BULWER-LYTTON, Edward George.
The Last Days of Pompeii.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii
Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally & Company, 1899.
$225.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-148895
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Finely bound example 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. Octavo, original publisher's cloth with gilt titles and elaborate detailing to the spine, front and rear panels, top edge gilt, tissue-guarded frontispiece and title page vignette, profusely illustrated throughout. Volume one only. In very good 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.
$225.00
In Stock
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