Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854–1900), one of Ireland's most beloved writers, was a playwright, poet, novelist and author of fairy stories and political essays. A complex man with many sides, he was both a revolutionary thinker and a flamboyant dandy and man about town.

His wit and razor-sharp observation made him the toast of society on both sides of the Atlantic before scandal and notoriety stripped him of his position and his freedom. Best-Loved Oscar Wilde gathers a selection of Wilde's celebrated writing, chosen and introduced by John Wyse Jackson.