And why not just mail it back, thus avoiding any late fees?

    1. Richard Taylor 2
      Happy

      Re: 1st edition!

      Because a decent librarian will track you down no matter - ordinary bounty hunter could learn from them.......

  13. Uncle Siggy

    Who is Stephen Fry?

    Any relation to Phillip Fry?

  14. Stevie

    Bah!

    "There's nothing in the story about Ms Vision's mother having lived an unusually long time without apparently ageing or anything."

    The book, on the other hand, is surprisingly well-preserved considering its age.

  15. Neil Lewis
    Alert

    How do we know she is the daughter?

    It could just be that the original Ms Vision hasn't aged...

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