Salome

By Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde

Few works in English literature have so peculiar a history as Oscar Wilde's play Salome. Written originally in French in 1892 and ridiculed on its publication, translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie" himself) and again heaped with scorn, it has survived for 75 years, served as the text (in abridged form) for Richard Strauss' world-famous opera, and emerged as an acknowledged masterwork of the Aesthetic movement of fin de siècle England.
The illustrations that Aubrey Beardsley prepared for the first English edition have no less strange a story. Beardsley liked neither the play nor its author. Yet, it inspired some of his finest work. It is an open question as to how suited the drawings actually are to the text that Wilde wrote. Yet, the two, the play and the Beardsley illustrations, have nevertheless become so identified with each other as to be inseparable.
This edition reprints the first edition (1894) text, with "A Note on 'Salome'" by Robert Ross. The Beardsley drawings it superbly reproduces (mostly from a rare early portfolio) include not only the 10 full-page illustrations, the front and back cover designs, the title and List of Illustrations page decorations, and the cul de lampe from the original edition, but also three drawings that were not used, an alternate cover sketch, and the drawing entitled "J'ai baisé ta bouche, Iokanaan," which Beardsley did earlier for The Studio. Furthermore, all of the illustrations are reproduced in their original state, not as expurgated in the first and most subsequent editions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Mar 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486139906

Book preview

THIS DOVER EDITION, FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1967, IS AN UNABRIDGED REPUBLICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE WORK ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1894 BY ELKIN MATHEWS & JOHN LANE, WITH THE ADDITIONS DESCRIBED IN THE PUBLISHER’S NOTE ON PAGE Vii. THE PUBLISHER IS GRATEFUL TO THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA, WHICH LENT ITS COPY OF THE SALOME FIRST EDITION FOR PURPOSES OF REPRODUCTION.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-24337

International Standard Book Number

9780486139906

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES BY COURIER CORPORATION

21830921

WWW.DOVERPUBLICATIONS.COM

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

A NOTE ON SALOME

THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

SALOME

Nineteenth-Century Art

Twentieth-Century Art

Art and Design from Many Cultures

Pictorial Archive

TO MY FRIEND

LORD ALFRED BRUCE DOUGLAS

THE TRANSLATOR OF

MY PLAY

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

THE present edition reproduces in its entirety the first English edition of Salome, published in 1894 by Elkin Mathews & John Lane, in London, and by Copeland & Day, in Boston. The designs that appeared on the front and back covers of this first edition are reproduced here (on pages ix and 69, respectively) from the book The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley (Dover reprint, 1967). The present volume also contains the following additional material:

(1) The essay, A Note on ‘Salome,’ written by Robert Ross for the 1930 edition of Salome published by John Lane, The Bodley Head, London.

(2) The illustration, "Design from The Studio," reproduced from The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley; and the illustrations, Sketch for a Front Cover Design, John and Salome, Salome on Settle and The Toilette of Salome—II, all reproduced from A Portfolio of Aubrey Bedrdsley’s Drawings Illustrating Salome by Oscar Wilde (no publisher’s name, no date).

The remaining illustrations in the present volume (that is, those which appeared in the 1894 first edition) have also been reproduced from the Portfolio, which contains the unretouched versions of the drawings that were expurgated in the first and later editions of Salome.

For chronological and other details on these Beardsley drawings for Salome, the reader is referred to Haldane Macfall’s Aubrey Beardsley; The Man and His Work, John Lane, The Bodley Head, London, 1928.

A NOTE ON SALOME

SALOME has made the author’s name a household word wherever the English language is not spoken. Few English plays have such a peculiar history. Written in French in 1892 it was in full rehearsal by Madame Bernhardt at the Palace Theatre when it was prohibited by the Censor. Oscar Wilde immediately announced his intention of changing his nationality, a characteristic jest, which was only taken seriously, oddly enough, in Ireland. The interference of the Censor has seldom been more popular or more heartily endorsed by English critics. On its publication in book form Salome was greeted by a chorus of ridicule, and it may be noted in passing that at least two of the more violent reviews were from the pens of unsuccessful dramatists, while all those whose French never went beyond Ollendorff were glad to find in that venerable school classic an unsuspected asset in their education—a handy missile with which to pelt Salome and its author. The correctness of the French was, of course, impugned, although the script had been passed by a distinguished French writer, to whom I have heard the whole work attributed. The Times, while depreciating the drama, gave its author credit for a tour de force, in being capable of writing a French play for Madame Bernhardt, and this drew from him the following letter:—

The Times, Thursday, March 2, 1893, p. 4.

Mr. Oscar Wilde on SALOME

To the Editor of The Times.

SIR, My attention has been drawn to a review of Salome which was published in your columns last week. The opinions of English critics on a French work of mine have, of course, little, if any, interest for me. I write simply to ask you to allow me to correct a misstatement that appears in the review in question.

The fact that the greatest tragic actress of any stage now living saw in my play such beauty that she was anxious to produce it, to take herself the part of the heroine, to lend to the entire poem the glamour of her personality, and to my prose the music of her flute-like voice—this was naturally, and always will be, a source of pride and pleasure to me, and I look forward with delight to seeing Mme. Bernhardt present my play in Paris, that vivid centre of art, where religious dramas are often performed. But my play was in no sense of the words written for this great actress. I have never written a play for any actor or actress, nor shall I ever do so. Such work is for the artisan in literature—not for the artist.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

OSCAR WILDE.

When Salome was translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas, the illustrator, Aubrey Beardsley, shared some of the obloquy heaped on Wilde. It is interesting that he should have found inspiration for his finest work in a play he never admired and by a writer he cordially disliked. The motives are, of course, made to his hand, and never was there a more suitable material for that odd tangent art

Reviews for Salome

[versha.bharat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Salome by Oscar Wilde was a very strange play. The usual witty, humorous dialogs which I expected in his play was totally absent. This actually turned out to be a very depressing book. I could not relate to the protagonist Salome one bit I felt she was an eccentric character. First of all Salome desiring a Baptist was something very odd and on top that she wanted him very badly and then when he rejected her at once she took a very drastic step to get him back which was horrible and disturbing. I am unable to understand what to make out of this play!!

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A haunting story based on a few short bible versus this play was the base of the opera. Libretto is almost identical. Excellent preparation if u plan to see the opera

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Note to Oscar -- stick to the witty repartee and the mocking of society that is your trademark. I could not sit through this wordy, heavy piece if my life depended on it. The guy who was beheaded was the lucky one.

[gmillar_8 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I suppose its actually better than this old, twentieth century, South Pacific native could ever appreciate. If it was, indeed, written by Oscar Wilde, it is so different from his Victorian English comedic dramas that I couldn't recognize any threads of sisterhood to them. I love those and I don't love this.

[booksfordinner · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Classic retelling of the story of The daughter of Herod and her wish of the Head of John the Baptist for dancing the Dance of the Seven Veils.

[osbaldistone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wilde's writing is the center piece of this play about Herod, Salome, and John the Baptist. A fine, quick read, with a very fine introduction by Holbrook Jackson.

[pivic-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very well-edited, newly translated three-language edition (French, English, Swedish) of Wilde's quite short and very quickly banned play. The annotations are very good, placing the script in a biblical and historical context, even noting where Wilde, for example, uses phrases in his other works. Not my fave tome by Wilde, but still very readable.