Wilde, OscarBiblio.com
WILDE, Oscar; BEARDSLEY, Aubrey (illus).Biblio.com
Salomé.
1894ref. 188707London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane 1894. Deluxe issue of this sublime collaboration of enfants terribles First edition in English and first Beardsley edition deluxe issue one of 100 copies printed on Japanese vellum and bound in green silk boards. "If Le Morte Darthur made Beardsley known his designs for the first edition in English of Wilde's Salomé made him notorious and it remains the book of which most people think when his name is mentioned" Ray. Translated by Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas this edition appeared the year after the play's publication in French. The premiere took place on 11 February 1896 at the Comédie-Parisienne. To restrict its public staging in Britain the Lord Chamberlain cited Protestant Reformation laws banning religious plays. An opera version was sanctioned for performance in 1910 though the play itself had to be staged privately until the first public performance at the Savoy Theatre in 1931. A further 500 copies were printed on smaller paper and bound in blue canvas boards. Small quarto. Frontispiece and illustrated title page with tissue guard illustrated border on list of illustrations page 9 plates final tailpiece all by Beardsley. Publisher's 16-page advertisements at end. Original green silk boards spine lettered in gilt decorations designed by Beardsley to covers in gilt edges untrimmed. Binding unevenly discoloured and a little soiled minor wear to edges inner hinge partially split following title page splash mark to a couple lower margins. A very good copy. Mason 351; Ray 315A. hardcover
Peter Harrington · United Kingdom£7,500.00≈ €8,925.59
