A previously unknown signed copy of Oscar Wilde's play Salome has fetched £34,000 (€40,502) at a Gloucestershire auction house today.
The book which dates from 1893, two years after Wilde penned the play, bears a handwritten dedication by the author to French symbolist painter Gustave Moreau whose paintings of Salome are said to have inspired the play.
The inscription which reads 'a Gustave Moreau, Hommage respectueux, Oscar Wilde’ features Wilde’s trademark flourish in the last letter of his name. The book also features a contemporary photograph of an 1886 Moreau watercolour of Salome dancing, pasted into the opening pages.
Chris Albury a senior valuer at Dominic Winter Auctioneers said “This book came out of nowhere. It appears as though it was a gift from Wilde to Moreau. We don't know if the two ever met, but Wilde openly praised Moreau's paintings of Salome. It’s generally accepted that it was Moreau's paintings that inspired Wilde to write the play.”
The copy of the play which is in French and bound in a hand-painted green, blue and gold cover went under the hammer at about 5pm, guiding at £20,000.
Auctioneer Chris Albury said “in the end, two overseas bidders fought it out in £1,000 increments from £20,000 to the £34,000 hammer price paid by a private collector. The winning bidder sounded very pleased.”
Wilde wrote Salome in French in 1891. The tale is based on the bible story where, on dancing for Herod on his birthday, Salome is offered anything she desires and requests the head of John the Baptist.
Irish Wilde scholar and lecturer, Dr Noreen Doody said the book was “an exciting and significant find that confirms Wilde’s connection to Moreau.”
Wilde's Salome was banned by British theatre censors in 1892, ostensibly because of its depiction of biblical characters but more likely because of the play's focus on sexual passion.
Dr Doody says that Wilde incited further controversy when he threatened to become a French citizen in protest. It wasn't until 1896, when Wilde was already in prison, that Salome was finally produced, but in France. The play did not appear on the English stage until 1905, five years after Wilde's death.
Auctioneer Chris Albury says "This copy was gifted to the owner by his mother's landlady in Paris some forty years ago and its existence until now seems to have been unknown.”
