Antiquarenbeurs Mechelen

 
 

Exhibitor

Florisatus Fine Books
Plein 19 C
2511 CS Den Haag
Netherlands

Contact

Edwin & Liesbeth Bloemsaat

Phone

+31 (0) 614 270 027 +31 (0) 614 270 027

Email

finebooks@florisatus.nl

Website

ilab.org/affiliate/florisatus-fine-books-manuscripts-musicalia

The iron core of any collection of erotica
EROTICA- Gervaise de Latouche, Jean Charles Mémoires de Saturnin, écrits par Lui-même. A Londres (Paris, Cazin), 1787-1786. Nouvelle édition, corrigée & augmentée, avec figures. 2 volumes. 8vo (157 x 100 mm). [IV], 235, [1]; [IV], 151, [1] p. {?2, A-O8 P8(-P1);
?2, A-I8 K4}.
With 24 fine erotic plates engraved by F.R. Elluin after A. Borel printed one thick white vergé paper.

Dark brown morocco, gold tooled. On the covers a triple fillet border with fleurons in the corners. Flat spine with red title label and fleurons. Board edges and turn ins with decorative roll. Marbled end leaves. Edges gilt.
On of the rare copies printed on "papier bleuté", which should be, according to Cohen-Ricci, a large paper copy. In this copy the frontispiece and the plate to p. 118 are mounted, and other states. The rarity is due to the fact that, because of its erotic and fiercely anti-clerical nature the book was repeatedly forbidden and ordered to be destroyed, a.o. in 1821, 1825 and 1865. Gervaise de Latouche (1715-1782) was a lawyer at the Paris Parliament who wrote several very licentious books.

This classic of erotic literature, according to the Bilderlexicon ?the iron core of any collection of erotica?, appeared earlier under the title Histoire de Dom B***, portier des Chartreux, Rome c. 1742 and under the title Histoire de dom Bougre, portier de Chartreux. Earlier editions than this one have more primitive engravings. According to Pia and the Bilderlexicon this edition, with the engravings by Borel and Elluin, is the most sought after. The book was a bestseller and popular with educated people. The German satirist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742?1799) calls it ?ein sehr witziges, wenn auch schmutziges Werk?. Pia declares that these engravings are among the best ever made to illustrate this classic of eroticism.

-Literature: Dutel A-523; Eros au secret, no 49, p. 93; Bilderlexicon II, 437; Drujon, Catalogue des ouvrages condamnés, 192; l?Enfer de la Bibliothèque Nationale 889; Cohen-Ricci 431; Englisch, Geschichte der erotischen Literatur, 389f.; Gay-Lemmonyer II, 497; Pia, Les livres de l'enfer, 622

-Condition: Plate to p. 118 small hole; Frontispiece and plat to p. 118 mounted; Binding possibly later, but in every case very well done; A ravishing copy.
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