This is a store for those who prefer the old to the new;

who prefer character to shine;

who value owning and using a piece of history.

This is a store for those people and the ones who adore them.

  • Out of stock
    Fanny Hill print 5.5 x 8.25" This print came from someone's private collection.  The rest of the prints I have from this estate are also from various editions of Fanny Hill by John Cleland.  Print is by "PIZAN" and is possibly from a 20-30s edition printed clandestinely in NY.
  • Fanny Hill print 5.5 x 8.25" This print came from someone's private collection.  The rest of the prints I have from this estate are also from various editions of Fanny Hill by John Cleland.  Print is by "PIZAN" and is possibly from a 20-30s edition printed clandestinely in NY.
  • Fanny Hill print 5.5 x 8.25" This print came from someone's private collection.  The rest of the prints I have from this estate are also from various editions of Fanny Hill by John Cleland.  Print is by "PIZAN" and is possibly from a 20-30s edition printed clandestinely in NY.
  • Out of stock
    Fanny Hill print "Kissing me in every part, the most secret one so far excepted that it came in for most of that homage." 6 x 8", hand colored This print came from someone's private collection.  The rest of the prints I have from this estate are also from various editions of Fanny Hill by John Cleland.  I'm unsure of the edition but this seems to be a print from the 1920-30s and hand colored.
  • Fanny Hill print "Then, taking the fine handle that so invitingly offered itself, she led the youth to the bed." 6 x 8" This print came from someone's private collection.  The rest of the prints I have from this estate are also from various editions of Fanny Hill by John Cleland.  I'm unsure of the edition but this seems to be a print from the 1920-30s.
  • Fanny Hill's Cook Book, Lionel H. Braun & William Adams, illustrations by Brian Forbes (Taplinger Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1971 [first edition]) 9 3/8" X 6 1/8", 137pp, hardbound with DJ, good condition, binding tight, some soiling to front boards, few tears in dust jacket Rare and raunchy 70's cookbook. Highlights include "Whores d'oeuvres and snacks" featuring "Dildoughs with Warts in Hot Lips", "Pickled Peckers" and Marquise d'Salade with Crafty Ebbing Undressing". In the "Meat Dishes" section there is "Suc d'Meat", "Rump Roast or Backside Entree", and "Fellatio Mignon". There is a whole section "On Stuffing." The pasta section features "Cunnilinguini with Pietro's Tongue" and the dessert features among others "Jock's Strap", "The Nutcracker Sweet" and "Virgin's pushups with a few bawdy stories thrown in between the recipes. The illustrations are very fun. Very 70's. A good copy of a rare book.
  • Female Masturbation, New Illustrated Edition, G. Lombard Kelly, M.D. (Banner Books, Inglewood, Calif., 1966) 8.75" X 5.25", 192pp, softcover, good+ condition "A complete reprinting of Dr. Kelly's monograph on the subject of female auto-eroticism, as well as articles on the same subject by other well-known doctors including Edwin Hirsch, Bernhard Bauer, A. von Schrench-Notzing, J. Richardson Parke and Albert Moll."
  • Femina Hominis Voluptati Crucifigata, Ex Bibliotheca Erotica Dr. J. Klueber, by Franz von Bayros paper size 5.5 x 6.25", print size 3.5 x 3.5" Topless handcuffed woman consoling naked girl nailed to cross. "Femina Hominis Voluptati Crucifigata" is possibly latin for "the woman is man's pleasure crucified"? The detail in this print is magnifying-glass-worthy as there are copulating couples at the top of the columns. Franz von Bayros (1866 – 1924) was an Austrian commercial artist, illustrator, and painter, now he is best known for his erotic work. He belonged to the Decadent movement in art, often utilizing erotic themes and phantasmagoric imagery. At the age 17, Bayros passed the entrance exam for the Vienna Academy with Eduard von Engerth. Bayros mixed in elegant society and soon belonged to the circle of friends of Johann Straub, whose step daughter Alice he married on 1896. The next year, Bayros moved to Munich. In 1904, Bayros gave his first exhibition in Munich, which was a great success. From 1904 until 1908, Bayros traveled to Paris and Italy for his studies. Typically, for an artist dealing with such imagery, von Bayros produced work under several pseudonyms, most notably Choisy Le Conin, and was hounded by authorities for much of his life for his “indecent” art often very imaginative, and including such taboo subjects as sadomasochism and bestiality. He became equally well-known for his masterly drawn figures of elegant modestly nude and non-nude women.
  • Out of stock
    Fid from India 13.5" long, 1.5" at widest part, unknown wood, with original rope A fid is a conical tool made of wood or bone. It is used to work with rope and canvas in seamanship. A fid is used to hold open knots and holes in canvas or to open the "lays", or strands of rope, for splicing.
  • Flagellation & the Flagellants. a History of the Rod in All Countries, The Rev. Wm. M. Cooper, B.A. [James Glass Bertram] (John Camden Hotten, London, n.d. [1870, from ads at end of book]) 7 3/4" X 5 1/2", 544pp plus 32 pages of advertisements for "Very Important New Books", hardbound with red cloth, gilt lettering and decorations, spine worn at top and bottom and lower front, Binder's ticket on lower pastedown: "Bound by W. Bone and Son. 76 Fleet St. London E.C.", front pastdown has cute bookplate asking the book be returned to Robert Day, front end-paper has armorial bookplate of Robert Day. Good condition, corners bumped, top and bottom of spine worn, back boards loose but holding. Bertram was apprenticed to Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and became managing clerk, before joining a company of strolling players. He returned to Edinburgh and set up as a bookseller and newsagent. In 1855 he was appointed the editor of the North Briton and in 1872 of the Glasgow News, leaving to become a freelance journalist two years later. He published "flagellation" pornography under the names "Revd William Cooper" and "Margaret Anson". Illustrated throughout with a colored frontispiece. The bookplate is of Robert Day (1836_1914), an Irish antiquarian and photographer who collaborated with Franz Tieze in producing imitation Williamite, Jacobite and Irish Volunteer glassware. He was an important and well-travelled antiquarian collector. He was involved in his family's extensive saddlery business together with a sports shop well known to Cork anglers.
  • Flagellation & the Flagellants. a History of the Rod in All Countries, The Rev. Wm. M. Cooper, B.A. [James Glass Bertram] (John Camden Hotten, London, n.d. [1873, from ads at end of book] "a new edition revised and corrected") 7 3/4" X 5 1/2", 544pp plus 32 pages of advertisements for "Very Important New Books", hardbound with red cloth, gilt lettering and decorations, spine worn at top and bottom and lower front, Very Good condition, corners bumped, top and bottom of spine worn, boards slightly loose. Ex libris: "From the library of Walter Wentworth Allerton" Bertram was apprenticed to Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and became managing clerk, before joining a company of strolling players. He returned to Edinburgh and set up as a bookseller and newsagent. In 1855 he was appointed the editor of the North Briton and in 1872 of the Glasgow News, leaving to become a freelance journalist two years later. He published "flagellation" pornography under the names "Revd William Cooper" and "Margaret Anson". Illustrated throughout. This is a later "newly revised edition" from Hotten and the version used for the Reeves edition.
  • Out of stock
    Flagellation & the Flagellants. A History of the Rod in All Countries from the earliest period to the present time, The Rev. Wm. M. Cooper, B.A. [James Glass Bertram] (William Reeves Bookseller Limited, London, nd [c. 1908]) 7 3/4" X 5 1/4", 544pp, hardbound no DJ, dark purple cloth boards with gilt stamp and blind stamp decorations to boards and spine, good condition, minor bumping and rubbing, a few stains on lower fore-edge of boards. Bertram was apprenticed to Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and became managing clerk, before joining a company of strolling players. He returned to Edinburgh and set up as a bookseller and newsagent. In 1855 he was appointed the editor of the North Briton and in 1872 of the Glasgow News, leaving to become a freelance journalist two years later. He published "flagellation" pornography under the names "Revd William Cooper" and "Margaret Anson". This edition was published by William Reeves sometime around 1908.
  • Flagellation & the Flagellants. A History of the Rod in All Countries from the earliest period to the present time, The Rev. Wm. M. Cooper, B.A. [James Glass Bertram] (William Reeves Bookseller Limited, London, nd [c. 1908]) 7 3/4" X 5 1/4", 544pp, hardbound no DJ, dark purple cloth boards with gilt stamp and blind stamp decorations to boards and spine, price is marked on spine in gilt "12/6" (12 shilling, 6 penny), gilting is faded, good condition, minor bumping and rubbing, binding good but leaning slightly, back board hinges worn but holding. Bertram was apprenticed to Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and became managing clerk, before joining a company of strolling players. He returned to Edinburgh and set up as a bookseller and newsagent. In 1855 he was appointed the editor of the North Briton and in 1872 of the Glasgow News, leaving to become a freelance journalist two years later. He published "flagellation" pornography under the names "Revd William Cooper" and "Margaret Anson". This edition was published by William Reeves sometime around 1908.
  • Flogging, artist unknown Print from:  Nell in Bridewell: Description of the System of Corporal Punishment (Flagellation) in the Female Prisons of South Germany up to the year 1848 W. Reinhard, trans. W.C. Costello Ph. D. and A. R. Allinson M. A. (Psych Press [New York], 1932) Image: 7" x 10", high-resolution ink-jet print Paper: 8.5" x 11", 65lb White paper
  • Flossie in Bondage, (Published for Private Circulation Only, Paris France) 8" x 5.5", 32pp., pamphlet, good condition
  • Folk Poems and Ballads An Anthology, anonymous [A. Reynolds Morse] ( Cruciform Press, Mexico City: Privately Printed for Private Circulation to Subscribers Only, 1944 [Cleveland, Ohio: A. Reynolds Morse, 1948.] #230/250) 8" X 5.5", vi 128pp. Hardbound, black cloth boards, gilt lettering on cover. Fair condition, 1st signature detached, 4th signature loose but holding (a common problem with these books), good copy of a poorly made book. Subtitled: "A collection of rare verses and amusing folk songs compiled from scarce and suppressed books as well as from verbal sources which modern prudery, false social customs, and intolerance laws have separated from the public and historical record." A. Reynolds Morse was an American, born in 1914, who died in 2000. He moved to Cleveland from Denver in 1941. An industrialist and philanthropist, he is best known for his activity in collecting works by Salvador Dali, and founding the Salvador Dali Museum. According to his obituary in the New York Times, Reynolds and his wife "embarked on a sometimes turbulent friendship with Dali and his wife, Gala". He also had a hobby of collecting and publishing works that other publishers would not print. Title page: "A collection of rare verses and amusing folk songs compiled from scarce and suppressed books as well as from verbal sources which modern prudery, false social customs, and intolerance have separated from the public and historical record." Mr. Morse also published "Limericks, A Facet of Our Culture". Both books were suppressed by police action in the late 1940's. This is the more rare of the two books.
  • Fritzi Ritz in "Straight from the Shoulder", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled, pages loose Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Galante Lieder und Gedichte, Concordia Ball 25. Jänner 1926 [Galante songs and poems with images after originals by Franz von Bayros selected by Johannes Pilz and Viktor Wögerer, Concordia Ball, January 25, 1926] (Der Presseclub Concordia, Strache, Vienna 1926) 6.5"x4.75", very good condition, boards slightly rubbed and stained, interior fine, with carrying strap intact. Press Club Concordia, an organization of Austrian journalists and writers, has been holding a traditional Viennese ball at the Vienna City Hall each June for over 150 years. In 1926 their program book featured art by Franz von Bayros. The illustrations feature both erotic and musical themes. This is a great piece of European/Austrian interbellum history, a rare find in this condition with the carrying strap still intact.  
  • Gamiani, ou deux nuits d'excés par Alcide, Baron de M***, anonymous [believed to have been written by Alfred de Musset] (G. Lebaucher, Libraire-Éditeur, Montreal, Canada [likely Gaucher, Malakoff, France] nd.) 4.5"x6", 144pp, half morocco over marbled boards, title in gilt on spine, 4 raised bands, boards cracked but holding, just good condition Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess is a French erotic novel first published in 1833. Its authorship is anonymous, but it is believed to have been written by Alfred de Musset and the lesbian eponymous heroine a portrait of his lover, George Sand. It became a bestseller among nineteenth century erotic literature. Modeled after George Sand, this work gives us a young man named Alcide observing the Countess Gamiani and a young girl named Fanny, engaged in their lesbian bed. Having watched them and provoked by their abandonment, he reveals himself, joins them, and they spend the night alternately sharing their intimate histories and their bodies. The stories they tell include the rape of one in a monastery and the nearly fatal debauchment of another in a convent, as well as encounters with a number of animals, including an ape and a donkey. Elias Gaucher (publisher from 1898 until 1925(?)) was a Clandestine editor who mainly used the pseudonym G. Lebaucher, Libraire-Éditeur, Montreal (Canada), but also Maison Mystère, Imprimerie Galante, etc. This publisher published many erotic underground works in English from 1898 to about 1904 with the mentions "Printed for the Erotica Biblion Society of London and New York", he also published erotic texts in French from 1899.  His printing press was actually located at 11 rue Danicourt in Malakoff, France. Gaucher left his works in deposit with booksellers-distributors [...] Most editions of Gaucher are counterfeit editions of Brancart or Hirsch, and Gaucher often republished his own works.
  • George and Harry in "Doing Things" / Iva Snatch Presents Ella Cinders in "Such a Grief", (n.p., n.d.) 5" x 3.5", 8pp. double pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. This book is two books in one, featuring reprints of the originals printed on both sides of the paper. Flip the book over and it's a different book.
  • German WWI Soldier Postcard German postcard from around 1918, "Immer feste drauf" (always fixed on it)
  • Gertie Gulp presents Needlenose Noonan in "Heavy Duty", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Ginger Rogers in "Hot Panties", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Girl and Tiger, by Charles Raymond Print from: Venus in Furs Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, illus. Charles Raymond (Privately Printed for Subscribers Only, New York, 1928, #523/1250) Image: 6" x 9.5", high-resolution ink-jet print Paper: 8.5" x 11", your choice of 65lb White or 67lb Ivory Parchment
  • Girls Reading, artist unknown Print from: Le pantalon féminin : un chapitre inédit de l'histoire du costume, (Charles Carrington, Librairie Des Bibliophiles Parisiens, 1916, Paris) Image: 7" x 9", high-resolution ink-jet print Paper: 8.5" x 11", 65lb White paper
  • Blue Book Treasury of Classic Tails | Volume 1 | Goldilocks, "Translated from the Old Saxon and Illustrated by Sir Rod Q. M'Gurk, Knight of the Brush" (Classic Tails, Inc., 1972) 11" X 8.5", 32pp, soft covers, good condition, some minor bumping to corners & scuffing to covers, near fine internal pages. Blue Book Treasury of Classic Tails | Volume 2 | Jack and the Beanstalk, "Translated from the Old Saxon and Illustrated by Sir Rod Q. M'Gurk, Knight of the Brush" (Classic Tails, Inc., 1972) 11" X 8.5", 32pp, soft covers, just good condition, bumping to corners & scuffing/soiling to covers, near fine internal pages. Blue Book Treasury of Classic Tails | Volume 3 | Little Red Riding Hood, by Fud Dicksworth III (Classic Tails, Inc., 1972) 11" X 8.5", 32pp, soft covers, good+ condition, some bumping to corners, VERY rare.
    Ad from a "Men's Magazine" featuring the Naughty Fairy Tales

    Ad from a "men's magazine" featuring the Naughty Fairy Tales

    I've been able to find a few references to this book and very little about "Sir Rod Q. M'Gurk" or "Fud Dicksworth III". M'Gurk apparently also had his cartoons published in Swank magazine c. 1976-7. Eventually it came to the attention of some illustrators and (with help of former Disney animators) was made into a movie by Don Jurwich (not sure the connection between him and Sir Rod Q. M'Gurk, but I'd love to know if it was him).
  • Hank O'Hare presents Tillie, (np. nd.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp., pamphlet, stapled and taped Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Harold Teen, (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Out of stock
    Harold Teen, (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Held Down and Birched, artist unknown Print from:  Nell in Bridewell: Description of the System of Corporal Punishment (Flagellation) in the Female Prisons of South Germany up to the year 1848 W. Reinhard, trans. W.C. Costello Ph. D. and A. R. Allinson M. A. (Psych Press [New York], 1932) Image: 7" x 10", high-resolution ink-jet print Paper: 8.5" x 11", 65lb White paper
  • Hillerich & Bradsby JL H&B Softball Bat 31", 2" wide "Made in US | Louisville, KY | It's a Louiville"
  • anonymous (Bibliotheque St. Germaine, Paris, nd. ) 5.25" X 4", 32pp, softcover, good quality for age, very pornographic photos and cartoons.
  • Immortalia, an anthology of american ballads, sailors' songs, cowboy songs, college songs, parodies, limericks, and other humorous verses and doggerel now for the first time brought together in book form, "By A Gentleman About Town" [T. R. Smith?] ("...privately printed for subscribers, none is for general sale" 1927 [pirated edition from the 2nd printing 1928 edtion, c.1932. New York: Samuel Roth or, less likely, Philadelphia: Nathan Young and Robert Sterling].) 6" x 8.75", iii, 184 pp., hardbound no DJ, decorated paper boards, cloth on spine and corners, worn edges on boards, corners bumped, binding tight. Assumed to be edited by T. R. Smith (George Macy, editor of Poetica Erotica around the same time). This is the most influential and widely published/circulated collection of "bawdry". Most collections since borrow from it liberally. There is a heavy emphasis on limericks (103 to be exact). Included are poems/"doggerel" attributed to James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence.
  • In a Swiss Boarding School, by Charles Hardon (Printed for Private Circulation, Paris, France, nd) 16pp., pamphlet, good condition Erotic story and erotic photos.
  • J. Wellington, Wimpy in "Back to his First Love" / That's My Pop, (n.p., n.d.) 5" x 3.5", 8pp. double pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. This book is two books in one, featuring reprints of the originals printed on both sides of the paper. Flip the book over and it's a different book.
  • Jack and Jean, by Frank Palma, "Illustrated by the Writer" (The London Press, London) 14pp., pamphlet, good condition Erotic story with erotic photos.  
  • Jakub Casanova: Memoiry (Czech: Cassanova's Memoirs), Giacomo Casanova (Alois Hynek, J. Rokyta, Praze, n.d. [c. 1890-1900]) 8.75" X 6.25" 9 vol. in 8 books 275pp. [220pp 144pp in one vol.] 283pp. 358pp. 304pp. 356pp. 326pp. 345 i-v. Hardcover with beautifully decorated red cloth boards. Very good condition. Rare complete set with full color boards. Even more rare copy translated into Czech. Giovanni Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) was an ecclesiastic, writer, soldier, spy, and diplomatist, chiefly remembered as the prince of Italian adventurers and as the man who made the name Casanova synonymous with "libertine." His autobiography, which perhaps exaggerates some of his escapades, is a splendid description of 18th-century society in the capitals of Europe. This is a beautiful Czech edition, 9 volumes in 8 books in publisher's original decorative cloth-binding. A beautifully bound edition. I am unable to find another complete set. The only other place I can find mention these books is in the Czech National Library.
  • Jiggs

    $20.00
    Jiggs, (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Jim Goes Down, by Harry C. Chumley (Psyche & Erros Press, London) 8.25" x 5.5", 32pp., pamphlet, good condition
  • Joe Palooka in "10 and Out", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Judge Puffle in "Paid", (np. nd.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Julie, ou J'ai sauvé ma rose, Madame de C*** [Félicité Choiseul-Meuse] (Gay et Doucé, Bruxelles, 1882) 7.5" x 4.75", 2 vol. 169pp 188pp, hardbound half-leather over decorated paper boards and marbled endpapers. Gilt lettering and decorations on spine, 5 raised bands. 2 frontispiece engravings. Fair condition for age. Vol. 1 front boards loose and first few endpapers not attached, no missing pages, wear and tear to top of spine. Edges worn, corners bumped. Felicite de Choiseul-Meuse wrote approximately twenty-seven novels from 1797 to 1824. Writings are sometimes identified by pseudonyms and acronyms: LFDLC; Emilia P ***, Madame de C *** , etc.. Her 1807 novel "Julie, ou j'ai sauvé ma rose" [Julie, or I saved my rose] is widely considered the first erotic novel written by a woman. It is more appropriately translated as "how I kept my cherry" for it tells the tale of a young woman who lets her lovers fondle her all they want, but will not allow penetration until she finds the right man and marries him. The work was condemned as obscene and its destruction ordered by the Cour royale de Paris on August 5, 1828. Excerpt: "I tasted in his arms unspeakable pleasures. Deadened by pleasure, then revived by an even more delirious pleasure, I made the object of happiness almost as happy as I was myself; and yet, true to my system, I made sure that he did not harvest the rose."
  • Julie, ou J'ai sauvé ma rose, Madame de C*** [Félicité Choiseul-Meuse] (J.-J. Gay, Bruxelles, 1882) 8" x 5.25", 2 vol. 169pp 188pp, full mottled calf, marbled endpapers. Gilt lettering and decorations on spine, 5 raised bands. 2 frontispiece engravings. just Fair condition, interior good, exterior in poor shape, Vol. 1 boards loose, Vol. 2 boards detached. Felicite de Choiseul-Meuse wrote approximately twenty-seven novels from 1797 to 1824. Writings are sometimes identified by pseudonyms and acronyms: LFDLC; Emilia P ***, Madame de C *** , etc.. Her 1807 novel "Julie, ou j'ai sauvé ma rose" [Julie, or I saved my rose] is widely considered the first erotic novel written by a woman. It is more appropriately translated as "how I kept my cherry" for it tells the tale of a young woman who lets her lovers fondle her all they want, but will not allow penetration until she finds the right man and marries him. The work was condemned as obscene and its destruction ordered by the Cour royale de Paris on August 5, 1828. Excerpt: "I tasted in his arms unspeakable pleasures. Deadened by pleasure, then revived by an even more delirious pleasure, I made the object of happiness almost as happy as I was myself; and yet, true to my system, I made sure that he did not harvest the rose."
  • Julie, ou J'ai sauvé ma rose, Madame de C*** [Félicité Choiseul-Meuse] (Se trouve chez tous les Libraires Anglais, 1882) 8" x 5.25", 2 vol. bound together, 166pp 183pp, half calf on marbled boards, original wraps bound within, red label with gilt titles on spine, just good condition, boards intact, binding good, ribbon intact, major scuffing and bumping to the spine and rubbing to the boards. Felicite de Choiseul-Meuse wrote approximately twenty-seven novels from 1797 to 1824. Writings are sometimes identified by pseudonyms and acronyms: LFDLC; Emilia P ***, Madame de C *** , etc.. Her 1807 novel "Julie, ou j'ai sauvé ma rose" [Julie, or I saved my rose] is widely considered the first erotic novel written by a woman. It is more appropriately translated as "how I kept my cherry" for it tells the tale of a young woman who lets her lovers fondle her all they want, but will not allow penetration until she finds the right man and marries him. The work was condemned as obscene and its destruction ordered by the Cour royale de Paris on August 5, 1828. Excerpt: "I tasted in his arms unspeakable pleasures. Deadened by pleasure, then revived by an even more delirious pleasure, I made the object of happiness almost as happy as I was myself; and yet, true to my system, I made sure that he did not harvest the rose."
  • Katherine Hepbern in "Belle of the Hills", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • anonymous (Bibliotheque St. Germaine, Paris, nd. ) 5.25" X 4", 32pp, softcover, good quality for age, very pornographic photos and cartoons.
  • Kurtizána z Memfidy: Anticky román [Czech], Prosper Castanier, trans. Karel Weinfurter, illus. A. Calbeta (Alois Hynek, Praha [Prague], nd [c. 1901], printed by J. Rokyta, Praha) 7" x 4.5", 312pp, hardbound brown decorated cloth boards with gilt and other colors, gilt lettering and design on spine. Top edge gilt. Illustrated throughout with 4 choice illustrations duplicated in alternating red and green before title page. Great condition of a very rare book. This is a rare Czech translation of The Courtesan of Memphis, Czech Memfidy (Memphis) book, also in the rare publisher's original cloth-binding. The publisher, Alois Hynek, translated this and many of Castanier's books into German. These books had similiarly decorated covers. Most of the Hynek's Czech translations one finds are softcover. This is a rare hardcover translation into Czech. It is beautifully illustrated The French author, poet, novelist and historian Prosper Castanier (1865-19??) was born in Saint-Ambroix (Gard).  He was the editor-in-chief of the "Progrès du midi".  He had made a specialty of novels set in antiquity. (Particularly after the success of Aphrodite by Pierre Louès, published in 1896)
  • L'Amant Salamandre, ou Les Aventures de l'Infortunée Julie,Histoire Veritable, anonymous [Cointreau] , ("Londres, Et se trouve à Paris. Chez Duchesne" 1756, [first edition]) 4"x6.75", in two parts, 132pp, 135pp, Contemporary mottled calf, gilt decorations on spine, marbled boards, in good condition for age, some splitting at spine, but binding good. Julie is the bizarre tale of a young orphan tricked by her wicked governess into believing in magic. The governess delivers the girl to her son, who attempts to seduce her disguised as Salamandre, a magician. The young girl escapes to a convent, only to cross paths with the governess some time later, who once again tries to procure her for her son. 'Salamandre' is attacked by assassins and confesses his mother's crimes on his death bed. The novel was very popular in it's day. Although very popular in it's day, it's a rare find, especially the original 1756 version.  
  • L'art d'aimer d'Ovide, traduction en vers, avec des remarques par M. Desaintange (Chez Giguet et Michaud, Paris, 1807, first edition of translation) 5"x8", 320pp, full calf, gilt titles and decorations to spine, marbled boards, some rubbing and bumping, good+ condition for age, finely engraved frontispiece, unknown artist French language translation by Saint-Ange of Ovid's The Art of Love. Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC – AD 17/18), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. He enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, "a poem and a mistake", but his discretion in discussing the causes has resulted in much speculation among scholars. The first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus, Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses, a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology. Ange-François Fariau de Saint-Ange (1747-1810), known as Saint-Ange was a French poet and translator. Born of a father adviser of the king, he studied at the collège des jésuites de Blois, then at the college Sainte-Barbe de Paris. He acquired from a young age a reputation for his his unparalleled wit. Protected by Turgot, he gained a place in general control, but found himself without resources in the Revolution. At the fall of Robespierre, he found a job in the clothing agency of the troops, then became then professor of belles-lettres, then of general and reasoned grammar, with the central school of the street Saint-Antoine. He was elected member of the French Academy in 1810. In his reception speech, sensing that his shaky health would not allow him to sit there for a long time, he declared: "I am doing violence, at this moment, to the continual suffering and intolerable who warn me that the shadow of the academician whom I replace is waiting for mine. Three months later, he suffered a fall and died while visiting the institute.
  • L'histoire comique de Francion en laquelle sont découvertes les plus subtiles finesses et trompeuses inventions tant des hommes que des femmes de toute sortes de conditions et d'âges. Non moins profitable pour s'en garder, que plaisante à la lecture., Charles Sorel, illus. Martin van Maele (chez Jean Fort, Paris, 1925 #131/ 1100 of copies made with pure Enoshima fibre paper) 9x6, 411pp, quarter-bound calf over slate boards, 5 raised bands, gilt titles and decorations on spine, top-edge gilt others deckled, fair condition, boards very loose, barely holding Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny (1602 –1674) was a French novelist and general writer. Very little is known of his life except that in 1635 he was historiographer of France. He wrote on science, history and religion, but is only remembered for his novels. He tried to destroy the vogue for the pastoral romance by writing a novel of adventure, the Histoire comique de Francion (first edition in seven volumes, 1623; second edition in twelve volumes, 1633). The episodical adventures of Francion found many readers, who nevertheless kept their admiration for Honoré d'Urfé's L'Astrée, which it was intended to ridicule.
  • La Courtisane de Memphis, Prosper Castanier, illust. by A. Calbet (Librairie L. Borel, Paris, 1900 "Nymphée Collection") 7.75" X 4", 242pp.+, 1/2 red leather over silk-covered boards, marbled end-papers, gallery of 7 full-page illustrations in red, 5 pages of ads in back, fine condition for age, ribbon intact. In French, The Courtesan of Memphis. Prosper Castanier wrote of the decadence of ancient Rome. This is a beautiful example of a rare book. The French author, poet, novelist and historian Prosper Castanier (1865-19??) was born in Saint-Ambroix (Gard).  He was the editor-in-chief of the "Progrès du midi".  He had made a specialty of novels set in antiquity. (Particularly after the success of Aphrodite by Pierre Louès, published in 1896)
  • La Génération de l' Homme ou Tableau de l' Amour Conjugal, considéré dans l'état du mariage, tome premier, Nicolas Venette (np 1776) 4x6.75, 365pp, vol. 1 only (of 2), full mottled calf, 5 raised bands, titles on spine are worn off, marbled boards loose but holding, fair condition for age. Illustrated throughout including a beautifully engraved frontispiece and title page, some illustrations are fold-outs. Nicolas Venette (1633–1698) was a physician, sexologist and French writer. Born in La Rochelle, he studied medicine at Bordeaux where he received his doctorate in 1656. He then went to Paris where he studied under Guy Patin and Pierre Petit, before travelling to Spain, Portugal and Italy. He then returned to La Rochelle, where he became Regius Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in 1668. First published in Amsterdam in 1686 as Tableau de l’amour humain considéré dans l’état du mariage (Table of human love considered in the state of marriage) under the pseudonym Salocini Venetian (anagram of Nicolas Venette), this book, more properly titled Table of conjugal love, or the complete history of the generation of man, is considered to be the first treatise on sexology in West.  It proved to be a bestseller and was translated into English, Spanish, German and Dutch.  There were 33 editions published sporadically until 1903.  This edition was published in 1776 in two-volume.  This book is volume 1.  Many images are upgraded from previous editions to be fold-outs. The author discusses four sub-topics with respect to sex: anatomy, reproduction, desire, and impotence/infertility. For each topic, he reviews ancient and medieval authors, adding his own observations or those of later authors, and comments where common sense prevails. The resulting composition has an ambiguous mixture of seriousness and light-heartedness bordering upon erotic literature.
  • La Génération de l' Homme ou Tableau de l' Amour Conjugal, considéré dans l'état du mariage, Nicolas Venette (np London, 1768, "Nouvelle Édition") 6.25x3.75, 408pp, vol. 1 only (of 2), full mottled calf, 5 raised bands worn), gilt title and decorations on spine (worn), marbled boards, fair condition for age, beautiful illustrations including a beautifully engraved frontispiece and title page. Nicolas Venette (1633–1698) was a physician, sexologist and French writer. Born in La Rochelle, he studied medicine at Bordeaux where he received his doctorate in 1656. He then went to Paris where he studied under Guy Patin and Pierre Petit, before travelling to Spain, Portugal and Italy. He then returned to La Rochelle, where he became Regius Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in 1668. First published in Amsterdam in 1686 as Tableau de l’amour humain considéré dans l’état du mariage (Table of human love considered in the state of marriage) under the pseudonym Salocini Venetian (anagram of Nicolas Venette), this book, more properly titled Table of conjugal love, or the complete history of the generation of man, is considered to be the first treatise on sexology in West.  It proved to be a bestseller and was translated into English, Spanish, German and Dutch.  There were 33 editions published sporadically until 1903.  This edition was published in 1768 in two-volume.  This book is volume 1. The author discusses four sub-topics with respect to sex: anatomy, reproduction, desire, and impotence/infertility. For each topic, he reviews ancient and medieval authors, adding his own observations or those of later authors, and comments where common sense prevails. The resulting composition has an ambiguous mixture of seriousness and light-heartedness bordering upon erotic literature.
  • La Grande Diablerie, poem du XVe siècles, by Éloy d'Amerval (George Hurtrel, Artiste-Édueur, Paris, 1884, #152/1000 hand signed by publisher) 5" x 6.75", 216pp, in original published state, french wraps with loose hardcover/case, red with gilt decoration, frontispiece and 3 full page engravings by Paul Avril protected by tissue guard, images throughout, good minus condition, spine cover is sunned, binding is loose and splitting in places Eloy d'Amerval (fl. 1455 – 1508) was a French composer, singer, choirmaster, and poet of the Renaissance. He spent most of his life in the Loire Valley of France. From his poetic works, the long poem Le livre de la deablerie, it can be inferred that he knew most of the famous composers of the time, even though his own musical works never approached theirs in renown.  This poem, considered invaluable to music historians, recounts a dialogue between Satan and Lucifer, in which their nefarious plotting of future evil deeds is interrupted periodically by the author, who among other accounts of earthly and divine virtue, records useful information on contemporary musical practice. In addition to listing musical instruments, he lists who he considers to be the great composers of the time: they are residents of Paradise in his poem, even though several were still alive in 1508, the date of its composition. Édouard-Henri Avril (1849-1928) used the pseudonym “Paul Avril” for his erotic work. He was a French painter and commercial artist. His career saw collaboration with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee and Friedrich Karl Forberg. He is one of the most celebrated erotic artists of his age. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • La poésie priapique dans l'antiquité et au moyen age [Priapic poetry in antiquity and the middle ages], ed. Marcel Coulon, 1 original wood engraving by V. Le Campion, 2 original brass engravings by P. Dubreuil (Éditions du Trianon, Paris, 1932, printed by Les Presses de Massoul, #119 of 750) 7.75"x6.25", 166pp+index, 3/4 bound red calf over marbled boards, gilt title on cover and spine, original french wraps bound in, marbled end papers, near fine condition, ribbon intact, pages clean. A history of priapic literature covering folklore, poetry, Priapus, mythology, homosexuality in the ancient world.  
  • La Tradition de la Garde. Illustré d'après Roze. Précédé d'une étude sur les chatiments corporels. [Tradition of the Guard. Illustrated by Roze. Preceded by a study on corporal punishment.] by Jean de Villiot, [pseud. Georges Grassal de Choffat or Hugues Rebell], illus. Léon Roze (Charles Carrington, Paris, 1907, #244/700) 7.75" x 9.75", 209pp, very good condition for age, some light stains, soft covers and binding good, a rare, numerous illustrations
  • Le Hazard du coin du feu, dialogue moral [The Opportunities of the Fireside, a moral dialogue], Crébillon fils (a la Haye, 1763, first edition) 6.25" X 3.75", 260pp, full leather, 5 raised bands and gilt titles on spine and decorating pastedowns, gilt edges, good+ condition, minor bumping to corners, armorial bookplate of Francis John Hughes in front pastedown, Mr. Hughes wrote inside "from the collection of Wallace Stevens. Bought at auction this day 10 March 1959 - FJH" The entire book is a dialogue takes place at Célie's house in a small secluded boudoir and the subject is the deceptions and tricks of debauchery, described through stories, dialogues, and tales by the participants. Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707 – 1777), was a French novelist. He was called "Crébillon fils" to distinguish him from his father, a famous tragedian, Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. He received a Jesuit education at the elite Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Early on he composed various light works, including plays for the Italian Theatre in Paris, and published a short tale called Le Sylphe in 1730. From 1729 to 1739 he participated in a series of dinners called "Le Caveau" (named after the cabaret where they were held) with other artists, including Alexis Piron, Charles Collé, and Charles Duclos. The publication of Tanzaï et Néadarné, histoire japonaise (1734), which contained thinly veiled attacks on the Papal bull Unigenitus, the cardinal de Rohan and others, landed him briefly in the prison at Vincennes. Publication of Le Sopha, conte moral, an erotic political satire, in 1742 forced him into exile from Paris for several months. Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) was an American modernist poet.  He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Collected Poems in 1955.
  • Le Pantalon Féminin (Un chapitre inédit de l'Histoire du Costume) by Pierre Dufay, preface by d'Armand Silvestre (Charles Carrington, Librairie Des Bibliophiles Parisiens, 1916, Paris) 7.75" X 5.75", xv 584pp., original soft wraps protected by a clear archival dust cover. Deckled edges. Some pages remain uncut. Index, table of contents, errata, and 5 pages of ads in the back. Good condition for age, some tears to the edges of cover, stain on the back. A rare find with it's illustrations intact.
  • Le Pantalon féminin (frontispiece), artist unknown Print from: Le pantalon féminin : un chapitre inédit de l'histoire du costume, (Charles Carrington, Librairie Des Bibliophiles Parisiens, 1916, Paris) Image: 6" x 9.5", high-resolution ink-jet print Paper: 8.5" x 11", 65lb White paper
  • Le Sopha, conte moral by Crébillon fils, illus. Hanriot (Ch. Gilliet, Bruxelles, 1881, #380/550, Imprimerie Clerbaut & Cie.) 5"x7.5", 342pp, 3/4 morocco over marbled boards, 5 raised bands, gilt titles on spine (title worn), marbled endpapers, top-edge gilt, other edges deckled, printed on hand-laid "papier de Hollande", green ribbon intact, frontispiece with tissue guard and 2 small engravings by Hanriot, beautifully bound copy in very good+ condition with delicate engravings Le Sopha, conte moral is a 1742 libertine novel by Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (Crebillon fils). It was first translated into English in the spring of 1742. The story concerns a young courtier, Amanzéï, whose soul in a previous life was condemned by Brahma to inhabit a series of sofas, and not to be reincarnated in a human body until two virgin lovers had consummated their passion for him. The novel is structured as a frame story in an oriental setting, explicitly evocative of the Arabian Nights, in which Amanzéï recounts the adventures of seven couples, which he witnessed in his sofa form, to the bored sultan Shah Baham (grandson of Shehryār and Scheherazade). The longest episode, that of Zulica, takes up nine chapters; the final episode concerns the teenage Zéïnis et Phéléas. Amanzéï, witnessing their innocent pleasure, is edified and freed through the experience of virtuous love. Many of the characters in the novel are satirical portraits of influential and powerful Parisians of Crébillon’s time; the author takes the opportunity to ridicule hypocrisy in its different forms (worldly respectability, virtue, religious devotion). Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707-1777) was a French novelist. He was called "Crébillon fils" to distinguish him from his father, a famous tragedian, Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. The publication of Tanzaï et Neadarne, histoire japonaise (1734), which contained thinly veiled attacks on the Papal bull Unigenitus, the cardinal de Rohan and others, landed him briefly in the prison at Vincennes. Although Le Sopha was published anonymously and with a false imprint, Crébillon was discovered to be the author and was exiled to a distance of thirty leagues from Paris on April 7, 1742. He was able to return on July 22, after claiming that the work had been commissioned by Frederick II of Prussia and that it had been published against his will. Jules-Armand Hanriot (1853-1930) was a French painter, engraver and illustrator.
  • Les Amants de Lesbos, Prosper Castanier, illus. Franz Schmidt (Librairie L. Borel, Paris, 1900) 6" X 3.25", 116pp, Hardbound in 1/4 tan leather over marbled boards, marbled end-papers, glassine protective tissue for title page with gold emblem stamped on it. Very good condition. An imagination of the life and loves of the poet Sappho and her fight against the tyrant of Mytilene. The French author, poet, novelist and historian Prosper Castanier (1865-19??) was born in Saint-Ambroix (Gard).  He was the editor-in-chief of the "Progrès du midi".  He had made a specialty of novels set in antiquity. (Particularly after the success of Aphrodite by Pierre Louès, published in 1896)
  • Les Ballades de Maistre Francois Villon, Francois Villon, illus. Chéri Hérouard, caligraphy ["escrites"] by Raymond de Rigné (chez Cres., Paris, 1919) 11.75" X 9.25", 169pp, rebound in red cloth boards with paper labels, decorated end papers. Original soft wraps intact. #450/550 signed by Hérouard. 31 full page drawings by Hérouard plus 31 small vignette type illustrations with a few "signed" by him. Beautifully printed on heavy deckle edged paper. good condition, wear to top and bottom of spine. ribbon intact. François Villon (c. 1431_1464) was a French poet. Most of what is known about Villon has been gathered from legal records and gleaned from his own writings. He was a thief, killer, barroom brawler, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballades. He was the most famous realist poet of the Middle Ages. Chéri Hérouard (1881 - 1961) was a French illustrator who was most famously known for his forty-five-year work for French society magazine, La Vie Parisienne. Under the pseudonym of Herric, he also created erotic and sadomasochistic illustrations for various books including the Kama Sutra. This work was originally published with soft wraps. This copy has been beautifully rebound with it's original wraps intact.
  • Les Ballades de Maistre Francois Villon, Francois Villon, illus. Chéri Hérouard, caligraphy ["escrites"] by Raymond de Rigné (chez Cres., Paris, 1919, #188/550 signed by Hérouard) 11.75" X 9.25", 169pp, original french wraps with glassine cover,  31 full page drawings by Hérouard plus 31 small vignette type illustrations. Beautifully printed on heavy deckle edged paper. good condition, all original, minor rubbing, slight foxing on outer pages, inner pages clean, rips in glassine cover at top and bottom of spine. François Villon (c. 1431_1464) was a French poet. Most of what is known about Villon has been gathered from legal records and gleaned from his own writings. He was a thief, killer, barroom brawler, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballades. He was the most famous realist poet of the Middle Ages. Chéri Hérouard (1881 - 1961) was a French illustrator who was most famously known for his forty-five-year work for French society magazine, La Vie Parisienne. Under the pseudonym of Herric, he also created erotic and sadomasochistic illustrations for various books including the Kama Sutra.
  • Lord Drialys (pseud.) (Charles Carrington, Paris, 1906) 7.5" x 5", 264pp, rare first edition in original soft wraps. Some pages loose but all present
  • Les Confidences de Cherubin, G. Donville, illus. Herric [pseud. Chéri Herouard] np, nd, [a 2000 reprint of the 1939 edition] 8.5" x 6", 229pp, paperback, like new condition A classic spanking novel. The narrator, Pierre de Thiverny, tells us of his sexual exploits; from his introduction to the voyeuristic pleasures (his parents) and the discovery of the female buttocks (the young Monica on her swing) to various sexual practices including spanking with several companions. This nicely printed edition also has reproductions of the original Chéri Herouard (signed Herric) illustrations. Chéri Hérouard (1881 - 1961) was a French illustrator who was most famously known for his forty-five-year work for French society magazine, La Vie Parisienne. Under the pseudonym of Herric, he also created erotic and sadomasochistic illustrations for various books including the Kama Sutra.
  • Les dessous de la pudibonderie anglaise expliqués dans les divorces anglais, ou procès en adultère jugés par le banc du Roi et la Cour Ecclésiastique d'Angleterre [trans. The Basics of English Prudishness Explained in English Divorces, or Adultery Trial Judged by the King's Bench and the Ecclesiastical Court of England], anonymous [most like Carrington himself as editor/compiler], illustrations Jacques Wely (Charles Carrington, Paris, 1898, first edition) 7.5"x5", 2 volumes in one, xxiv-108, xxx-287-xii, quarter morocco over marbled boards, 4 raised bands, gilt titles and decoration on spine, marbled endpapers, great condition, previous owners name on title page, some bumping to corners. According to the British Library this is a compilation of entries from "Trials for Adultry" [Trials for Adultery: or, the History of Divorces. Being Select Trials at Doctors Commons, for Adultery, Cruelty, Fornication, Impotence, &c. From the Year 1760, to the present Time. Including the whole of the Evidence on each Cause. Together with The Letters, &c. that have been intercepted between the amorous Parties… Taken in Short-Hand , by a Civilian. London: Printed for S. Bladon, 1779-1780] which, as the full title suggests, is considered one of the Earliest of "The Genre of Pornographic Trial Reports". Also present are excerpts from some English plays. According to Yale, this compillation also "Contains case histories from: Crim. con. biography attributed to Francis Plowden." London, 1798.  Criminal conversation, commonly known as crim. con., is a tort arising from adultery, abolished in almost all jurisdictions. (Conversation is an old expression for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term.) As far as we can tell, this is a book compiled and edited by Carrington.  Carrington himself was an Englishman, a Londoner who was married to a woman from France.  He published this book a few years after the couple left London and moved to Paris, presumably so he would have more freedom to publish books that London would have no doubt considered pornography.  This book is a case study of the prudishness of the English and it uses salacious material taken from various sources listed above to prove the point.
  • Les Facetieuses Nuits de Straparole, Giovanni Francesco Straparola, trans. Jean Louveau, illus. L_on Lebègue. Preface by Jules de Marthold (Charles Carrington, Paris, 1907 #213/800) 9.5" x 6.25", 2 vol. lxxxvii+312pp. vi+371pp. 1/2 leather over marbled boards, 4 raised bands on spine gilt lettering and decorations, marbled endpapers, gilted top-edge, others deckled, many color illustrations protected by tissues with descrptions printed on them, text decorations throughout, near fine condition, book binder tag for "Hans Uttinger, Buchbinderei, Einrahmungsgeschäft, Luzern" The Facetious Nights of Straparola (1550-1555; Italian: Le piacevoli notti), also known as The Nights of Straparola, is a two-volume collection of 75 stories by Italian author and fairy-tale collector Giovanni Francesco Straparola(c.1480-c.1557). Modeled after Bocaccio's Decameron, it has participants of a 13-night party in the island of Murano, near Venice, tell each other stories that vary from bawdy to fantastic. It contains the first known written versions of many fairy tales. It would influence later fairy-tale authors like Charles Perrault and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. This book is a very rare and famous (and famously illustrated) edition.  A beautiful copy of a beautifully made book.
  • Les Idylles, Théocrite, J. A. Gullet trans., Méaulle illus. (A. Quantin, Imprimeur-Éditeur, Paris 1884) 5.75″ X 4", 192pp, three-quarter leather over marbled boards, gilt titles and decorations on spine, boards rubbed quite a bit, binding good, top-edge gilt, others deckled, ex-libris of Dr. phil. Rudolf Ludwig designed by Franz von Bayros (voluptuous naked woman surrounded by books with men in shackles enthusiastically bringing her more. A child with a magnifying glass astride a penis decorated with a world globe/map.) Theocritus (c 300 BC- c 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.  Unlike Homer, Theocritus did not engage in heroes and warfare. His idylls are limited to a small intimate world and describe scenes from everyday life.
  • Les infortunes de la vertu, Marquis de Sade, introduction by Jean Paulhan (les editions du point du jour, 1946, "incidences" collection, #908/2000) 5.75" x 7.75", xlii+242pp, softcover "french wraps", good unread condition, many pages remain uncut. This edition appears to represent the original version of Justine that Sade wrote while imprisoned at the Bastille in 1787 (see below). The story is about Justine from age 12 to 26 and recounts all of her attempts to be virtuous no matter what life throws at her. She is constantly presented with sexual lessons hidden under a virtuous mask. She seeks refuge in a monastery but is forced to become a sex slave of the monks. After she helps a gentleman who is robbed in a field, he takes her back to his chateau on the pretext to have her help care for his wife. He confines her in a cave where she is subjected to more punishment. When she goes to a judge to beg for mercy in her case as an arsonist, she then finds herself openly humiliated in court, unable to defend herself. The moral(especially when juxtaposed with the "companion story", Juliette) seems to be that one should not resist a bit of vice if it is for the common good. The more Justine tries to resist temptation and be virtuous the further she was plunged into a life of vice and torture, while Juliette (her sister) submitted to a brief period of debauchery and vice and eventually lived a comfortable, happy existence. The Marquis de Sade wrote the first version of Justine (Les infortunes de la vertu, "The Misfortunes of Virtue") while imprisoned at the Bastille in 1787. In 1791 an expanded and more explicit version became Sade's first published work. In 1797, an even more detailed version was published along with a story of Juliette (Justine's sister) that comprised of 10 volumes and nearly 4000 pages. This final version, "La Nouvelle Justine", departed from the first-person narrative of the previous two versions, and included around 100 engravings. Most editions are taken from that 1797 Holland edition. Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the anonymous author of Justine and Juliette, and as a result Sade was incarcerated for the last 13 years of his life. Napoleon called the work "the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination". English titles: Justine, or the Misfortune(s) of Virtue; The Misfortunes of Virtue; Justine, or Good Conduct Well Chastised; Justine or Good Conduct Will Be Chastised
  • Les métamorphoses ou l'asne d'or de Luce Apulée philosophe platonique, Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (124-170 AD), trans. Jules De Marthold, illust. [21 etchings] Martin van Maele (Charles Carrington, Librairie-Éditeur, 1905, Paris, #88/750) 9.25" X 6.25", xlviii+328pp., original soft wraps protected by glassine wraps, Chapter pieces in orange and black, tail pieces in black, large, decorative first letter of each chapter, frontispiece + 21 full-page b/w engravings with tissue guards and numerous in-text illustrations by Martin van Maele, very good condition for age. The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as "The Golden Ass", is the only Ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The plot Lucius and his curiosity and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins. The date of the original work is uncertain. Scholars are not sure if he wrote it in his youth or at the end of his life. He adapted the story from a Greek story written by Lucius of Patrae, however his original Greek text has long been lost. Maurice François Alfred Martin van Miële (1863-5 - 1926), better known by his pseudonym Martin van Maële, was a French illustrator of early 20th century literature. Though he gained notoriety with his illustration for H. G. Wells in Les Premiers Hommes dans la Lune, and he worked as an illustrator for the Félix Juven's French translations of the Sherlock Holmes series, he is now most widely renowned and mostly remembered for his erotic illustrations. This is a beautiful and rare book in it's original paper wraps.
  • Les métamorphoses ou l’asne d’or de Luce Apulée philosophe platonique, Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (124-170 AD), trans. Jules De Montlyald, preface by Jules de Marthold, illust. [21 etchings] Martin van Maele (Charles Carrington, Librairie-Éditeur, 1905, Paris, #115/750) 6.25" X 9.25", xlviii+328pp, beautifully bound in three-quarter morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and decorations on the spine, top-edge gilt, others uncut, fine condition overall, 21 full-page tipped-in B/W engravings with tissue guards and numerous in-text illustrations by Martin van Meale, red ribbon intact. The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as “The Golden Ass”, is the only Ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The plot Lucius and his curiosity and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins. The date of the original work is uncertain. Scholars are not sure if he wrote it in his youth or at the end of his life. He adapted the story from a Greek story written by Lucius of Patrae, however his original Greek text has long been lost. Maurice François Alfred Martin van Miële (1863-5 – 1926), better known by his pseudonym Martin van Maële, was a French illustrator of early 20th century literature. Though he gained notoriety with his illustration for H. G. Wells in Les Premiers Hommes dans la Lune, and he worked as an illustrator for the Félix Juven’s French translations of the Sherlock Holmes series, he is now most widely renowned and mostly remembered for his erotic illustrations.
  • Les Œuvres Galantes et Amoureuses D'Ovide, contenant l'Art d'Aimer, le Remede d'Amour, les Épitre et les Élégies amoureuses, Nouvelle Édition (Vol 2 only of 2) (A Cythere, Aux Dépens du Loisir, 1774) 5"x8", 204pp, full calf, gilt titles and decorations to spine, 5 raised bands, marbled boards, good+ condition 2nd volume only beautifully bound, this volume contains the Art of Love, the Remedy of Love, the Letters and Elegies in Love, New Edition (Vol 2 only of 2) Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC – AD 17/18), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. He enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, "a poem and a mistake", but his discretion in discussing the causes has resulted in much speculation among scholars. The first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus, Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses, a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology.
  • Let's Make Mary: Being a Gentleman's Guide to Scientific Seduction in Eight Easy Lessons, Jack Hanley, illus. Charles L. McCann (Phoenix Press, New York, 1937) 8.25" X 5.75", xvi+160pp, hard bound orange cloth, good+ condition.
  • compiled by Henry Thomas Buckle [false, most-likely Henry Spencer Ashbee] (Printed for G. Peacock, London, 1777 [actually John Camden Hotten, c. 1872-73]) 8" X 5.25", 7 vol. 67pp 84pp, 106pp, 83pp, 57pp, 54pp, 120pp, original publishers hard binding, 5 raised bands, deckled edges, binding very good, very good condition for age, tears and splits to spines, spines labeled with number #6 is upside down, bumping on corners, slight wear to boards, inner pages clean.
  • Life is Just a Ball of Cherries, (Fab Publishing Co, nd) 19pp., pamphlet, good condition Erotic story with illustrations
  • Life Lines, Arthur S. Gray ("Published in Cleveland, Ohio by the author and friends, Privately by Subscription, 1936") 10 1/8 X 6 3/4, 93pp, hardbound no DJ, deckle edges, good condition, slight soiling to boards The title page reads "Life Lines, a divertisement by and for Arthur S. Gray". Published in Cleveland, Ohio by the author and friends, Privately by Subscription, 1936". The author writes in his preface, "Because this book is a Michelangelo collection of poems and drawings done now and then for my diversion and satisfaction, it is necessary to announce that the pictures are not illustrations. Each drawing is a simple record of some particular and more or less unique quality which caught my attention and incited me to draw. After the prime reason, the urge to make something. I draw the way I do for two reasons: first to preserve the integrity of my powers of observation and reaction; second, to render that respect which is the natural right of an individual entity."
  • Little Annie Rooney, (np. nd.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp., pamphlet, stapled and taped Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Louisville Slugger 125Y, Hillerich & Bradsby Co 33.25", 1.75 wide, tape on handle has been removed. States "Louisville Slugger 25Y, Hillerich & Bradsby Co, Made in the USA, Louisville, KY" "Heartwood" "Official Thin Grip Softball Model 12"
  • Out of stock
    Louisville Slugger Softball Bat 33", 2.5" wide "Louisville Slugger | 1255 | Hillerich & Bradsby | Made in USA | Louisville, KY | Powerized"
  • anonymous (Isidor Liseux, 6, Rue de Furstenberg, Paris, 1928) 5.75" X 4.5", 32pp, softcover, good quality for age, very pornographic photos.
  • Mademoiselle De Maupin – Double Love, Theophile Gautier, illus. Clara Tice (Privately Printed for The Pierre Loüys Society, 1927 #67/1250) 6.5x10, 407pp., black spine over decorated boards, gilt titles and decorations on spine, binding loose but holding. In September 1833, Gautier was solicited to write a historical romance based on the life of French opera star Mlle. Maupin, who was a first-rate swordswoman and often went about disguised as a man. Originally, the story was to be about the historical La Maupin, who set fire to a convent for the love of another woman, but later retired to a convent herself, shortly before dying in her thirties. Gautier instead turned the plot into a simple love triangle between a man, d'Albert, and his mistress, Rosette, who both fall in love with Madelaine de Maupin, who is disguised as a man named Théodore. The message behind Gautier's version of the infamous legend is the fundamental pessimism about the human identity, and perhaps the entire Romantic age. The novel consists of seventeen chapters, most in the form of letters written by d'Albert or Madelaine. Most critics focus on the preface of the novel, which preached about art for art's sake through its dictum that "everything useful is ugly". Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (1811 – 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many subsequent literary traditions such as Parnassianism, Symbolism, Decadence and Modernism. He was widely esteemed by writers as disparate as Balzac, Baudelaire, the Goncourt brothers, Flaubert, Pound, Eliot, James, Proust and Wilde.
  • Mae Givitt presents Pete in "No Help Needed", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Mae West and Will Rogers in "The Sod-Buster", (np. nd.) 3.25" x 6", 16pp. pamphlet, stapled In the style of a "Tijuana bible" but larger and with 16 pages (instead of the traditional 8).  Cover art  and back cover in black and red. Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • anonymous (Hearton Publishing Co., Hartsville, France, nd.) 5.5" X 4", 32pp, softcover, good quality for age, very pornographic photos, stated "Illustrated from Life"
  • Manual of Classical Erotology (De figuris veneris), Fred. Chas. Forberg (stated Julian Smithson M. A., and friends, 1884 [later pirated edition]) 9.25"x6", hardcover 1/4 maroon over marbled boards, xiii-248pp, good condition This is a pirated edition (most likely 1920-30) of the first known English translation of this work.  The original Julian Smithson edition was limited to 100 copies. De figuris Veneris (On the figures of Venus) was an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonio Beccadelli's (1394-1471) Hermaphroditus (commonly referred to as Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus), an erotic poem sequence of 1425 in renaissance Latin, though it was later also published as a separate work. In 1899 Forberg's work was translated into English and published by Charles Carrington as De figuris Veneris, Manual of classical erotology, and again in 1907 by Charles Hirsch, and into French, German and Spanish. The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled Manuel d’érotologie classique. One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions. Most of the editions were restricted to high society or censored; one of the copies edited in France was immediately deposited on the secret shelves of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
  • Manual of Classical Erotology (de figuris Veneris) by Fred. Chas. Forberg, trans. Alcide Bonneau (Privately Printed for Viscount Julian Smithson M. A. and Friends [Charles Carrington], 1884, one of 100 copies) vol. 2 only, half-bound in tan vellum over marbled boards, spine is labeled "Carrington" who is the presumed publisher. Top edge gilt, other edges deckled, binding loose but holding. De figuris Veneris (On the figures of Venus) was an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonio Beccadelli's (1394-1471) Hermaphroditus (commonly referred to as Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus), an erotic poem sequence of 1425 in renaissance Latin, though it was later also published as a separate work. First edition of this important parallel English, Latin and Greek version. This very rare edition was translated by Alcide Bonneau and published by Charles Carrington.  Each page has latin (and where appropriate, Greek) on the right side and the English translation on the left.  This is the second volume only and includes the following chapters: IV. —Of Masturbation V. —Of Cunnilingues VI. —Of Tribads VII. —Of Intercourse with Animals VIII. —Of Spintrian Postures (a list of 95 sexual positions) Considered the gold standard English translation of the time, this edition followed a poor piracy of 1882 badly translated from Liseux’s French edition of 1882. The name of the publisher is missing (most likely to avoid prosecution) and the limitation statement says 100 copies were "printed for Viscount Julian Smithson M. A., the Translator, and his Friends" and further states that "None of these Copies are for Sale" (also to avoid prosecution).  Through later statements (mostly by association) we know it was published by Charles Carrington and translated by Alcide Bonneau. Carrington, in his 1902 catalogue, Forbidden Books wrote (thus promoting the sale of his clandestinely published book): ‘Were I a bookseller, I do not think I should ever take the trouble to print such a book as I have now before me. Here is a Latin work, full of notes, and bristling with Greek quotations. A most careful and masterly translation has been placed opposite every page of the original text, and it needs no literary critic to see that no one but a real classical scholar—an old Oxford man—could ever have successfully struggled with such a task... The two stout volumes have evidently been printed on the Continent—and for very good and valid reasons, as no English printer would dare to undertake such a work,— therefore each page would have to be submitted to the translator, at least three or four times, foreign compositors working mechanically. Many months would thus pass in wearisome proof-reading, and when at last the hundred copies are struck off, and each man receives his due, what margin of profit awaits the silly bookseller-publisher? He is insulted in every way and laughed at if he dares to wonder that the British Customs seize any copies...’ In 1882 Forberg's work was translated into English and published by Charles Carrington as De figuris Veneris, Manual of classical erotology, and again in 1907 by Charles Hirsch, and into French, German and Spanish. The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled Manuel d’érotologie classique. One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions. Most of the editions were restricted to high society or censored; one of the copies edited in France was immediately deposited on the secret shelves of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
  • Manuel D'Érotologie Classique (de figuris Veneris) by Fred. Chas. Forberg, trans. Alcide Bonneau (Imprimé pour René Bonnel, Paris, 1933, #123/500) 6" x 9.25", 223pp, three quarter red leather, gilt titles on spine, 4 raised double bands, near fine condition, ribbon intact, hand-laid Arches paper (identifying watermarks), original paper covers bound in. Rene Bonnel, the publisher of this edition, was one of the foremost publishers of finely printed illegal erotica in the 1930's. This work was openly published and is no exception to the quality of his books. De figuris Veneris (On the figures of Venus) was an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. (I. Of Copulation, II. Of Pederastia, III. Of Irrumation, IV. Of Masturbation, V. Of Cunnilingues, VI. Of Tribads, VII. Of Intercourse with Animals, VIII. Of Spintrian Postures) It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as “Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus”, an erotic poem sequence in renaissance Latin. Forberg later reprinted it as “Manuel D’Érotologie Classique (de figuris Veneris)”. It was translated into English (published by Charles Carrington in 1899 and again by Charles Hirsch in 1907), French and German (one French edition was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril [Paul Avril]). It concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions. In 1899 Forberg's work was translated into English and published by Charles Carrington as De figuris Veneris, Manual of classical erotology, and again in 1907 by Charles Hirsch, and into French, German and Spanish. The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled Manuel d’érotologie classique. One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions. Most of the editions were restricted to high society or censored; one of the copies edited in France was immediately deposited on the secret shelves of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
  • Manuel d'érotologie classique (De figuris veneris). Traduit littéralement du latin par Isidore Liseux et illustré de 20 compositions originales, by Fred. Chas. [translated by d'Alcide Bonneau and not Liseux as noted] (np [Charles Hirsch], Paris, 1906, #106/500 one of 120 printed on Hollande paper) 8.5" X 11.5", viii+167(1)pp, bound in half burgundy morocco over marbled crimson boards, gilt titles and decorations on spine, 5 raised bands, good+ condition, some bumping/rubbing to boards, very famous b&w frontispiece and 19 illustrations by Paul Avril, some soiling/foxing to illustrations, a beautiful and rare book in very good condition. De figuris Veneris (On the figures of Venus) was an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonio Beccadelli's (1394-1471) Hermaphroditus (commonly referred to as Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus), an erotic poem sequence of 1425 in renaissance Latin, though it was later also published as a separate work. Chapters are: I. Of Copulation II. Of Pederastia III. Of Irrumation IV. Of Masturbation V. Of Cunnilingues VI. Of Tribads VII. Of Intercourse with Animals VIII. Of Spintrian Postures In 1882 Forberg's work was translated into English and published by Charles Carrington as De figuris Veneris, Manual of classical erotology, and again in 1907 by Charles Hirsch, and into French, German and Spanish. The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled Manuel d’érotologie classique. One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions. Most of the editions were restricted to high society or censored; one of the copies edited in France was immediately deposited on the secret shelves of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Hirsch's printed 500 copies of this 1906 edition.  20 were on Japan paper, 120 were on Holland paper, 340 were are Arches paper, and 20 were on "anglais" paper.  This is one of 120 on Holland paper.
  • Manuel d'érotologie classique (De figuris veneris). Traduit littéralement du latin par Isidore Liseux et illustré de 20 compositions originales, by Fred. Chas. [translated by d'Alcide Bonneau and not Liseux as noted] (np [Charles Hirsch], Paris, 1906, #106/500 one of 120 printed on Hollande paper) 8.5" X 11.5", viii+167(1)pp, bound in half burgundy morocco over marbled crimson boards, gilt titles and decorations on spine, 5 raised bands, good+ condition, some bumping/rubbing to boards, very famous b&w frontispiece and 19 illustrations by Paul Avril, some soiling/foxing to illustrations, a beautiful and rare book in very good condition. De figuris Veneris (On the figures of Venus) was an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonio Beccadelli's (1394-1471) Hermaphroditus (commonly referred to as Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus), an erotic poem sequence of 1425 in renaissance Latin, though it was later also published as a separate work. Chapters are: I. Of Copulation II. Of Pederastia III. Of Irrumation IV. Of Masturbation V. Of Cunnilingues VI. Of Tribads VII. Of Intercourse with Animals VIII. Of Spintrian Postures In 1882 Forberg's work was translated into English and published by Charles Carrington as De figuris Veneris, Manual of classical erotology, and again in 1907 by Charles Hirsch, and into French, German and Spanish. The French edition by Alcide Bonneau was titled Manuel d’érotologie classique. One French edition of 1906 was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril, which concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions. Most of the editions were restricted to high society or censored; one of the copies edited in France was immediately deposited on the secret shelves of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Hirsch's printed 500 copies of this 1906 edition.  20 were on Japan paper, 120 were on Holland paper, 340 were are Arches paper, and 20 were on "anglais" paper.  This is one of 120 on Holland paper.
  • Mark Twain's [Date, 1601.] Conversation As it was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors, Mark Twain, "With an Illuminating Introduction, Facetions Footnotes and a Bibliography by Franklin J. Meine" (Privately Printed for Lyle Stuart, New York, nd [c. 1939]) 9 1/2" X 6 1/4", 80pp, hardbound no DJ with slipcase, red cloth boards with gilt lettering and decoration, book very good condition, slight soiling on spine, slipcover good condition, faded spine and soiled but intact [Date: 1601.] Conversation, as it was the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors is the title of a humorous work by Mark Twain, first published anonymously in 1880. Edward Wagenknecht once referred to it as "the most famous piece of pornography in American literature." Its content is irreverent and vulgar rather than obscene, and its purpose seems to be comedic shock rather than erotic arousal. It would thus qualify as ribaldry rather than pornography. Twain wrote 1601 during the summer of 1876 (between writing Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn), for the amusement of his closest friend, Reverend Joseph Twichell, 1601 was later first published by another friend, John Hay, who later became Secretary of State. The work circulated among printers (due to it's often archaic type font) and many small batches were printed, however the authorship of the work remained unverified until Twain finally acknowledged he wrote it in 1906.
  • Out of stock
    Marquis de Sade | The Man and His Age | studies in the history of the culture and morals of the eighteenth century, Dr. Iwan Bloch, translated by James Bruce (Julian Press, 1931, [first american edition]) 6 .5"x9.5", 296pp, hardbound, black boards, red and gilt title on spine, some bumps and wear, good condition for age. Iwan Bloch (1872-1922), the “father of sexology”, was a Berlin dermatologist. His many socio-cultural studies in sexology earned him an international reputation as a medical historian. He also discovered de Sade’s manuscript of the “120 days of Sodom” in 1904, which had been believed to be lost. Together with Magnus Hirschfeld and Albert Eulenburg, Bloch proposed the new concept of a science of sexuality: Sexualwissenschaft or sexology. In 1906 he wrote Das Sexualleben unserer Zeit in seinen Beziehungen zur modernen Kultur [The Sexual Life of our Time in its Relations to Modern Civilization], a complete encyclopedia of the sexual sciences in their relation to modern civilization. According to Sigmund Freud, Bloch's studies were instrumental in the development of the anthropological approach to the theory of sexuality. For example, before Bloch, homosexuality was analyzed using a pathological approach.
  • Marriage Ceremonies and Priapic Rites in India and the East, "by a member of the Royal Asiatic Society" (Printed for Private Circulation Only, 1909) 9" X 7.25", 107pp., hardbound, blue cloth boards, gilt and red titles on spine, top edge gilt. Very good condition, binding good hinges good. From forward: "The sentiments of Hindu Sages that follow have been chosen mostly from well-known books. They are instructive in many respects, and pretend to be nothing but a collection of notes made by the author while seeking a solution to his own doubts and difficulties... So this monograph--the subject of which is the one most intimately bound up with the life of every man and woman--will be found useful and interesting, both to the Aryans of the East, and to the Aryans of the West, and further needs no apology for its appearance."
  • Mémoires de Fanny Hill, Femme de Plaisir, John Cleland (Bibliothèque Des Curieux, Paris, 1914) 9" X 5 5/8", 281pp, soft bound, deckle edges, many pages uncut/unread, "decorated with six compositions from the series of engravings by William Hogarth: La Destin_e d'une Courtisane", fair condition, good considering it's age, pages yellow and small rips near spine Written while the author was in debtor's prison in London and first published in 1749, Fanny Hill is considered the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel. One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history, it has become a synonym for obscenity. This book appeared as a part of a series "Les Maitres de l'amour" (The Masters of Love). "With documents about life in London in the eighteenth century, including Life after the gallant Serails of London, Introduction and bibliography by Guillaume Apollinaire"
  • Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure or The Life of Fanny Hill, John Cleland (Hoboken, np, 1929 [Philadelphia?] limited edition #621/700 first edition) 5 3/4 X 8 1/4, 211pp, quarter-bound red cloth over decorated boards, white label affixed to spine, color illustrations (rare) in an “art deco” style in  similar to Aubrey Beardsley [or Elliot Dodd], excellent condition for age. Written while the author was in debtor’s prison in London and first published in 1749, Fanny Hill is considered the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel. One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history, it has become a synonym for obscenity. The Hoboken copies of Fanny Hill are quite rare. This is the first edition original published c. 1929 with color illustrations and is extremely rare. An other edition appeared c. 1932 with the illustrations in black and white. It is unknown who the artist is but the illustrations are quite detailed and good.
  • Memoirs of Cardinal Dubois | translated from the French by Ernest Dowson | with photogravure portraits of Cardinal Dubois and the Duc d'Orleans (Leonard Smithers and Co, London, 1899, First Edition thus, first English translation) 9.75"x6.5", 2 volumes, xvi-282pp, viii-268pp, blue boards with gilt decoration and titles on spine, deckled edges, good condition, bumping to corners, bookplates for Reginald Dalton Pontifex in both volumes. According to the publisher, the original manuscript which was written entirely in Dubois hand was stolen by his secretary Lavergne after his death in 1723. It was later discovered of its literary value that Lavergne attempted to sell the manuscript. He was found and arrested. They later fell into the hands of Comte de Maurepas, then upon his death they were passed on to an anonymous writer named Mercier (possibly M. Paul Laroix) whose family had it published in 1829. The manuscript then became lost. In 1899 and English version of the book translated by Ernest Christopher Dowson, was published by the notorious pornographer, Leonard Smithers & Co.  This is, presumably a reprinting of that translation. Guillaume Dubois (1656-1723), a son of a country doctor, rose from humble beginnings to positions of power and high honor in government and in the Catholic Church. He is best known for negotiating the Triple Alliance of 1717 between France, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain against their mutual enemy, Spain. Considered one of the four great French Cardinal-Ministers (Richelieu, Mazarin, Dubois, and Fleury). His ecclesiastical career left a great deal to be desired. Although there is no proof of the prevalent assertion that he got secretly married, his licentiousness, and notorious impiety, even at the time of his death, make it evident that he pursued and used ecclesiastical dignities principally to enhance his political position and prestige.  Eventually in 1721, Du Bois was created cardinal. He had the reputation of a libertine and adventurer and made plenty of enemies.  One of his rivals was charged at creating his portrait, the Duc de Saint-Simon, who was said to have placed a painting of Dubois in his lavatory.  Saint-Simon had this to say about the Cardinal: "He was a little, pitiful, wizened, herring-gutted man, in a flaxen wig, with a weasel's face, brightened by some intellect. All the vices - perfidy, avarice, debauchery, ambition, flattery - fought within him for the mastery. He was so consummate a liar that, when taken in the fact, he could brazenly deny it. Even his wit and knowledge of the world were spoiled, and his affected gaiety was touched with sadness, by the odour of falsehood which escaped through every pore of his body." This famous picture is certainly biased. Dubois was unscrupulous, but so were his contemporaries, and whatever vices he had, he forged a European peace that, with the exception of small, restrained military expeditions against the Austrian Habsburgs, would last for a quarter of a century. Leonard Smithers (1861-1907), a solicitor born in Sheffield, was one of the most notable publishers of erotica of his day.  He was said to be a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books with the boast: 'I will publish the things the others are afraid to touch'. He was notorious for posting a slogan at his bookshop in Bond Street reading "Smut is cheap today". He developed a friendship with Sir Richard Francis Burton and published Burton's famous translation of the Book of One Thousand and One Nights in 1885.  He also worked with, among others, Aubrey Beardsley, Aleister Crowley, and Oscar Wilde.  With Beardsley and Arthur Symons, he founded The Savoy, a periodical which ran for eight issues in 1896.  Smithers famously partnered with Harry Nichols to publish a series of pornographic books under the Erotika Biblion Society imprint.  When Beardsley, on his death bed, converted to Catholicism and asked Smithers to “destroy all copies of Lysistrata and bad drawings...by all that is holy all obscene drawings.", Smithers, famously and thankfully ignored him and continued to publish his works until his death in 1907.  It was Smithers who published Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life in 1898.  Smithers went bankrupt in 1900 and died impoverished in 1907 from cirrhosis of the liver.  Up until his death he continued to sell reproductions (and forgeries) of Beardsley's work as well as reproductions of the Beardsley's letter asking him to destroy his drawings. Reginald Dalton Pontifex (1857–1951) was born in France, attended Magdalen College at Oxford from 1876–80, getting a Fourth in Law in 1880 and a Third in his BCL in 1882. He later practiced as a barrister. At the time of his death it was said he had quite the book collection containing, several of antiquarian interest. He bequethed his book collection to his alma mater.  Most of his books were printed in the early nineteenth century and many of them extensively illustrated. He died in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England in 1951.
  • Out of stock
    Memoirs of Cardinal Dubois | translated from the French by Ernest Dowson | with photogravure portraits of Cardinal Dubois and the Duc d'Orleans (Leonard Smithers and Co, London, 1899, First Edition thus, first English translation) 9.75"x6.5", 2 volumes, xvi-282pp, viii-268pp, blue boards with gilt decoration and titles on spine, deckled edges, good condition, bumping to corners, bookplates for Reginald Dalton Pontifex in both volumes. According to the publisher, the original manuscript which was written entirely in Dubois hand was stolen by his secretary Lavergne after his death in 1723. It was later discovered of its literary value that Lavergne attempted to sell the manuscript. He was found and arrested. They later fell into the hands of Comte de Maurepas, then upon his death they were passed on to an anonymous writer named Mercier (possibly M. Paul Laroix) whose family had it published in 1829. The manuscript then became lost. In 1899 and English version of the book translated by Ernest Christopher Dowson, was published by the notorious pornographer, Leonard Smithers & Co.  This is, presumably a reprinting of that translation. Guillaume Dubois (1656-1723), a son of a country doctor, rose from humble beginnings to positions of power and high honor in government and in the Catholic Church. He is best known for negotiating the Triple Alliance of 1717 between France, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain against their mutual enemy, Spain. Considered one of the four great French Cardinal-Ministers (Richelieu, Mazarin, Dubois, and Fleury). His ecclesiastical career left a great deal to be desired. Although there is no proof of the prevalent assertion that he got secretly married, his licentiousness, and notorious impiety, even at the time of his death, make it evident that he pursued and used ecclesiastical dignities principally to enhance his political position and prestige.  Eventually in 1721, Du Bois was created cardinal. He had the reputation of a libertine and adventurer and made plenty of enemies.  One of his rivals was charged at creating his portrait, the Duc de Saint-Simon, who was said to have placed a painting of Dubois in his lavatory.  Saint-Simon had this to say about the Cardinal: "He was a little, pitiful, wizened, herring-gutted man, in a flaxen wig, with a weasel's face, brightened by some intellect. All the vices - perfidy, avarice, debauchery, ambition, flattery - fought within him for the mastery. He was so consummate a liar that, when taken in the fact, he could brazenly deny it. Even his wit and knowledge of the world were spoiled, and his affected gaiety was touched with sadness, by the odour of falsehood which escaped through every pore of his body." This famous picture is certainly biased. Dubois was unscrupulous, but so were his contemporaries, and whatever vices he had, he forged a European peace that, with the exception of small, restrained military expeditions against the Austrian Habsburgs, would last for a quarter of a century. Leonard Smithers (1861-1907), a solicitor born in Sheffield, was one of the most notable publishers of erotica of his day.  He was said to be a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books with the boast: 'I will publish the things the others are afraid to touch'. He was notorious for posting a slogan at his bookshop in Bond Street reading "Smut is cheap today". He developed a friendship with Sir Richard Francis Burton and published Burton's famous translation of the Book of One Thousand and One Nights in 1885.  He also worked with, among others, Aubrey Beardsley, Aleister Crowley, and Oscar Wilde.  With Beardsley and Arthur Symons, he founded The Savoy, a periodical which ran for eight issues in 1896.  Smithers famously partnered with Harry Nichols to publish a series of pornographic books under the Erotika Biblion Society imprint.  When Beardsley, on his death bed, converted to Catholicism and asked Smithers to “destroy all copies of Lysistrata and bad drawings...by all that is holy all obscene drawings.", Smithers, famously and thankfully ignored him and continued to publish his works until his death in 1907.  It was Smithers who published Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life in 1898.  Smithers went bankrupt in 1900 and died impoverished in 1907 from cirrhosis of the liver.  Up until his death he continued to sell reproductions (and forgeries) of Beardsley's work as well as reproductions of the Beardsley's letter asking him to destroy his drawings. Reginald Dalton Pontifex (1857–1951) was born in France, attended Magdalen College at Oxford from 1876–80, getting a Fourth in Law in 1880 and a Third in his BCL in 1882. He later practiced as a barrister. At the time of his death it was said he had quite the book collection containing, several of antiquarian interest. He bequethed his book collection to his alma mater.  Most of his books were printed in the early nineteenth century and many of them extensively illustrated. He died in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England in 1951.
  • Memoirs of Cardinal Dubois | A complete unabridged translation from the French by Ernest Dowson | Embellished with photogravure portraits of Cardinal Dubois and the Duc d'Orleans, together with twelve full page drawings by Lui Trugo (Privately Printed for Subscribers [Art Studio Press], New York, 1929, #261/1500) 9.75"x6.5", 2 volumes on hand laid paper, xvi-376pp, viii-349pp, DJ over black cloth with gilt titles and decorations, top-edge inked, others deckled, good+ condition, few small tears to DJ, internally fine. According to the publisher, the original manuscript which was written entirely in Dubois hand was stolen by his secretary Lavergne after his death in 1723. It was later discovered of its literary value that Lavergne attempted to sell the manuscript. He was found and arrested. They later fell into the hands of Comte de Maurepas, then upon his death they were passed on to an anonymous writer named Mercier (possibly M. Paul Laroix) whose family had it published in 1829. The manuscript then became lost. In 1899 and English version of the book translated by Ernest Christopher Dowson, was published by the notorious pornographer, Leonard Smithers & Co.  This is, presumably a reprinting of that translation. Guillaume Dubois (1656-1723), a son of a country doctor, rose from humble beginnings to positions of power and high honor in government and in the Catholic Church. He is best known for negotiating the Triple Alliance of 1717 between France, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain against their mutual enemy, Spain. Considered one of the four great French Cardinal-Ministers (Richelieu, Mazarin, Dubois, and Fleury). His ecclesiastical career left a great deal to be desired. Although there is no proof of the prevalent assertion that he got secretly married, his licentiousness, and notorious impiety, even at the time of his death, make it evident that he pursued and used ecclesiastical dignities principally to enhance his political position and prestige.  Eventually in 1721, Du Bois was created cardinal. He had the reputation of a libertine and adventurer and made plenty of enemies.  One of his rivals was charged at creating his portrait, the Duc de Saint-Simon, who was said to have placed a painting of Dubois in his lavatory.  Saint-Simon had this to say about the Cardinal: "He was a little, pitiful, wizened, herring-gutted man, in a flaxen wig, with a weasel's face, brightened by some intellect. All the vices - perfidy, avarice, debauchery, ambition, flattery - fought within him for the mastery. He was so consummate a liar that, when taken in the fact, he could brazenly deny it. Even his wit and knowledge of the world were spoiled, and his affected gaiety was touched with sadness, by the odour of falsehood which escaped through every pore of his body." This famous picture is certainly biased. Dubois was unscrupulous, but so were his contemporaries, and whatever vices he had, he forged a European peace that, with the exception of small, restrained military expeditions against the Austrian Habsburgs, would last for a quarter of a century.
  • Memoirs of Cardinal Dubois | A complete unabridged translation from the French by Ernest Dowson | Embellished with photogravure portraits of Cardinal Dubois and the Duc d'Orleans, together with twelve full page drawings by Lui Trugo (Privately Printed for Subscribers [Art Studio Press], New York, 1929, #264/1500) 9.75"x6.5", 2 volumes on hand laid paper, xvi-376pp, viii-349pp, black cloth with gilt titles and decorations, top-edge inked, others deckled, good condition bumped corners and a few scuff marks. Two different ex libris Alan K Dolliver bookplates inside front covers of both books. According to the publisher, the original manuscript which was written entirely in Dubois hand was stolen by his secretary Lavergne after his death in 1723. It was later discovered of its literary value that Lavergne attempted to sell the manuscript. He was found and arrested. They later fell into the hands of Comte de Maurepas, then upon his death they were passed on to an anonymous writer named Mercier (possibly M. Paul Laroix) whose family had it published in 1829. The manuscript then became lost. In 1899 and English version of the book translated by Ernest Christopher Dowson, was published by the notorious pornographer, Leonard Smithers & Co.  This is, presumably a reprinting of that translation. Guillaume Dubois (1656-1723), a son of a country doctor, rose from humble beginnings to positions of power and high honor in government and in the Catholic Church. He is best known for negotiating the Triple Alliance of 1717 between France, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain against their mutual enemy, Spain. Considered one of the four great French Cardinal-Ministers (Richelieu, Mazarin, Dubois, and Fleury). His ecclesiastical career left a great deal to be desired. Although there is no proof of the prevalent assertion that he got secretly married, his licentiousness, and notorious impiety, even at the time of his death, make it evident that he pursued and used ecclesiastical dignities principally to enhance his political position and prestige.  Eventually in 1721, Du Bois was created cardinal. He had the reputation of a libertine and adventurer and made plenty of enemies.  One of his rivals was charged at creating his portrait, the Duc de Saint-Simon, who was said to have placed a painting of Dubois in his lavatory.  Saint-Simon had this to say about the Cardinal: "He was a little, pitiful, wizened, herring-gutted man, in a flaxen wig, with a weasel's face, brightened by some intellect. All the vices - perfidy, avarice, debauchery, ambition, flattery - fought within him for the mastery. He was so consummate a liar that, when taken in the fact, he could brazenly deny it. Even his wit and knowledge of the world were spoiled, and his affected gaiety was touched with sadness, by the odour of falsehood which escaped through every pore of his body." This famous picture is certainly biased. Dubois was unscrupulous, but so were his contemporaries, and whatever vices he had, he forged a European peace that, with the exception of small, restrained military expeditions against the Austrian Habsburgs, would last for a quarter of a century.
  • Memoirs of Fanny Hill, John Cleland (Privately Printed, The Kamashastra Society, 1907 [likely pirated copy of the Paris Kamashastra edition, likely clandestinely printed in the US, c. 1920-30s]) 8.75" X 5.75", 287pp, hardbound no DJ, top edge dyed blue, fair condition, binding good, boards are loose but holding. Written while the author was in debtor's prison in London and first published in 1748, Fanny Hill is considered the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel. One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history, it has become a synonym for obscenity. The title page is printed in black with green decorations. The contents mirror the Carrington versions of the book, reformatted and lacking the plates. The title is in black (not black and green as other Kamashastra editions) This leads me to believe that it is a likely US pirate of the Kamashastra (which is, itself a pirate of the Carrington version).
  • Memoirs of Fanny Hill [Memories of Fanny Hill], John Cleland (Published for Bibliophiles, London, 1900 [a facsimile copy, valid publishing date not known]) 7 1/4' X 4 3/4", 312pp, hardbound no DJ, red cloth boards with gilt lettering on front, nothing on spine, red stippled edges, very good condition, binding slightly cocked Written while the author was in debtor's prison in London and first published in 1749, Fanny Hill is considered the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel. One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history, it has become a synonym for obscenity. I have not been able to find mention of this edition anywhere. It is an obvious reprint of a popular 1900 edition published by Charles Carrington. This book is unique in that it does not appear to be rebound yet the front cover reads "Memories of Fanny Hill" (Memories, not Memoires). Is this an attempt at a unique title, a mistake by the publisher/binder? I don't know.
  • Memory Lane, by Charles Hardon (np, Paris, France, nd) 16pp., pamphlet, good condition Erotic story and erotic photos.
  • Merryland, Thomas Stretzer (Privately Issued, New York, Robin Hood House, 1932) 9 3/8" X 6 1/4", 136pp, hardbound no DJ, decorative paper boards with mylar protector, flower design, gilt lettering on spine, very good condition The Merryland books were a somewhat peculiar genre of English seventeenth and eighteenth century erotic fiction in which the female body was described in terms of a topographical metaphor derived from a pun on Maryland. Stretzer's book is typical of the genre in depicting the female body as a landscape that men explore, till, and plow. For example, he writes: "Her valleys are like Eden, her hills like Lebanon, she is a paradise of pleasure and a garden of delight."
  • Merryland, Thomas Stretzer (Privately Issued, New York, Robin Hood House, 1932) 9 3/8" X 6 1/8", 136pp, hardbound no DJ, decorative paper boards, silver gilt lettering on spine, very good condition The Merryland books were a somewhat peculiar genre of English seventeenth and eighteenth century erotic fiction in which the female body was described in terms of a topographical metaphor derived from a pun on Maryland. Stretzer's book is typical of the genre in depicting the female body as a landscape that men explore, till, and plow. For example, he writes: "Her valleys are like Eden, her hills like Lebanon, she is a paradise of pleasure and a garden of delight."
  • Metamorphoseon libri XV cum notis Th. Farnabii, P. Ovid Nasinis,  (Paris, Pierre Esclassan, printed for Joan Blaeu, Amsterdam, 1763) 3.5x5.75, 380pp+2, full leather with gilt decorations, 5 raised bands,gilt titles on spine, marbled boards, very good condition for age, frontispiece presumably engraved by Joan Blaeu, some are fold-outs, text in Latin with numerous notes. Joan [Johannes] Blaeu (1596 - 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of tne noted cartographer Willem Blaeu. Pierre Esclassan (1643?-1718) was a bookseller and printer.  He was born in Garans, Toulouse, France and apprenticed with Claude Thiboust, eventually becoming a partner.  He was imprisoned in 1674-75 for the printing and trade in prohibited books along with his brother and fellow printer Dominique Esclassan and accomplice Louis Prussurot.  He was sentenced to a fine and a 9 banishment but then the same year pardoned by the court.  He continued to work in association with Claude Thiboust and then 1694 Caude’s son, Claude-Louis Thiboust, until his death in 1718. Decorations on the front and back covers say "IESVS MARIA" which could possibly indicate that it is from Congrégation des Religeuses de Jésus-Marie (founded in 1815, in France by Claudina Thévenet) or possibly bound for Francisco de Jesus Maria Sarmento (1713-1790), (author, jurist, theologian) or someone from the Jesus Maria family originally from Coimbra, Portugal.  More research would need to be done to determine the true meaning of the decoration. Ovid (Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō, 43BC – 17/18AD) was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, in 8AD the emperor Augustus banished him to a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. The first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus, Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses, a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology. The Metamorphoses (from Ancient Greek: μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is an 8 AD Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising 11,995 lines, 15 books and over 250 myths, the Metamorphoses is comprehensive in its chronology, recounting the creation of the world to the death of Julius Caesar, which had occurred only a year before Ovid's birth; it has been compared to works of universal history, which became important in the 1st century BC. In spite of its apparently unbroken chronology, scholar Brooks Otis has identified four divisions in the narrative:     Book I – Book II (end, line 875): The Divine Comedy     Book III – Book VI, 400: The Avenging Gods     Book VI, 401 – Book XI (end, line 795): The Pathos of Love     Book XII – Book XV (end, line 879): Rome and the Deified Ruler Ovid works his way through his subject matter, often in an apparently arbitrary fashion, by jumping from one transformation tale to another, sometimes retelling what had come to be seen as central events in the world of Greek mythology and sometimes straying in odd directions. It begins with the ritual "invocation of the muse", and makes use of traditional epithets and circumlocutions. But instead of following and extolling the deeds of a human hero, it leaps from story to story with little connection. The recurring theme, as with nearly all of Ovid's work, is love—be it personal love or love personified in the figure of Amor (Cupid). Indeed, the other Roman gods are repeatedly perplexed, humiliated, and made ridiculous by Amor, an otherwise relatively minor god of the pantheon, who is the closest thing this putative mock-epic has to a hero. Apollo comes in for particular ridicule as Ovid shows how irrational love can confound the god out of reason. The work as a whole inverts the accepted order, elevating humans and human passions while making the gods and their desires and conquests objects of low humor. The Metamorphoses ends with an epilogue (Book XV.871–9), one of only two surviving Latin epics to do so. The ending acts as a declaration that everything except his poetry—even Rome—must give way to change:     Now stands my task accomplished, such a work     As not the wrath of Jove, nor fire nor sword     Nor the devouring ages can destroy. One of the most influential works in Western culture, the Metamorphoses has inspired such authors as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare. Numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in acclaimed works of sculpture, painting, and music.
  • Mickey Finn in "First Aid", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Mon Oncle Barbassou, Mario Uchard, illust. Paul Avril (J. Lemonnyer, Paris, 1884 [#394/1000, one of only 225 printed on Holland Paper]) 10" X 6.5", 311pp., hardbound in 3/4 dark blue morocco leather with gilt titles and decorations on spine with 5 raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt others deckled. First Illustrated Edition with many beautiful engravings by Paul Avril throughout. Some very slight wear to leather and boards, otherwise a very good+ copy overall clean, bright and structurally sound. #394/1000, one of only 275 in Holland Paper. Originally published in 4 parts in 1876, My Uncle Barbassou is a story of a man who inherits his uncle's estate which includes a newly purchased harem of 3 young girls. This novel is a prime example of the French "Orientalists" of the late 1800's. Scandalous for the age, but mild by today's standards, this book is in the original french. This is a beautifully bound copy of the First Illustrated Edition with plates by Paul Avril. Édouard-Henri Avril (1849-1928) used the pseudonym "Paul Avril" for his erotic work. He was a French painter and commercial artist. His career saw collaboration with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee and Friedrich Karl Forberg. He is one of the most celebrated erotic artists of his age. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • Mon Oncle Barbassou, Mario Uchard (Paul Ollendorff, ƒditeur, Paris, 1894, stated "Nouvelle Edition") 7.25" x 4.75", 405pp., hardbound, quarter leather, 4 raised bands on spine, title in gilt on red. Good condition for age, pages yellowing. Originally published in 4 parts in 1876, "Mon Oncle Barbassou" is a story of a man who inherits his uncle's estate which includes a newly purchased harem of 3 young girls. This novel is a prime example of the French "Orientalists" of the late 1800's. Scandalous for the age, but mild by today's standards, this book is in the original french.
  • Moon Mullins, (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Their popularity peaked during the Great Depression era. This book parodies Moon Mullens, a long running comic strip from 1923 - 1991.
  • Moon Mullins in "Treat 'em with Kindness", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Moon Mullins in "Treat 'em with Kindness", (n.p. n.d.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp. pamphlet, stapled Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Mr. Geezil, the "Shoe Cobbler", (np. nd.) 4.5" x 3", 8pp., pamphlet, stapled and taped Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, bluesies, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours) were little pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s.
  • Mrs. Bond, by Queenie ("Published in Paris, France, for the Passion Society of New York City") 8.25" x 5.5", 32pp., pamphlet, good condition
  • Musée Royal de Naples. Peintures, bronzes et statues érotiques du Cabinet Secret, avec leur explication par M. C. F., contenant soixante gravures. (Au cercle du livre précieux, Paris, 1959, #209/2500) 12.25" X 9.25", xxx-152pp, loosely contained by paper wraps in a blue slipcase, good condition, some fading, bumping and peeling to slipcase, interior pages are mint condition. This is a republishing of the 1836 portfolio of the "secret cabinet" erotic works of the Museum of Naples.  It was published privately for circulation among member of "Au cercle du livre précieux" [circle of the precious book] to avoid prosecution for indecency.  There are full-page descriptions of the works and then 60 illustrations on coral colored paper.  The pages are unbound and contained in a slipcase.
  • Musk Hashish and Blood, Hector France, with 22 etching by Paul Avril (Falstaff Press Inc., New York [c. 1930, stated "London and Paris, Printed for Subscribers Only, 1900" but is most likely a facscimile reprint of that 1900 edition by Carrington/Nichols)) 8 1/8" X 5 3/4", 447pp, hardbound no DJ, deckle edges top edge smooth and dyed blue, very good condition, some light soiling to boards In the introduction, the author states, "The Tales here brought together in one Volume are in no sense a work of fancy pure and simple; imagination has played quite a secondary part in their evolution. They are rather what in French we call 'pages vecues' (real-life stories) and indeed for ten long years the Author actually lived tem when wrapped in the scarlet 'burnouse' of a Spahi, he shared in many a wild foray and desert bivouac on the Algerian frontiers." He goes on to say, "A few of the following pages I admit, may possibly shock some prudish souls always ready to be shocked; and I hereby declare at once that my book is not written for the perusal in young ladies' seminaries." Édouard-Henri Avril (1849-1928) used the pseudonym "Paul Avril" for his erotic work. He was a French painter and commercial artist. His career saw collaboration with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee and Friedrich Karl Forberg. He is one of the most celebrated erotic artists of his age. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • Musk, Hashish and Blood, Hector France, illust. Paul Avril, [trans. most likely Alfred Richard Allinson] (Charles Carrington, Paris, 1899) 8.5" X 5.5", xiii 447pp., hardbound, cloth boards with gilt tittles and decorations. Marbled end papers, deckled edges, frontispiece with tissue guard and numerous illustrations throughout. Good condition, binding is cocked but intact. Owner's signature in front, ink stamp in back, and imprint on title page reads "W.H. Bovey, Minneapolis, MN." Hector France (1837 - 1908) was a French author best known for his "orientalist" and flagellation tales. This graphic and exciting picture of the Algerian desert, its tribes and their astounding customs is a sensational recounting of France's experiences in North Africa. France tells the stories of his adventures in the nineteenth century Arab world from an eyewitness view. "The adventures of a modern man among the cruel men and passionate women of Algiers." Édouard-Henri Avril (1849-1928) used the pseudonym "Paul Avril" for his erotic work. He was a French painter and commercial artist. His career saw collaboration with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee and Friedrich Karl Forberg. He is one of the most celebrated erotic artists of his age. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • Musk, Hashish and Blood, Hector France, illust. Paul Avril, [trans. most likely Alfred Richard Allinson] (Walpole Press [identical to the 1899 Charles Carrington edition], London and Paris, 1900) 8.5″ X 5.5″, xiii 447pp., hardbound, green boards with gilt tittles and decorations, top-edge gilt others deckled, frontispiece with tissue guard and numerous illustrations throughout. Good condition, label pasted on the last page states “Charles Carrington, 13, Faubourg Montmartre, 13, Paris. IX.” Hector France (1837 - 1908) was a French author best known for his "orientalist" and flagellation tales. This graphic and exciting picture of the Algerian desert, its tribes and their astounding customs is a sensational recounting of France's experiences in North Africa. France tells the stories of his adventures in the nineteenth century Arab world from an eyewitness view. "The adventures of a modern man among the cruel men and passionate women of Algiers." Édouard-Henri Avril (1849-1928) used the pseudonym "Paul Avril" for his erotic work. He was a French painter and commercial artist. His career saw collaboration with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee and Friedrich Karl Forberg. He is one of the most celebrated erotic artists of his age. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
  • My First Night with a Morman Family, (np, nd, Citidad De Juarez Mexico) 14pp., pamphlet, good condition Erotic story.  
  • My Life and Loves, Frank Harris (Obelisk Press Books, Paris, 1945) 7" X 5.5", 233pp, 302pp, 176pp, 178pp., 4 vols hardbound in one book, red cloth boards, very good condition for age, pages yellowing no titles on spine or boards. Autobiography of the Ireland-born, naturalized-American writer and editor Frank Harris (1856_1931). Published privately by Harris between 1922 and 1927, and by Jack Kahane's Obelisk Press in 1931, the work consisted of four volumes (with a 5th promised but never delivered). The book gives a graphic account of Harris' sexual adventures and relates gossip about the sexual activities of celebrities of his day. Printed on somewhat cheap paper, these volumes are often in rough shape. This book presents the volumes preserved as best as can be expected for their age.
  • My Secret Life, anonymous (Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1966 [first edition thus, first printing]) 9 1/4" X 6 1/4", 2 vol. 1291pp 1069pp [2nd vol. numbered 1291-2359], hardbound with dust jackets (with protector) and slip case, very good condition, very slight sunning on slip case, Ex Libris Robert Kintzler My Secret Life, by "Walter", is the memoir of a Victorian gentleman's sexual development and experiences. Between approximately 1883 and 1895, someone, presumably an Englishman of means, had printed on the Continent an eleven-volume sexual autobiography limited, so he thought, to just six copies. Who the printer or publisher was has not been established with certainty but the most likely possibility is Auguste Brancart, a prolific publisher of erotica who began his career in the early 1880's in Bruxelles and toward the end of the decade moved to Amsterdam. Interestingly, the original title page of My Secret Life has 'Amsterdam. Not for Publication' on it but in the sub rosa world of erotica publishing such indications are to be taken with a pinch of salt. The scarcity of the first edition of My Secret Life has been overstated; it certainly is a rare book. More than six copies, as ordered, were undoubtedly run off. From the number that have reliably been reported to exist, the number appears to have been in the region of twenty to twenty-five sets. Aleister Crowley was supposed to have had one, as well as the silent film comedian Harold Lloyd and Joseph von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich's director and one-time lover. Charles Reginald Dawes, the last great English collector of erotica, had two sets, one of which was destroyed the the British Customs and the other going eventually to the British Library in 1964. Lord Louis Mountbatten's brother, the 2nd marquess of Milford Haven, certainly possessed a copy for it exists currently in a fine London collection and contains his bookplate. There is a copy in Geneva, another in Hamburg and at least two in New York. Two attempts to publish a reprint in the United States in the 1930's failed due to police action. The first, which began about 1932, followed the original edition as to title and imprint and got as far as volume three before the project was shut down. A copy with 100 original water colors by Clara Tice was auctioned by Parke-Bernet at New York in 1971. A second attempt took place about two years later, with a single volume called Marital Frolics (London [New York or Philadelphia]: For Distribution by Subscription Only [c. 1934]). This constituted an abridgment of volume 5, and was illustrated with ten plates by 'Malay.' A copy was likewise auctioned by Parke-Bernet in the same sale. The Grove Press reprint of 1966 is the first complete edition to be openly available. It was prepared from an eleven-volume typescript made directly from the copy in Hamburg referred to above. All subsequent reprints stem, legally or otherwise, from this. Gershon Legman's Introduction to the Grove Press reprint is a mine of fascinating information, and includes a closely argued case for My Secret Life having been written by Henry Spencer Ashbee, the famous Victorian bibliographer and collector of erotica. The present compiler is unable to share this view, but thinks it likely that Ashbee was involved in seeing it through the press on behalf of somebody else. This book is often wrongly attributed to Frank Harris, through confusion with My Life and Loves, which is a similar (although not as explicit) account of Harris' life. A number of reprints followed the Grove Press edition, including one published by Brandon House of North Hollywood and Pendulum Books of Atlanta, Georgia and a complete French translation.
  • My Uncle Barbassou, Mario Uchard, Paul Avril (illust.) (Vizetelly & Co., London, 1888) 10.25" X 6.5", 339pp., hardbound, blue cloth boards with gilt and black titles and decorations on spine and front cover. Deckled edges. Good condition for age, boards and binding sound, illustrations throughout. Originally published in 4 parts in 1876, "Mon Oncle Barbassou" is a story of a man who inherits his uncle's estate which includes a newly purchased harem of 3 young girls. This novel is a prime example of the French "Orientalists" of the late 1800's. Scandalous for the age, but mild by today's standards, this book is the first English translation. The first English translation from the "Mon Oncle Barbassou" published in 1877. 40 beautiful engravings by Paul Avril. Édouard-Henri Avril (1849-1928) used the pseudonym "Paul Avril" for his erotic work. He was a French painter and commercial artist. His career saw collaboration with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee and Friedrich Karl Forberg. He is one of the most celebrated erotic artists of his age. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art. He was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
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