NOTE
The Duchess of Padua was written in 1882, and finished in
March 1883. It was produced in New York on November 14,
1891, at Hammerstein's Opera House. Twenty prompt copies
were printed for private circulation and use in the theatre. One
of only two copies known to exist contains the author's corrections,
and on it the present edition is based. Certain passages
were found to have been bracketed, or deleted in pencil.
Whether these passages were omitted for stage presentation, or
were intended to be omitted by the author altogether, there is
no evidence to show. They have, however, been retained in
the present edition, and are indicated by brackets. The original
manuscript was stolen, with other unpublished works, from
the author's house in April 1895. The play has been translated
by Dr. Max Meyerfeld (Egon, Fleischel and Co., Berlin, 1904).
An unauthorised English prose translation from the German
has been printed in Paris, London, or America, and is offered
for sale by unscrupulous publishers and unscrupulous booksellers
along with other spurious works ascribed to Oscar Wilde.
The dramatic rights for America belong to the representatives
of Miss Gale and the late Laurence Barrett. The
dramatic rights for England, the Colonies, and the
Continent are vested in the author's literary
executor, and administrator of his estate,
Robert Ross.
