A major UK library has paid tribute to deceased Irish writer the literary icon by reissuing a reader's card in his name, 130 years after his initial was revoked following his legal sentencing for homosexual acts.
The renowned author and dramatist was excluded from the library's reading room in 1895 over his charge for having had same-sex affairs, which was a criminal offence at the time.
The new card, which will be received by his grandson, writer Merlin Holland, on Thursday, is intended to "acknowledge the injustices and immense suffering" the writer endured, the institution said.
The grandson said the reissued pass is a "lovely gesture of forgiveness" and "I'm sure his spirit will be touched and delighted".
The decision to revoke the author's access for the reading room - then the London institution - was recorded without explanation in the trustees' minutes for June 15, 1895.
He had been in prison for several weeks at the time after being handed a two-year prison sentence with manual labor.
The author was convicted after he was defeated in a defamation case against Lord Queensberry, who had charged him of being gay after learning that his son, Lord Alfred Douglas, was Wilde's lover.
The library regulations at the time said anyone convicted of a crime should have their card revoked.
'Letter from prison meant so much'
The national library holds handwritten drafts of some of the author's most famous plays including The Importance of Being Ernest, An Ideal Husband, "A Woman of No Importance" and "Lady Windermere's Fan".
The archive also includes De Profundis, the correspondence he penned to Bosie from Reading Gaol.
Merlin Holland, the only living descendant of Wilde, will collect the new card at a event at the venue on what would have been his ancestor's 171st birthday.
Commenting on the event, the grandson said he felt both "proud" of his grandfather and slightly burdened by the responsibility of handling his heritage.
"People will so often write in to me and say, 'I cannot tell you how much your grandfather's De Profundis meant to me'" he stated.
"The letter ends on an optimistic tone... expressing his intent to resume his work after release".
"And people have written 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, head of the British Library, described the author as "one of the most significant literary figures of the nineteenth century".
She stated that by reissuing his library card, "our aim is to commemorate Wilde's legacy while recognizing the grave injustices he suffered due to his legal case".
She added that they were "delighted" to receive his grandson - who is the writer of a new book, After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal - to accept the library card on his behalf.
