Errotika Biblion

First edition.
Bound with Reymond, La Bataille d'Austerlitz, poème dramatique en cinq actes, Riom, 1806; [Huvier des Fontenelles], La Targétade, comédie un peu burlesque parodie d'Athalie de Racine de Racine, [1791]; [de Bonnay], La Prise des Annonciades, n.p., n.d.; Abbé de Vermond, La Cour plénière, Héroï-tragi-comédie, Paris, 1788; Aymé, Déportation et naufrage de J.J. Aymé, Paris, n.d.; Jourgniac de Saint-Médard, Mon agonie de trente-huit heures, Paris, [1806].
Contemporary beige half calf binding, ochre paper boards, smooth spine, deep green morocco title-piece, gilt title, gilt stamped motifs. Some chafing to the boards, scattered foxing. A few brown spots on the title page of La Prise des annonciades.
Illustrated with a vignette on the title page of Errotika. 
Collection written by Mirabeau imprisoned in Vincennes at the same time as the Marquis de Sade. Various curiosities are culled from ancient writings relating to sexual practices such as onanism, tribalism, sodomy, nymphomania, etc. : "The author, in addition to the talent of perfectly mastering ancient languages, writes very well in his own, joking lightly and often drawing on Voltaire's style: in the very dirty pictures he sometimes presents, he always uses honest or technical expressions: besides, he seems well versed in the art of voluptuousness" (contemporary 18th century review, quoted in Gay-Lem. II, 151). According to the legend, the book was relentlessly censored by the authorities and only fourteen copies of the first edition had survived - an estimate which seems to be quite inaccurate. After a second edition in 1792, the book was prohibited and included in the papal index. Another edition was destroyed in 1826 by the Royal Court of Paris, and two further prosecutions were brought in 1856 and 1868 for "outrage à la morale publique et aux bonnes mœurs". The text was notably published by Guillaume Apollinaire, along with other writings by Mirabeau, in his 1910 edition, in the Bibliothèque des Curieux series.