An unusually good copy, spine just faded and extremely light wear to the extremities of the spine, with the contemporary ownership inscription of Violet Tweedale, mystic, psychic, member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, author of ghost stories.
Contemporary critics thought it ‘the very essence of the decadent’ (The Studio, Feb 15 1894), and more recent scholarship continues to view ‘the Salome which Wilde created, Beardsley decorated, and the Bodley Head published’ as ‘the ultimate expression in English of the literary and aesthetic movement which ended with the arrest of Wilde the following year’ (“The Early Nineties: A View from the Bodley Head“ James G. Nelson, 1971). Wilde, however, ‘was disconcerted by the reversal of the usual role of illustrator as submissive interpreter of the author’s intentions’ (Aubrey Beardsley Ian Fletcher, 1987), admitting that while he admired Beardsley’s illustrations, he did not like them; they were ‘cruel and evil and so like dear Aubrey, who has a face like a silver hatchet, with grass-green hair.’ Neither did Beardsley much care for Wilde’s writing, declaring upon finishing the illustrations that ‘now I have given distinction to that tedious book’ (See Fiona Barnard’s excellent article Oscar Wilde, Salome: a tragedy in one act, 1894 for more).
Wilde first asked Bosie, Lord Alfred Douglas, to translate his text into English, hoping ‘that their names might be able to appear together on the title page of his most infamously decadent work. He had asked Douglas to do the translation because his love blinded him to the young man’s faults… it was fantasy on Wilde’s part to think that he could render into English something that only Wilde could do to his own satisfaction.’ (Bosie, Douglas Murray, 2000). Wilde was ultimately forced to reject the translation as insufficient, sparking heated arguments on the croquet lawn and vitriolic letters, only exacerbated by Beardsley’s offer to perform the task himself. Douglas’ name does not appear on the title page, but in an effort to smooth things over Wilde dedicated the book, not entirely truthfully, ‘To My Friend Lord Alfred Douglas, the translator of my play’.
Eternally controversial, several of Beardsley’s designs were deemed too transgressive to print in this first edition and were either modified or removed entirely; male genitals were excised from the hermaphrodite on the title page, John & Salome was substituted for The Black Cape, Salome on Settle was removed, and The Toilette of Salome was substituted for an alternative version in contemporary dress, which eliminated a potentially offensive page seated in the corner, whose visible pubic hair was one step too far for late Victorian morals. The original title page was not published until John Lane’s edition of 1907, with the suppressed and altered plates appearing in Smithers’ “Melmoth” edition of 1904.
