Salome: A Tragedy in One Act, Translated from the French
London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1894.
First edition in English of Wilde's seminal one-act tragedy and the first to feature Aubrey Beardsley's lavishly unrestrained illustrations. One of 500 copies. [xii], 67, [1], 16 ads, illustrated with frontispiece, 9 full page plates, and singular tailpiece. Bound in publisher's blue canvas cloth decoratively stamped in gilt after design by Beardsley. Near Fine with light sunning to spine and edges, light foxing to cloth. Offsetting to front endsheets and armorial bookplate to pastedown there, contents lightly tanned. A beautiful copy of a definitive work of the Decadent movement. Composed initially in French, Wilde allegedly intended for Sarah Bernhardt to play Salome in hopes of bypassing strict British censors, although it was inevitably banned by Lord Chamberlain due to the depiction of biblical characters. The play premiered on February 11, 1896, at the Theatre de l’Oeuvre in Paris starring Lina Munte and directed by Lugne-Poe. Rave reviews ensued and later adaptions followed, most notably Richard Strauss' Dresden production which premiered in 1905. The radical work served as a direct affront to Victorian moral standards and cemented the femme fatale archetype for future avant-garde luminaries. Mason 350.
Price: $6,500