Wilde Oscar

1894 · Best.-Nr. #15 — Oscar Wilde Salome. A Tragedy in One Act: Translated from the French of Oscar Wilde; Pictured by Aubrey Beardsley. Salomé une tragédie en un acte traduite du français illustrée par Aubrey Beardsley. London Elkin Mathews & John Lane; Boston Copeland & Day 1894. Small quarto. 5 unnumbered leaves half-title engraved title dedication to Alfred Douglas list of characters engraved list of illustrations 67 pp. and 16 pp. of publisher's advertisements. 10 engraved plates printed on Japan paper and one historiated tailpiece. A precious copy from the library of Jules Claretie accompanied by an autograph letter and a superb original photograph of Oscar Wilde. Contemporary binding signed by Gruel. Full olive morocco covers framed with a quadruple blind fillet spine with five raised bands extending onto the covers inner dentelles with gilt fillets gilt edges at the head edges ruled. First English edition printed in 500 copies. Copy enriched with: – An original photograph of Oscar Wilde 145 × 105 mm by Alfred Ellis albumen print of the period. – A press clipping announcing Wilde's death and another reporting on his funeral. – An autograph letter signed by Oscar Wilde to Jules Claretie dated "The Cottage Goring-on-Thames" 1894 4 pages 12mo in black ink on a folded vellum paper bifolium. Translation of the letter originally in French: "Dear Monsieur Claretie Pray allow me the pleasure of asking you to accept a copy of my play Salomé and permit me to assure you how highly I value the privilege of meeting the artistic director of the most artistic theatre in the world. I have retired to the country to reflect upon a new play but before the season ends I hope to return to London and to have the opportunity of seeing you again. The only hope I see for our English drama lies in the establishment of a theatre like the French Theatre. I hope we may find a director possessing as much sympathy for art as yourself. Pray accept this expression of my respect and admiration. Oscar Wilde." One year after its first appearance in French the English version of Salome was published. The dedication reads: "To my friend Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas the translator of my play." In fact the translation gave rise to a dispute between Wilde and his young protégé whose command of French was rather limited. Wilde redid the entire work and refused to allow Douglas's name to appear on the title page. Douglas saw between this dedication and the absence of his name on the title page "the difference between a tribute of admiration from an artist and a tradesman's receipt." The book is one of the masterpieces of the English illustrated book featuring the striking compositions of Aubrey Beardsley 1872–1898 who also designed two magnificent historiated borders for the title page and the list of illustrations as well as the final tailpiece. These stylized and sinuous drawings show the artist at the height of his powers playing with bold areas of deep black ink contrasted with untouched white spaces and sophisticated decorative elements inspired equally by Renaissance ornament and the then-fashionable Japanese style. For Salome the young artist created the archetype of the poisonous woman typical of Symbolism surrounded by grotesque and perverse secondary figures. Wilde paid tribute to him declaring that Beardsley was "the only artist who knew what the dance of Salome was and who could see that invisible dance." This copy belonged to the novelist playwright and critic Jules Claretie 1840–1913 who from 1885 until his death served as administrator of the Comédie-Française which Wilde here does not hesitate to call "the most artistic theatre in the world." Claretie introduced contemporary authors such as Henry Bataille and Octave Mirbeau into its repertoire. This was a bold undertaking and Wilde here pays tribute to it: "The only hope I see for our English drama lies in the establishment of a theatre like the French Theatre." The very fine portrait of Oscar Wilde mounted at the beginning of this copy was taken in 1892 by the London photographer Alfred Ellis 1854–1930. The writer is captured as he truly was at the height of his career: impeccably dressed posing in a high-buttoned double-breasted jacket flower in his buttonhole white pocket square a cigarette in his left hand and his gloves in his right the latter resting on his hip. Elkin Mathews & John Lane