Chapter from ‘Gray’ earns lots of green

A handwritten chapter of Oscar Wilde’s novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” written by the author at the behest of his publishers and including the scandalous visit of the title character to an opium den, has been sold for $132,000.

The heavily revised text was one of several pieces of memorabilia auctioned Friday on behalf of a private seller by Sotheby’s. A signed first edition of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” fetched $770,000.

The trove of material, described by Sotheby’s as “the finest collection of Oscar Wilde material remaining in private hands,” was sold for $1.5 million. It was well above the $1.1 million estimate, even though some items did not sell.

Most of the items, which included books, letters, photographs and manuscripts relating to the Irish-born writer, were sold to private buyers or British dealers.

Wilde wrote the extra chapter to his classic, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” after publishers asked him to lengthen the novel and add interest and credence to the plot. The completed novel, which tells the story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty, was published to controversy in 1890.

One of the centerpiece items of the auction, one of only two known copies of “The Wilde Myth,” an unpublished book by Lord Alfred Douglas, failed to sell on Friday. The book was a vitriolic attack on the author by Wilde’s former lover; the relationship between Douglas and Wilde triggered the author’s downfall.