Oscar Wilde's Library Card Restored by the British Library 130 Years After Being Revoked for Homosexuality

130 years ago, Oscar Wilde had already published his masterpieces, such as 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. He was married, had two children, and a lover, Alfred Douglas, whose father wrote him a nearly public note calling him a 'sodomite'. Wilde sued but the trial turned against him and he was convicted of "gross indecency" when the defense presented evidence of his homosexuality. He served a two-year sentence of hard labor on the outskirts of London. But he also faced another, lesser-known punishment. The British Library, which he frequented and where he had membership card number 4031879, expiring in 1900, revoked his accreditation. The esteemed institution turned him into a writer without access to public books and without a reading room. An intellectual pariah, as well as a convict of a hypocritical Victorian era.

Now, on the 125th anniversary of his death, which occurred five years after his imprisonment, the British Library is set to make amends and will reprint a card similar to the one Wilde had, to give to the only grandson of the famous author, Merlin Holland. The handing over of the "reader's pass," as the card is known, will take place next Thursday.

"Oscar had been in Pentonville prison for three weeks when his entry to the British Museum Reading Room was canceled, so he didn't find out, which was probably a blessing," said Holland, who this week published an essay about his grandfather, titled 'After Oscar, the Legacy of Scandal.' "I think feeling that one of the world's finest libraries had barred him from accessing books, just as the law had barred him from everyday life, would have added to his suffering. But the return of his pass is a beautiful gesture of forgiveness and I am sure he would be moved and happy."

Although symbolic, the tribute events are held to "acknowledge the injustices," as a spokesperson for the library institution said, "and the immense suffering he faced" after being released from prison and having to live in exile. Additionally, this week they opened their halls to Holland to give a lecture on his essay that discusses the repercussions of that scandal which lasted decades and affected his descendants.

"The events of 1895 had a profound impact on his life and career, and eventually led him to take refuge in France, where he remained until his death," acknowledged the British Library, which, despite maintaining the veto for 130 years, preserved his works in its collection, including a long poem he wrote from prison to his noble lover. The manuscript is suggestively titled 'De Profundis'. Wilde, a master of letters and precision, left nothing to chance. Now the English librarians can feel relieved.