“The Portrait of Mr W. H.” was first published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1889 as a short story dealing with forgery, literary interpretation, and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. After its initial publication, Wilde drafted an expanded version that would have been entitled The Incomparable and Ingenious History of Mr W.H; however, it was lost for over twenty years following his bankruptcy sale. The manuscript came to light when it was published by Mitchell Kennerley in 1921 as The Portrait of Mr W.H., now doubled in size.