Rare and precious editions in gallant and erotic literature, libertine works, risqué illustrations

Sixth edition, with a photograph of three women reading, mounted as frontispiece.

Bradel binding in brown half cloth with corners, signed Carayon, sides in French curl paper, black morocco title label to spine, fleuron, gilt rules, wrapper preserved. Very slight rubbing to the binding, soiled wrapper, light waterstaining to the first leaves, some foxing.

New edition.

Spine lightly toned.

Work illustrated with photomontages by Val Telberg.

Inscribed by Anaï Nin to her friend, the writer Christiane Baroche : "Christiane Baroche whose dreams are strong and have roots and bear fruit. Anaïs Nin."

Autograph letter signed from Georges Bataille to Denise Rollin, 40 lines in black ink, two pages on one leaf.

George Bataille and Denise Rollin's relationship lasted from the autumn of 1939 to the autumn of 1943 and left behind it a short but passionate correspondence. This letter dates from the early days of their connection, but already reveals Bataille's agonies: “Perhaps I was too happy with you for some months, even though suffering did not wait long to interrupt, at least for a time, a happiness that was almost a challenge.”
A passionate lover, Bataille moved from exultation to the deepest doubt and even offered his lover a potential way out of...

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on Popset Whisky paper, the deluxe issue.

A fine copy.

Autograph letter signed by Paul Verlaine to Anatole Baju, one page in ink on a watermarked leaf. Two small discreet adhesive reinforcements to verso. Published in Correspondance Verlaine, vol. III, CDLIII, p. 26–27.

An important letter by Verlaine, the most Decadent of poets, to the editor-in-chief of the journal Le Décadent, which published many of his poems. The poet announces the forthcoming release of a collection entitled Amis, a provocative allusion to the scandalous sapphic poems he had privately printed in 1867 under the title Amies.

First edition, one of 300 numbered copies signed and justified by Frans de Geetere, reserved for the friends of La Marie-Jeanne, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.
As stated in the limitation, our copy is complete with a manuscript leaf from the work and an original drawing by the author depicting two reclining nude women, signed by him.
A desirable copy, complete with its rare promotional wraparound band: "le livre qu'aucun éditeur n'a osé publier".

First edition clandestinely printed in 175 copies on laid paper, each individually numbered.
 
Bound in full mint green morocco, spine with five raised bands framed by black fillets, subtle restoration to spine colour, date gilt at foot, endpapers and pastedowns of combed paper, gilt fillet border on pastedowns, original wrappers and spine preserved, all edges gilt, chemise edged in mint green morocco, covers of cat's eye paper, white felt interior, an elegant binding signed by Alix.
 
A very rare and handsome copy bound by one of the most distinguished binders of the second half of the twentieth century.

 

Accordion-fold album (orihon) containing twelve large paintings on silk, each measuring 24 x 34.5 cm, depicting couples entwined in carnal intimacy. Each scene is skilfully framed by elements of domestic architecture - screens, sliding partitions, windows - which make the interior itself the theatre of the gaze, in a staging of voyeuristic revelation characteristic of Japanese erotic art. The silks are loosely mounted within movable paper frames.

Boards covered in patterned green silk; label on the upper board no longer present. Fabric faded, a few perforations, traces of dampstaining to the lower part of the upper board, small losses at the edges, splitting at the joint...

Autograph letter from Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, written in a tall, narrow hand on one page, addressed to his wife Renée-Pélagie.
Undated, this letter was written in early July 1779 at the Vincennes prison. It is published in Marquis de Sade. Lettres à sa femme, Marc Buffat, 1997 (p. 112).

Marginal dampstaining, a few creases, and a small marginal loss from the letter's unsealing. Address to Madame de Sade in Paris on the verso.

Suite of eleven original woodcuts by Albert Gleizes, printed in red on Japon paper, created to accompany the deluxe issue limited to thirty copies on Japon of Au pays du mufle by Tailhade.

First edition, one of 50 numbered copies on ivory laid edition paper, the only deluxe-paper copies.

A rare and fine copy.

Signed autograph inscription from Eric Jourdan to a friend named Guy: "... ce livre qui vient de loin presque à des années lumières, mais que j'accepte tel qu'il est. En signe d'amitié de toujours. éric 19 février 1996."

First edition on ordinary paper.

Publisher's full black cloth, smooth spine, black endpapers and pastedowns.

Illustrated with 100 photographs by Pierre Molinier, with text by Pierre Bourgeade.

A very good copy.

New edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Dutch laid paper, the only deluxe-paper copies.

A very good copy.

New edition.

Illustrated with engravings by Jean Hugo.

A pleasing copy.

Inscribed and signed by Anaïs Nin to the writer Christiane Baroche.

First edition, one of 85 numbered copies and 3 hors commerce copies, ours one of the 70 on B.F.K. de Rives paper.

A fine copy complete with its chemise and slipcase in full black cloth, spine of the chemise slightly faded, a small tear at the foot of the lower panel of the slipcase.

Illustrated with 19 original photographs signed in pencil by Henri Maccheroni.

First edition. One of 10 copies on vélin de Lana (lettered G, around which Genet has signed in blue ink), signed by Genet at the limitation page, most limited deluxe issue, except for a unique copy. Complete with the loose leaf beginning with “Une brusque lassitude...”. With an autograph letter signed by Jean Genet, on one page with customary fold marks from mailing, published in Edmund White, Jean Genet, pp. 260-261.

Illustrated with 29 erotic lithographs by Jean Cocteau, and an original pencil drawing by Cocteau, as well as a suite of the illustrations...

Bronze cast of the Marquis de Sade’s skull by the master founder Avangini. One of a unique numbered edition of 99 bearing a reproduction of Sade’s signature, this one No. 30.

Also included is a certificate of authenticity signed by the Comtesse de Sade, with the family’s wax seal.

Provenance: family archives.

Fourth edition.

A pleasing copy.

Introduction by Harry T. Moore.

Presentation inscription signed by Anaïs Nin to the writer Christiane Baroche: "my friend love, Lawrence and i was the first woman i write abour him. Anaïs Nin."

New edition.

Illustrated with engravings by Jean Hugo.

A pleasing copy.

Fine signed autograph inscription from Anaïs Nin to the woman of letters Christiane Baroche: "Your poems should be in a book one can keep nearly and read now and then for substance. Anaïs Nin."

One of the first collected editions of these seven comic novellas, initially printed separately, by the Sieur de Préfontaine, regarded as a first-rate author by Charles Louandre: "without seeking to diminish in any way the merit of Boileau, without disputing his title as legislator of taste, one may say that Charles Sorel, Furetière, Préfontaine, [...] contributed alongside him and before him to cleansing the French Parnassus."

The first edition of one of the short stories contained in this volume...

Edition illustrated with 12 original colour watercolours by Gerda Wegener, printed hors texte, one of 400 numbered copies on Arches laid paper.

Spine and boards faintly sunned at the margins, otherwise a pleasing copy.

First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on vélin teinté de rives, the only issue following 40 copies on vélin blanc d'Arches, with an additional suite of the illustrations.

A fine copy.

Illustrated with three etchings by Alberto Giacometti.

Postcard-format reproduction of a photograph by David Hamilton depicting a nude woman seen from behind, gazing at herself in a mirror.

Signed by David Hamilton in black felt-tip pen at the lower right corner of the card.

A handsome copy.

Provenance: from the collection of the noted autograph collector Claude Armand.

First edition printed in 300 numbered copies on pure rag vellum from the marais, ours being one of the 246 containing illustrations in the text.
Work illustrated with 18 unsigned drypoints in the text by Fernand Hertenberger.
Boards uniformly and lightly sunned.
Rare and handsome copy.

Japan, circa 1900. Erotic emakimono composed of twelve original paintings on silk, mounted continuously in a scroll covered with silk patterned with gilt brocade and bordered with gilt edging. The outer margins are of printed silk, while the paintings are laid onto a paler silk ground decorated with cloud motifs, the whole mounted on paper. A few small spots and light stains to the silk. Each painting measures 18 x 23.5 cm; complete scroll: 24.5 x 380 cm. In very good overall condition.

The series comprises twelve scenes, a number traditionally associated with painted shunga scrolls. Here...

Painted handscroll, or makimono, comprising twelve paintings on silk with a transparent ground, mounted end to end to form a long continuous strip measuring 840 cm - that is, twelve panels of 70 x 14 cm - laid down on paper and edged with gold along its slips. When fully unrolled, the supporting paper strip measures 869 cm. Scroll mounted on a wooden rod and preserved in its original green silk wrapper. Some foxing and localised staining affect certain panels, without impairing the harmony of the whole, which remains in satisfactory condition.

Unsigned, this scroll is stylistically related to the circle of Miyagawa Shuntei (1873-1914), a painter and illustrator trained...

First edition, one of 20 copies on Arches paper, most limited deluxe issue (tirage de tête).
Like all copies on Arches, it is wrapped in a double dust jacket in yellow and white, and bears the rare sanguine vignette drawn and engraved by Hans Bellmer.
Preface by Jean Paulhan.

Our copy is housed in a custom clamshell box featuring an original design signed by Julie Nadot.

Beautiful first edition copy of this masterpiece of erotic literature, in its most limited deluxe issue.

A group of seven original erotic paintings on silk, four attributed to Tomioka Eisen (1864 - 1905) and three to his pupil Miyagawa Shuntei (1873 - 1914), executed during the closing years of the Meiji era, probably between 1895 and 1905.

The four compositions attributed to Eisen are laid down on their original mica-flecked paper boards; the three paintings attributed to Shuntei, executed on a lighter, undyed silk, remain unmounted.

Unique album comprising ten original polychrome paintings on beige silk, laid down on gilt paper, with gilt and embossed floral endpapers. The final painting bears two red seals. Albums of this nature are almost invariably anonymous, making the presence of such seals - possibly identifying either the artist or the workshop - particularly unusual. Each composition occupies a square of silk measuring 16.8 × 16.8 cm. With the exception of three scenes incorporating a hanging curtain or folding screen, the compositions are devoid of background, focusing entirely on the figures, rendered with refined, highly stylised...

Illustrated edition with twelve original etchings by Édouard Chimot, issued in a limited edition of 576 numbered copies. The present copy, no. 111, is one of 100 printed on tinted Van Gelder Holland wove paper, accompanied by the usual double suite of the etchings in colour and in black.

It is further enriched with an original signed drawing by Édouard Chimot and an exceptional quadruple suite, on Japan paper, of eight of the etchings illustrating the work: the unreduced line engraving, the...

Concertina album comprising five paintings in colour on ochre silk, mounted on card and framed with beige silk. Bound in blue brocaded silk with Chinese motifs, with a blank gold-flecked buff title label. Both paintings and binding retain notable freshness in the areas documented by the photographs.

The first page bears a four-character manuscript title, 趣味無止, freely rendered as “Pleasure Without End”. Beside it is a partially legible vertical inscription, 汴江陸[...], followed by a red seal and a final...

First edition of this aquatint, printed on laid paper with wide margins. Félicien Rops' characteristic signature is present below the plate in red.
Plate mark dimensions: 18.7x13.9cm. Sheet dimensions: 46x35.2cm
Tense face of a young professor bound by the tongue to the lower body of another figure with strong legs and arms. The latter is visible only from behind and seems to be breaking free from the grip of two strange tentacles emerging from the bulb from which the professor's head protrudes. These surround the main action and create an impression of movement.
Fourteen busts of highly expressive figures, all different from one another, form a circle around...

China, probably 19th century, undated. An album of twelve erotic paintings in ink and colour on paper, each mounted on silk and depicting a couple in an amorous scene, either in a domestic interior or in a garden or outdoor setting. Each painting measures 16 x 19.2 cm.

Accordion-fold album, 19 x 25.4 cm, the boards covered in green silk patterned with polychrome crosses over a diamond lattice, the endpapers in figured cream silk. Small losses of fabric along the edges of the boards, two further small losses to the rear board, and one fold of the accordion partly split. The twelve paintings retain a remarkable freshness of colour.

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...

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...

First edition, one of 480 numbered copies on laid paper, only grands papiers (deluxe) copies besides 20 Arches and 100 service de presse (advance) copies on laid paper.
Our copy is complete with the rare vignette etching drawn and engraved by Hans Bellmer printed 'en sanguine' present in only around 200 copies.
Preface by Jean Paulhan.
Spine very lightly faded.
A beautiful copy of this masterpiece of erotic literature.