Salome: A Tragedy in One Act; The Ballad of Reading Gaol; The Harlot’s House and Other Poems
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1930, 1928, 1929. Salome: A Tragedy in One Act. Second edition (“new edition”). 60 pp. Illustrated with four new designs by John Vassos. Issued as a new edition uniform with The Ballad of Reading Gaol and The Harlot’s House and Other Poems. The Ballad of Reading Gaol. First Vassos-illustrated trade edition. 124 pp. Illustrated by John Vassos, with tissue guards over the plates. The Harlot's House and Other Poems. First Vassos-illustrated edition. 102 pp. Illustrated by John Vassos. With presentation inscription to Francis Heisler, noted civil-liberties lawyer and defender of COs in landmark mid-century cases, dated December 7, 1930, signed with the initials “E.S.T.,” incorporating a quotation from Thomas S. Jones, Jr.'s poem “Dusk at Sea.” The three volumes are in their original Art Deco bindings & dust jackets designed by John Vassos. They are preserved together in a contemporary, specially constructed striking black-and-gold geometric Art Deco slipcase, purpose-built to accommodate the complete group. The slipcase closely reflects Vassos’s distinctive Art Deco aesthetic. Dutton is documented as having issued Vassos/Wilde volumes with slipcases, although surviving institutional records do not conclusively establish this particular three-volume case as a standard Dutton issue. These three volumes represent a purposefully conceived Dutton uniform series of Oscar Wilde works illustrated by John Vassos. Dutton issued The Ballad of Reading Gaol in 1928 and The Harlot’s House and Other Poems in 1929, followed by the 1930 “new edition” of Salome, which was specifically described as “uniform with” the preceding two Vassos-illustrated volumes. The three books were therefore deliberately designed and presented by Dutton as a related group of Vassos-illustrated Wilde editions. Item #23392
Price: $950.00