Two Scarce Erotic Novels From 1787 Exposed (May Be NSW)

by Stephen J. Gertz

A couple of extremely rare erotic books recently came into the marketplace, wowsers both, each from the eighteenth century and scarcely seen but when seen goggle eyes and boggle mind.

Mémoires de Saturnin (1787), is one of the best of the many reprints of Histoire de Dom B***, Portier des Chartreux by lawyer Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche (1715-1782); “one of the most celebrated French erotic novels of the 18th century” (Kearney). It is the most important erotic novel in the period immediately prior to Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1748) and one of the most frequently reprinted books of all erotic literature.

Originally published in 1741 in two editions (true first not firmly established) it has become an old warhorse, a classic anti-clerical erotic novel that under its original title went through seventeen editions  between 1741 and 1960.

"Saturnin" is the surname of the protagonist, Dom Bourge, "the fruit of the incontinence of the reverend Celestine Father of the town of B," and a porter in the convent at Chartreux.  As you might expect from  a so surnamed person, saturnalias ensue. "My heart is agitated - is it through fear that I shall be reproached with revealing the mysteries of the Church? Alas! I must overcome this compunction. Who does not know that all men are men, and especially the monks? they have certainly the faculty of cooperating in the propagation of the species; and why should we hinder them…?"

Why stop there? The biblical story of Sodom is considered  slanderous to homosexual activity, which gets a workout satisfying to all concerned. The book was banned not so much for its pornographic nature as its  anti-religious aspects, a greater threat to civilization than indecency.

Patrick J. Kearney notes seven editions 1772-1946 under the title Histoire de Gouberdom; three as Histoire de Saturnin; twenty-three as Le Portier des chartreux 1784-1954; five editions 1787-1815 titled Memoires de Saturnin; and eight English editions 1743-1930. Most may be aware of the novel as published by Maurice Girodias' Ophelia Press in 1958 under the title The Life and Adventures of Father Silas by Beauregard de Farniete, apparently a reprint of the London 1907 (i.e. Paris: Charles Hirsch, 1910) English edition with the same title. During the 1960s, a slew of paperback reprints based upon the Ophelia Press edition was issued under various titles by American pornsters. There are undoubtedly editions that have yet to be recorded. Mr. Kearney's checklist is the most complete to date.

The edition under notice is one of the most highly desirable, with twenty-four unsigned engraved plates by François Rolland Elluin after designs by Antoine Borel. It was anonymously published in Paris by Cazin in 1787 as two parts in one book, in octavo and 18mo issues. The volume under notice is one of only three known large paper octavo copies.

“C’est la plus belle edition que l’on puisse trouver de ce roman érotique et l’une des plus réussies dans les productions de Cazin” (Cohen. “This edition is the most beautiful that you can find of this erotic novel and one of the most successful productions of Cazin”).

Of the engravings, Pascal Pia, in Les Livres de l’Enfer, notes “Les Meilleures que l'on ait faites pour illustrer ce classiques de l'érotisme” (“The best that have been made ​​to illustrate this classic of erotica”).

Publisher Hubert Martin Cazin (1724-1795 was the son of a bookseller in Reims, a trusted member of the community of booksellers and printers of the city.

He followed in his father’s profession but with a taste and clientele for prohibited books. As a result he was enjoined from bookselling in 1754. In 1784, he moved to Paris and began his career as a publisher.

Cazin editions were, and remain, highly regarded for their production quality and licentious character. For his efforts Cazin earned many fines and two involuntary vacations in the Bastille.

The anonymously written “by a sacrificer to Venus,” Les Heures de Paphos, was published in 1787 with four subsequent editions 1864-1875. The 1864 edition was anonymously issued by Auguste Poulet-Malassis in Brussels and falsely dated 1787. The 1872 edition was falsely dated 1787. The 1875 edition was falsely dated 1789.

The illustrations - twelve engraved plates plus frontispiece - are in the manner of Claude-Louis Desrais (1746-1816), painter, illustrator, engraver, and student of Italian painter, Francesco Casanova (Giacomo's younger brother). Desrais was particularly known for his gallant/erotic illustrations to contemporary novels.

Today’s post is false-dated 2013.  It was actually anonymously written in 2074 with false imprint Santa Monica-in-the-Sea, CA  (i.e. Ulan Bator: Mongol Art Editions).
__________

GERVAISE De LATOUCHE, Jean-Charles. Mémoires de Saturnin, écrits par lui-même. Nouvelle édition, corrigée & augmentée avec Figures. Premiêre [and] seconde partie. Londres [Paris]: n.p. [Cazin], 1787. Later edition, two parts in one volume. 235 pp. Twenty-four engraved plates by Elluin after Borel.

Pia 622. Dutel A-523. Cohen 431.

[DESRAIS, Claude-Louis, illustrator]. Les Heures de Paphos. Contes moraux par un sacrificateur de Venus. Paris: n.p., 1787. First edition, large paper. Octavo. 74 pp. Frontispiece and twelve engraved plates after Desrais.

Pia 611. Dutel A-496. Cohen 486.

__________

Illustrations courtesy of Camille Sourget Livres Anciens, currently offering these titles, with our thanks.

Title pages from Dutel, Bibliographie des Ouvrages Erotiques...1650-1880.

__________

Of Related Interest:

The Wages of Sin: : $80,000 For Rare Fanny Hill.

Hey Rare Book Guy! Is It Pornography, Erotica, or Curiosa? 
__________
__________

Beautifully Illustrated Erotic Manuscript Brings 10 x Estimate At Christie's

By Stephen J. Gertz

Das Buch der Venus vulgivaga, (The Book of Venus Vulvigaga) an illustrated erotic manuscript from c. 1910, was the headliner at Christie's Fine Books Sale on March 21, 2012.

Estimated to sell for £800 - £1,200 ($1,269 - $1,903), it fell under the hammer for £15,000 ($23,805, incl. premium), a startling result.

Attributed to Fridericus Styrus and extensively and richly illustrated with 165 gallant and erotic drawings in pen, ink, and watercolor, the quarto manuscript, with tentative place of origin Graz, Austria, is written in black ink in a neat cursive hand on 199 pages, and bound in contemporary quarter red morocco.

The text, with a deft, delicate touch, considers various and diverse erotic themes. Women's shoes and feet are fetishized; the female netherland is discussed with variations illustrated; and a cavalcade of copulation postures populate some of the leaves.

How does an auction item wind up exceeding its estimate by over a factor of ten?

"The estimate was always ‘come and get me’ but still: the market for quality filth seems strong," Sven Becker, Associate Director and Book Specialist at Christie's, told Booktryst.

And fresh, highly attractive, artful material, new to the marketplace, will always find a comfortable home.

The Newberry Library holds a similar, shorter manuscript in its Special Collections, 4th floor, call number VAULT Wing MS 138.

Christie's was kind to provide Booktryst with multiple images from Das Buch der Venus vulgivaga but, while quite artfully executed and quite charming, a few are so charming that I've  left them out of this report. My 85 yr old mother reads Booktryst and I'd like her to make to 86 without dying from charm.

The "Omnipotent Rose," above, with its sturdy stalk, is, amongst the explicit, original illustrations within the manuscript, probably the least objectionable to those of sensitive nature; perhaps a little worse for the "where in the world, Stephen," my mother will likely make it through without incident.
__________

Images courtesy of Christie's, with our thanks.
__________

Of related interest:

The Floating World of Japanese Erotica At Christie's.

The Celebrated Stable of Erotica Writers, Part I.

The Celebrated Stable of Erotica Writers, Part II: The Perp Walk.
__________
__________

Five and a Half Women in Search of a Good Time

by Stephen J. Gertz

Hand-colored heliogravure by Charles Hérouard aka Herric
From Le Libertinage du retroussé par G. Donville
Paris, Aux galants passe-temps [Jean Fort], 1937.
Not in Pia. Dutel not consulted.

Hand-colored heliogravure by Charles Hérouard aka Herric
From Le Libertinage du retroussé par G. Donville
Paris, Aux galants passe-temps [Jean Fort], 1937.

Hand-colored heliogravure by Charles Hérouard aka Herric
From Le Libertinage du retroussé par G. Donville
Paris, Aux galants passe-temps [Jean Fort], 1937.

"Little seems to be known about [the] publisher [of the above images] Jean Fort.  We do know that he was the nephew of Pierre Fort, a Paris bookseller and publisher who was active from c.1896 until c.1905 (it appears Louis Chaubard took over the shop in 1911). Following his Uncle's footsteps, Fort began his own publishing career in c.1901, from the Paris address of 73 Faubourg Poissonniere.

"Fort published under many different imprints; some openly published, some published clandestinely. From his Faubourg Poissonniere address in 1907 until c.1921 he primarily used the imprint 'Jean Fort' or 'J. Fort' but between 1910 - 1913 he also published a few books under the imprints, 'Bibliothèque des deux hémisphères' and 'Sweetgra's Quebec'. Betweem c.1921 and c.1925 Fort set up shop of 39 rue de Chabrol and then 12 rue de Chabrol, staying only a couple of years at each address during which he publishing a few books with the imprint 'Libraire du bon vieux temps'.

"In c.1925 Fort moved again, this time setting up shop at 79 rue de Vaugirard where he remained until c.1939. From Vaugirard he began publishing under the imprints of 'Au Cabinet du Livre' and the better known imprint of 'Collection des Orties Blanches', a series of flagellation novels. While it seems the majority of Fort's earlier publications were unillustrated these flagellation books often contained explicit engravings by some of the top erotica illustrators of the time: Jim Black [Luc Lafnet], Louis Malteste, Herric [Herouard], and Martin Van Maele" (Straight, Sheryl, Erotica Bibliophile).

Illustration by Jean-Gabriel Daragnès
From La Tentation de Saint Antoine by Gustave Flaubert.
Paris: J.-G. Daragnès, 1942.
Monod 4711. Carteret, IV, 161. Karaiskakis  343.

Jean-Gabriel Daragnès (1886-1950) was highly regarded both as a printmaker of wood engravings and etchings  and also as a master printer of other artists' work. Daragnès was born in Bordeaux; his father was a carpenter. From 1900-1905 Daragnès was apprenticed to a silversmith as an engraver. In 1907, having completed his military service, Jean-Gabriel Daragnès went to Paris, dreaming of a life as a Bohemian painter in Montmartre. In order to survive, he took on all kinds of work, and soon turned from landscape painting to printmaking and the art of the book. Daragnès was not mobilised for WWI as he suffered from tuberculosis. After the war he wanted to found his own press.

"By dint of selling everything he possessed, Daragnès raised enough money to build a house at 14, avenue Junot in Montmarte, to his own plans, with a printroom on the ground floor, a painting and printmaking studio on the first floor, and living quarters above. There Daragnés published some of the most beautiful books of the twentieth century, and also established a literary and artistic salon, whose members included Francis Carco, Pierre Mac Orlan, Colette, Léon-Paul Fargue, Noël Bureau, and Paul Valéry. It was Daragnès who taught Valéry the art of etching" (Neil Philip, Idbury Prints).

Illustration by Umberto Brunelleschi
from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
Paris: Gilbert jeune, Librairie d'amateurs, 1953.
Monod 4682.

Italian artist Umberto Brunelleschi (1879 - 1949)  studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence and moved to Paris in 1900  where he soon established himself as a printer, book illustrator, set and costume designer.

He worked for Le Rire as a caricaturist and was a contributor to many of the deluxe French fashion publications including Journal des Dames et Des Modes, Gazette du Bon Ton and Les Feuillets d'Art. Brunelleschi was also the artistic director of the short lived but significant La Guirlande d'art et de la litterature 1919-1920.

In the 1920s he diversified into set and costume designs for the Folies Bergère, the Casino de Paris, the Théâtre du Châtelet and theaters in New York, Germany, and in his native country. He created costumes for Josephine Baker. 

His illustrated books include Voltaire (Candide, 1933), Charles Perrault (Contes du temps jadis,1912), Musset (La Nuit Vénitienne), Goethe, Diderot (Les Bijoux indiscrets, etc.), Les Masques et les personnages de la Comedie Italienne, 1914; Phili ou Par dela le Bien et le Mal," 1921; Le Radjah de Mazulipatam," 1925; Le Malheureux Petit Voyage, 1926; and Les Aventures de Roi Pausole, 1930.
__________

All images courtesy of Julien Mannoni Livres Anciens, with our thanks.

A tip o' the hat to our old friends Sheryl Straight and Neil Philip.
__________
__________