THE BRITISH LIBRARY has reissued Oscar Wilde’s Reader Pass some 130 years after it was revoked following his conviction for “gross indecency”.

In 1895, Wilde was convicted in England of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.

But days into his imprisonment, Wilde was banned from the reading room at the British Museum, which is now known as the British Library and his Reader Pass was revoked.

Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labour and was released from prison in 1897.

He went on to seek refuge in France, where he remained until his death.

In a statement today, the British Library said the Reader Pass would have been revoked “quietly” and it’s unlikely Wilde was aware of this.

The decision to revoke Wilde’s pass for the library was recorded without comment in the trustees’ minutes for 15 June 1895.

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However, the British Library said it is aware of this and that it wanted to make the “small but meaningful gesture” to reinstate Wilde’s Reader Pass on his 171^st birthday.

The British Library added that the gesture will “honour a man whose brilliance redefined literature and whose life bears witness to the enduring costs of intolerance”.

“From glittering fame to public disgrace, he never stopped writing.”

The British Library pointed to De Profundis, which was written by Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol to his former lover Alfred Douglas.

The Library holds a collection of Wilde’s works, including the handwritten De Profundis.

The British Library described it as a “defiant soul bearing letter” which remains “one of literature’s most powerful meditations on love, shame and forgiveness”.

“Most people live for love and admiration,” wrote Wilde, “but it is by love and admiration that we should live.”

The physical pass was handed over to Wilde’s only grandson, Merlin Holland, at a special event today at the Library.

Holland said the new card is a “lovely gesture of forgiveness” and added that Wilde’s “spirit will be touched and delighted”.

It coincided with the launch of Holland’s new book titled After Oscar. 

After Oscar is the study of the rise and fall of Oscar Wilde after his death and has been released today to coincide with Wilde’s 171st birthday.

Elsewhere, Carol Black, chair of the British Library, said that by reissuing the library card, the Library hopes to “not only honour Wilde’s memory but acknowledge the injustices and immense suffering he faced as a result of his conviction”.