A questionnaire completed and signed by Oscar Wilde fetched £23,000 at auction yesterday, 10 times the advance estimate. An anonymous telephone bidder bought the handwritten manuscript at Christie's in London.
The questionnaire was completed in 1877, when Wilde was an unknown Oxford student.
To question 27, asking what character traits he most detested, he responded: "Vanity, self esteem, conceit." Asked what his aim in life was, he replied: "Success, fame or even notoriety."