Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and writer, published the first edition of his book The PIcture of Dorian Gray in Lippinciott's Magazine with controversial reception. The book contained a sometimes unconventional opinion of morality, and shocked the public with its clear allusions to homosexual relationships and depictions of criminal excess. It would be revised before it could be republished, with 500 words of the most stirringly controversial portions taken out so as to mute the "immoral" aspects of the book.