Lawrence Gilman · John Lane, The Bodley Head, London and New York, 1907
Richard Strauss's Salome, first performed in Dresden in 1905, set Oscar Wilde's play as an opera of extraordinary orchestral power, and became a sensation and a scandal. The American music critic Lawrence Gilman (1878 to 1939) wrote this guide in 1907, setting out the story and leading the listener through the score with musical examples. It remained the only full-length study of the opera in English for more than eighty years: when Cambridge University Press published its own Salome handbook in 1989, it described it as the first since Gilman's guide.
The guide was published by John Lane at the Bodley Head, the house that had published the English translation of Wilde's Salomé in 1894. This copy is in the original cloth with gilt lettering, with a portrait frontispiece behind a tissue guard.
Very Good. Binding intact and secure; no internal markings. Foxing and age toning, particularly to the top edge of the page block. Light edge and shelf wear to the boards, with slight wrinkling to the cloth of the rear board, and minor crinkling to the tissue guard over the frontispiece. In an archival protective cover.
Shipped from Toronto, Canada with tracking. Carefully packaged with archival-safe materials. Combined shipping is available for multiple purchases. Please message before paying.
Book Burrow | Toronto, ON | 100% Positive Feedback | Specializing in Canadian literature, signed editions, and collectible books.