FIRST EDITION OF WILDE’S SALOMÉ, IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY

WILDE, Oscar. Salomé. Drame en un Acte. Paris: Librairie de L’Art Independent; Londres: Elkin Matthews et John Lane, 1893. Octavo, original purple paper wrappers. Housed in custom chemise and half blue morocco slipcase.

First edition of Wilde’s controversial play, one of only 600 copies (500 for sale), in original purple paper wrappers, this copy that of one of Wilde’s closest friends, Robert Ross.

Written late in 1891 when Wilde was at the height of his literary powers, Salomé was in rehearsals in London in 1892 when the licenser of plays, deferring to the authority of an old law that forbade the depiction of biblical characters on the stage, decided to ban it. Incensed by this censorship, which was only the latest of many chapters in Wilde’s ongoing struggle to find artistic freedom in England, the author threatened to leave England and seek citizenship in France, declaring, “I will not consent to call myself a citizen of a country that shows such narrowness in artistic judgment” (Ellmann, 372). Although Salomé could not be staged in London, Wilde, in defiance, chose to proceed with publication, and he had this first edition published, in book form and in French, in Paris in February 1893. Immediately, Salomé met with critical acclaim, particularly from many francophone writers, including Mallarmé, Loti and Maeterlinck, and the first production starred Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. Wilde, finding the French language more akin to his artistic sensibility than English, had initially chosen to write Salomé in French, asserting, “To me there are only two languages in the world: French and Greek. Here people are essentially anti-artistic and narrow-minded… There is a great deal of hypocrisy in England…” (Ellmann, 373). The first edition in English did not appear until 1894. Robert Ross (1869-1918) met Wilde in 1886. “The friendship developed slowly, but in 1895, when Wilde was sentenced to two years’ hard labour for homosexual crimes, Robert Ross was his most constant and loyal friend. After Wilde’s release in 1897 and during his exile in France, Ross continued to befriend and support him, and to act as intermediary between Wilde and his estranged wife and her advisers. Ross was with Wilde when he died in Paris on 30 November 1900. Before his release from Reading gaol, Wilde had appointed Ross his literary executor” (DNB). Ross published De Profundis in 1905 and Wilde’s Collected Works in 14 volumes in 1908. Mason 348. Ownership signature of Robert Ross dated February 20th 1893, the month of publication, on first blank.

Wrappers with only minor fading. Handsome, near-fine condition. A profoundly moving association copy of Wilde’s notorious play.