Eroticism

Amis que je vous raconte / La vie triste et pleine de honte / D'un horrible mécréant / Qui mourut voici cent ans / Doué d'une nature immonde / Du jour où il vint au monde / Il souffrit de priapisme / On lui mit un sinapisme / Pour lui calmer ses ardeurs

An album containing 14 gouaches on silk, including 12 erotic paintings. The first painting on each side of the folding shows a bird and on the other side maple leaves, thus masking on each of the first pages the erotic aspect of the collection. Shunga is the generic Japanese term that designates erotic art, it literally means Spring Image, spring being a euphemism and figure of style expressing sexuality. The term Shunga having been reserved for a long time for prints, collections or albums have often been designated by the appellation Pillow Books, or notes for the pillow, etc. (Utamaro: The Song of the Pillow, 1788).
Japanese accordion album covered with damask silk with flowers and birds in pale gold. Silk band on the first cover serving as a label but mute. Each painting 12.8x16cm is mounted on cardboard. The cardboard folding sections are covered with cream paper speckled with gold. Very fine condition, edges rubbed, with small lacks to fabric.
The paintings respect the canons of Japanese erotic representation: oversized genitals, body hair, women with white skin and men of flesh color. No decorative element comes to distract the eye from the sexual act (only one painting contains a mirror), the bodies being most of the time clothed in rich kimonos. These collections were still in the modern era offered to newlyweds, particularly to women. The whole is of fine workmanship, the 2 introductory paintings, the bird and the maple leaves are particularly successful.
This type of representation was forbidden in Japan and therefore contains no signature, it is however evident that there existed painters whose profession and specialty this was and whom one went to see for private commissions; it is also not forbidden to think that the painter made several on his own initiative and that he offered them for sale, as was done with collections of colored photographs at the end of the 19th century.
Precious and rare ensemble in superb condition.

First edition, one of 50 copies printed anonymously on papier japon.
First edition, one of 50 copies printed anonymously on papier japon.
Illustrated with an erotic frontispiece by Félicien Rops on chine.
Custom chemise and slipcase in half morocco and paper boards signed Boichot, some discreet restorations to the spine and covers, some discreet restorations to the top margin of the frontispiece, not affecting the engraving.
“La Présidente”, honorary nickname given to Apollonie Sabatier (alias Aglaëe Savatier, her real name), was one of the most captivating Salon hostesses of the 19th century. She inspired an ethereal love in Baudelaire who composed his most mystical poems in Les Fleurs du Mal in her honor. The other artists who frequented the apartment on Rue Frochot, during her famous Sunday dinners, had more licentious feelings for this woman of surprising wit and beauty. The sculptor Clésinger portrayed her in his lascivious “woman stung by a snake”; Flaubert wrote sensual letters to her ending with “the very sincere affection of one who, alas, only kisses your hand”; she has long since been recognized as the model for Gustave Courbet's scandalous The Origin of the World.
Gautier sent her this letter in 1850. Sabatier made copies which she never published but privately distributed to her guests:
“In October 1850, Gautier sent her [this] very long letter, farcical and obscene, from Rome, commenting with Rabelaisian exaggeration what himself and his friend Cormenin had learned regarding sexuality during their travels. Gautier knew that his freedom of expression would not offend Madame Sabatier. He had long since accustomed her to it and he prided himself on his “smut” to brighten up the friendly social gatherings of the Rue Frochot.” (Dictionnaire des œuvres érotiques)
Honored indeed by this priapic attention, ‘La Présidente' gave copies to all her guests and the reading of Gautier's “indecent prose” became a popular event at Parisian soirées. However, the letter was ultimately published – luxuriously but confidentially – after the recipient's death in 1890.
After this first edition of 50 copies on papier japon, a second edition on papier vélin followed a few months later with a larger print run and without the Rops frontispiece.
A rare, beautiful and very sought after copy.

Erotic manuscript consisting of two beveled wooden boards with two paintings and 10 leaves with a painting on the recto and a handwritten Tibetan text on the recto. The text is the same on the 10 leaves, it is a mantra. On two of the leaves it is almost completely erased. On the recto of the two wooden boards there are also two different handwritten mantras. The paintings are executed directly on the wood and the leaves. The dimensions of the paintings vary somewhat, from 5.5 cm, 6 cm to 12, 14 cm in width.
This form, 2 pieces of wood with leaves in the middle, is traditional. The whole was often attached by a string, or by holes in the wood through which a string was passed. Very good condition overall, with small stains on the paintings on wood.
The paintings unfold 12 sexual positions in an abstract and geometric environment, composed of curves. In several paintings the colors of the background, of the ground change. The woman systematically wears a crown. It is easy to distinguish the religious or sacred character of sexuality in these images. The colors used are vivid, with an omnipresence of orange, golden and white strokes, yellow...

First edition. Half-titles and title pages in red and black.

Contemporary binding in full marbled blonde sheep. Smooth spine decorated with four compartmentalized fleurons. Red morocco title-label. Triple fillet frame on boards. Red edges. A lack to the lower joint extending onto the spine. Rubbing to headcaps, joints and corners.
Armorial copy with unidentified arms at tail, argent, a chevron gules accompanied by three stars.
Good copy.

Pastiche of a Greek novel attributed by the author to Philidor, philosopher, who supposedly wrote it during his journey to Egypt. Story of the thwarted pastoral loves of Alzidor and Charizée who were raised together, the beauty disappearing when the shepherd discovers her naked. The whole is tinged with eroticism. One would have difficulty counting, at this period, the quantity of Greco-Latin novels that were written on the model of Daphnis and Chloe or the Aethiopica, it was a literary fashion to which numerous writers succumbed for the satisfaction of the public.
Engraved bookplate of Henri Pichot, President of Veterans during the interwar period.