La Génération de l’ Homme ou Tableau de l’ Amour Conjugal, considéré dans l’état du mariage, tome premier (Copy)

Description

La Génération de l’ Homme ou Tableau de l’ Amour Conjugal, considéré dans l’état du mariage, Nicolas Venette (np London, 1768, “Nouvelle Édition”)
6.25″x3.75″, 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.