BULWER-LYTTON, Edward George. Introduction by Edgar Johnson.
The Last Days of Pompeii.
The Limited Editions Club signed limited edition of Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii; Finely Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe
The Officina Bodoni Verona: Printed For The Members of the Limited Editions Club, 1956.
$1,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-149522
* Custom Clamshell Boxes are hand made by the Harcourt Bindery upon request and take approximately 60 days to complete
The Limited Editions Club signed limited edition of Bulwer-Lytton's most celebrated work, a classic of historical fiction and the basis for the 1935 Hollywood film of the same name directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper. Quarto, bound in full crushed levant morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with gilt titles and ruling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panel, gilt-ruled turn-ins and inner dentelles stamp-signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt with others untrimmed, illustrated by Kurt Craemer. One of fifteen hundred numbered copies signed by the printer and the illustrator on the colophon, this is number 511. In fine condition.
First published in 1834, Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii emerged at a time of growing British interest in classical antiquity, fueled by ongoing archaeological excavations in southern Italy and the broader cultural authority of Greco-Roman history in Victorian education and aesthetics. Drawing on contemporary reports of discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Bulwer-Lytton constructed a fictional narrative set in the final days of the Roman city. The novel juxtaposed Roman polytheism with early Christianity, reflecting dominant Victorian concerns with moral decline, religious transformation, and civilizational decay. While primarily a work of imaginative reconstruction, it also aligned with mid-nineteenth-century literary efforts to interpret the ancient world in terms legible to modern readers. The work served as the basis for multiple film adaptations, particularly in the early and mid-20th century. The most notable is the 1935 Hollywood film The Last Days of Pompeii, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper (who also directed King Kong).
The Last Days of Pompeii.
$1,500.00
In Stock
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