Historedia
Episode 2 of 3

Critical Backlash and Withdrawal

When
June-July 1890
Where
Britain
Part of
First publication of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray in Lippincott's

Critics condemned the novel's morality, leading WHSmith to withdraw the July 1890 issue from its bookstalls.

The Daily Chronicle critic claimed the novel would 'taint every young mind.' The Scots Observer questioned Wilde's 'grubbing in muck-heaps.' Due to this controversy, WHSmith, Britain's largest bookseller, withdrew every copy of the July 1890 issue from its railway station bookstalls.

Sources

  1. The Picture of Dorian Gray Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.