WILDE, Oscar. Salomé. Drama en un acte. Illustré par Aubrey Beardsley.

Paris: Éditions du Colombier, 1966. Quarto. pp. 88. Pictorial boards. In very good condition.
A handsome French edition of Oscar Wilde’s celebrated symbolist drama, first published in French in 1893 and widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Decadent movement. Written originally in French for the actress Sarah Bernhardt, Salomé reinterprets the biblical story of the daughter of Herodias and her fatal fascination with John the Baptist, combining lyrical prose, exotic imagery, and psychological intensity in a work that shocked contemporary audiences and secured Wilde’s reputation as one of the leading literary figures of the fin de siècle.
The present edition is distinguished by the inclusion of sixteen illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898), reproduced at their original dimensions. Beardsley’s iconic drawings for the first English edition of 1894 rank among the most celebrated achievements of Art Nouveau book illustration. Their sinuous lines, elaborate decorative detail, and provocative imagery proved perfectly suited to Wilde’s decadent drama and have become inseparable from the visual identity of the work.
This attractive limited edition was designed and laid out by Arielli. It offers a faithful presentation of Beardsley’s illustrations and remains one of the more desirable twentieth-century editions of Wilde’s play.
A finely produced edition uniting two of the most influential figures of the Decadent movement, Wilde and Beardsley, whose collaboration produced one of the most enduring pairings of text and image in modern literature.

[CAT 164]