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A novel that has fascinated readers for over a century, The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who attains eternal youth while only his portrait grows old, hidden away in a locked room. Despite the young man's disintegration into a life of crime, his face never reflects the moral decay. Instead, the portrait records every deed by turning his once handsome features into a hideous mask.

With Tony Ross's splendid illustrations and extended captions unique to the Whole Story, The Picture of Dorian Gray provides background information that modern readers could otherwise access only through a broad range of supplemental research -- from biographical profiles of Oscar Wilde and his contemporaries to depictions of London's art world in the late nineteenth century. This distinctive approach places The Picture of Dorian Gray, first published in 1891, within the context of its era, bringing it vividly to life. [via]