Oscar Wilde, Salome: a tragedy in one act, London, John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1907, Rare Books collection

Wilde’s drama was first published in French in Paris in 1893 and performed there by Sarah Bernhardt, having been banned in London by Lord Chamberlain. The first English edition appeared in 1894, translated by Lord Alfred Douglas and illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley. Wilde felt that the graphics overwhelmed the text, while the publishers who commissioned the artwork demanded a reduction of what they perceived as the grotesque nudity of the plates, which added to Wilde’s notoriety.