1927 Oscar Wilde : Aubrey Beardsley : Salome : Decorative Gilt Binding

Salome : A Tragedy in One Act

Translated from the French of Oscar Wilde

With Sixteen Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley

London; John Lane The Bodley Head, 1927. Hardback book, 4to, red cloth binding with elaborate gilt, partial remains of the original dust jacket, xviii, 65 pages, 16 drawings by Beardsley.

CONDITION
A very good copy. Only the front panel of the original jacket is present and nibbled around the edges. The cloth binding is in lovely condition with no tears or stains, bookplate pasted to inside front board, endpapers a little browned with age, all contents present and pages in good condition with just the fainstest spotting to a few pages at the front. Overall a very good copy.

Salome is a one-act tragedy by Oscar Wilde. The original version of the play was first published in French in 1893; an English translation was published a year later. The play depicts the attempted seduction of Jokanaan (John the Baptist) by Salome, stepdaughter of Herod Antipas; her dance of the seven veils; the execution of Jokanaan at Salome's instigation; and her death on Herod's orders.

The first production was in Paris in 1896. Because the play depicted biblical characters it was banned in Britain and was not performed publicly there until 1931. The play became popular in Germany, and Wilde's text was taken by the composer Richard Strauss as the basis of his 1905 opera Salome, the international success of which has overshadowed Wilde's original play. Film and other adaptations have been made of the play. 

(Glass Cabinet 3)