-K[arl]), AVRIL (Paul) Illustrations after by FILLON (Theodore) (Engraver). Manuel D?Érotologie Classsique (De Figuris Veneris)

FORBERG (F[riedrich].

About this Item

Traduit Littéralement Du Latin Par Isidore Lisieux Et Illustré De 20 Compsitions Originale. [Manual of Classical Erotology (The Figues of Venus) Translated Literally From The Latin by Isidore Lisieux And Illustrated with 20 Original Compositions]. Extra illustrated copy with 40 heliogravures as 20 plates duplicated in two states in monochrome and colour. First illustrated edition. Oblong 4to., endpaper, 3ll. blanks, half-title, tirage leaf, 2 frontispieces; the second in colour, title in red and black with Hirsch's fleuron of 2 storks embracing, I-VIII, 167pp., [1p.], publishers' leaf as a logigraphe styled as an amphora, 3ll., blanks, endpaper, the 4o plates are dispersed throughout the text uniformly as monochrome with tissue guard then colour plate after, the text itself within a decorative Graeco-Roman arch in terracotta, in the publishers' original Jansenist grained half brown, polished morocco, five raised bands, gilt spine titles, marbled paper covered boards, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, in a uniform marbled paper covered card slipcase, French text with some Latin. Number 99 on vergé d'Hollande from a tranche numbered 21-140 from a complete run of 500 copies with the first 20 on papier Manufactures Imperiale de Japan, 340 on velin cuve des Papeteries d'Arches numbered 140-180 and 20 on vergé anglais numbered 481-500. This copy with an extra suite of coloured plates uncalled for in the limitation leaf and unmentioned in the bibliographies. Paris, Pour Charles Hirsch par Emile Kappa-Vecles, 1906. £3,750.00 Text and binding crisp and fresh, slipcase a trifle rubbed, splits developing on the entrance. Slight foxing on the two untrmmed edges. Seemingly very rare with an extra suite of plates. Dutel 506. Pia 870-1871, records 20 plates only and also notes that the Enfer copy has an identical binding but does not mention the slipcase. Pierrat p-126 with illustrations on pp-127-133. No copy in Harvard's Julio Santo Domingo deposit or Kinsey. Two copies only on Worldcat at Oxford and the French National Library collating for 20 plates only in the former. A wonderful copy, as issued by Hirsch in the original binding and slipcase, of a very rude book of plates in the Roman Revival style depicting all manner of heterosexual coupling (with much fellatio and cunnilingus), some ?Greek' love (Socrates and Alicibiades) and much more birching, male masturbation (with the left hand), zoophilia, mythological sex amongst mer-people, strap-on dildos, bisexuality, Sapphism etc. All accompanied with texts from the Classical World and commentary. The mention in the title of Forberg's older commentary 'Figuris Veneris' harks back to British erotobibliophile and publisher Charles Carrington's English translation of the same name in the 1890s (those 'figuris' of course being sexual positions of 'Venus'). Forberg is described by Pierrat as a ''serious conservator at the Library of Coburg, who elaborated his De Figuris Veneris in 1825 as a sort of prelude to the science of erotology, which in our epoque we would call 'sexology'''. Of great interest to this cataloguer is the last chapter on the sexual entanglements depicted on a variety of Roman Sprintia or coins used possibly as brothel tokens. This, like all items on my webshop is subject to prior sale. Seller Inventory # 1-PG

Bibliographic Details

Title: -K[arl]), AVRIL (Paul) Illustrations after ...

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Edition: 1st Edition