Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: Edward Bulwer-Lytton

"Pain's Last Days of Pompeii, Island Park, Harrisburg, Pa. Commencing July 4th, and every Tuesday and Saturday following, except July 5th. Last performance, August 5th." This trade card advertised a "pyrodrama," an elaborate outdoor theatrical spectacle with fireworks, that was based on Edward Bulwer-Lytton's historical novel, The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), and depicted the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in AD 79. James Pain brought Last Days to Harrisburg, Pa., in 1890, and also produced it at Coney Island and Atlantic City in other years. For more information about Pain's pyrodrama, see the Pompeian Entertainments page of the J. Paul Getty's Museum's The Last Days of Pompeii exhibition.