The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincotts Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine. The magazines editors feared the story was indecent as submitted, so they censored roughly 500 words, without Wildes knowledge, before publication. But even with that, the story was still greeted with outrage by British reviewers, some of whom suggested that Wilde should be prosecuted on moral grounds, leading Wilde to defend the novel aggressively in letters to the British press. Wilde later revised the story for book publication, making substantial alterations, deleting controversial passages, adding new chapters, and including an aphoristic preface that has since become famous in its own right. The amended version was published by Ward Lock & Co in April 1891. Some scholars, however, favor the original version he originally submitted to Lippincotts.