Manuel d’érotologie classique (De figuris veneris). Traduit littéralement du latin par Isidore Liseux et illustré de 20 compositions originales

Description

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.