Oscar Wilde wrote "I don't defend my conduct, I explain it", when he was imprisoned in Reading Gaol in 1895 for his violation of England's stringent laws against homosexuality. Wilde's notorious liaison with the Marquess of Queensberry's son, Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"), had so inflamed the Marquess that he made public attacks on Wilde's character and morals. In return, Wilde sued for slander, an action which, to Wilde's bitter astonishment, led to a series of scandalous trials and convictions. From his cell in prison, Wilde wrote De Profundis, the detailed and unsparing revelation of his love and tragedy.

With a major feature film biography scheduled for release and the current tremendous success of the long-running play Gross Indecencies: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, the text of this remarkable document with the Hart-Davis notes is uniquely relevant. This volume alone provides the entire context of De Profundis; W. H. Auden's famous essay in The New Yorker further sets the stage.