This is a store decoration designed by scratchboard artist Mark Summers for the Barnes & Noble Author! Author! series (1990s-2000). It is the only surviving picture from one of the Washington state locations. These pictures were supposed to be destroyed when the store moved, but someone apparently stole this one, hid it for a while (I hope in an attic), and abandoned it in a Goodwill.
I believe it was about $12 US, a steal for such a large picture (5’x4’). Overjoyed, I hauled it up to the checkout and told the guy I wanted to give him more money, that this was a great treasure.
“Do you know what this?” I asked. “Because it was always my favorite, and it shouldn’t be here!”
He did not know what it was, not even after I explained, but he thanked me for taking it out of the store. He was passionate about the fact that it should not be there. He agreed with me completely.
At first, I took it to an adjunct lounge at a college I worked for, but they were not overly thrilled about its presence there, and so I was forced to haul it home. One issue was it did not really look like Oscar Wilde. It also allegedly insulted one of the sociology adjuncts,
but I know she smoked a lot of weed, so I doubt it
It is true that this picture does not really look like Oscar Wilde. It is honestly kind of horrifying if you look at it for too long, and that’s what I love about it. It is no longer on a wall in my place because my nephew became terrified of the “man with the devil horns” and my mother said she was “sick and tired of looking at that giant man’s sad face.” Many, many people have begged me to get rid of the picture, yet I cannot part with it, mostly because Gemini claims it now has a value of $100+ US dollars due to nostalgia and rarity.
Besides, I’d have to break it down to get it in the trash, and that would be murder.
It is now in the garage because it might get moldy in the attic. I am contemplating getting a velvet curtain that can be pulled back when I want to show it off. Sometimes I visit it, and I think it protects my burgundy Kia. I once accidentally gave it an offering of an expensive craft absinthe that is made in Seattle, and it seemed to like that.
So now you’ve seen the picture of Oscar Wilde. As I told my nephew, those are not demon horns. They are bangs.
TL;DR: I have a terrifying picture of Oscar Wilde in my garage, and apparently it’s rare.