Untouched by binders: Humor & Pleasure in wrappers - GWC Books
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Gerald W. Cloud
Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives
1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
Untouched by binders: Humor & Pleasure in wrappers
IN THIS CATALOG we offer 16 French books mostly from the 18th century (1703-1806), all bound in
original wrappers, nearly all of which have untrimmed edges, and some with their pages uncut—the latter
suggesting that, if the books were not read, it may be the sign that the copies have been jealously guarded by
bibliophiles. The 16 titles presented here share the same subject matter: curiosa, works that morality
sometimes frowns upon. These are not politically subversive books, but rather light if not libertine narratives
that may flush your cheeks; amorous verse from the ancients, lascivious tales from the moderns, books sold
under the counter, what Robert Darnton qualified as “forbidden bestsellers.” The amusingly esoteric nature
of many of these volumes made them a natural attraction for book collectors; the selection here offers
testimony to the genre as well as documentation of the physical artifacts of book production, and book
collecting.
Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
From left to right: No. 13, 15, 14, 5, and 4.
Left to right: no. 8, 6, 12, 1, and 3.
Left to right: no. 10, 7, 9, 11, and 16.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
1. [DUVERNET, Théophile Imarigeon, abbé]. La Retraite,
les tentations et les confessions de Madame la Marquise de
Montcornillon. Histoire morale, Dans laquelle on voit
comment une jeune veuve devint malheureuse par les conseils
de son confesseur; & comment pour la délivrer de ses
malheurs, un jeune Colonel de Hussards se fit hermite &
prophete. Ouvrage posthume De feu M. de S. Leu, Colonel au
service de Pologne.
s.n., s.l.: 1790.
8°: a8 A-E8 F4 [$3 (-a1, F2,3) signed]; [i-iii] iv-xvi], [1] 2-87 [1]
pp., engraved frontispiece. Contemporary paste-paper wrappers,
pages untrimmed, some even tanning, near fine. A rare title.
$1200
A Voltairean priest mocks the devout
In the text, a young widow withdrawn from the world on the
advice of her confessor, fails to recover her health and joie de vivre
until she leaves her devout retreat; an allegorical tale in keeping
with the author’s philosophical views. The preface presents the
story as the posthumous work of a young officer, who was
disappointed in public affairs and ended his own life—but is in fact
the work of Father Duvernet (1734-1796), a committed libertine
writer.
Duvernet, a Voltairean acolyte, as well as his first biographer, was tutor to the
Count of Saint-Simon, and a friend of the Encyclopédistes. He was sent to the
Bastille for a pamphlet in which he attacked prominent personalities, notably
the Count of Maurepas. Duvernet’s writings—including the present title—
appearing in 1789 and 1790, are works that “stir up mischief as a vehicle for
Voltaire's anti-religious ideas.” (Angelet and Herman, Recueil de préfaces de
romans du XVIIIe siècle, II, p. 353).
(Cohen, Guide de l'amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 342.-
Galitzin, Collection de livres et objets curieux et rares concernant l'amour, les
femmes et le mariage, 493.- Laporte, Bibliographie clérico-galante, p. 71.- Pia,
Les Livres de l'Enfer, 330-331 et 661.)
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
2. SIEUR BÉLIER, sergent de la Garde-
nationale de Versailles. La culote, chanson
érotique, sur différens sujets, et
singulièrement sur la Révolution françoise.
Chez Giradin, au Cloube Litteraire, Jardin de
Palais-Royal, Paris: [1790?].
8°: π1 A-B4 C2 x1 [$2 (-C2) signed]. Frontis.,
[2], [1] 2-22 pp.; Contemporary wrappers,
stab sewn, pages untrimmed, minor faint
spotting to outer leaves, otherwise near fine.
Erotic poems on different subjects, especially
the French Revolution.
SOLD
Satirical, humorous, and lightly erotic chansons composed of 8-line stanzas drawing on Greco-Latin
mythology in the first section, and the French Revolution in the second section, with stanzas on the King, the
French guards, the High Clergy, the Assembly National, Versailles, etc. Each verse concludes with a couplet
involving an infamous pair of culotes. The Parisian revolutionaries were nicknamed the “sans culottes” – and
popular songs played a major role in the Revolution. Some became emblematic of the 1789 Tabula rasa, such as:
“Ah ça ira ça ira, les aristocrats à la lanterne!” [Roughly translated as, here we go, here we go, the aristocrats to
the lamp post, i.e., lynch them.]
3. [PETIT-RADEL, Philippe]. Erotopsie, ou Coup-d'oeil sur la poésie érotique et les poètes grecs et
latins qui se sont distingués en ce genre, ouvrage pouvant faire suite à celui du Dr Petit-Radel intitulé:
"De Amoribus Pancharitis et Zoroae".
C.-F. Patris, Paris: 1802.
8°: π4 1-138 [$2 signed]; [8], [1] 2-206 pp. Contemporary printed wrappers, pages untrimmed, original
condition, wrappers lightly soiled, and chipped at the edges, and the tail, otherwise near fine. Some pencil
notes from an early reader in the margins at the front of the book. Authorship attributed to the physician and
writer Philippe Petit-Radel (1749-1815), by Barbier.
$500
First edition. The volume discusses erotic Greek and
Latin poetry and the features that distinguish the genre, a
follow up to the author’s De Amoribus Pancharitis et
Zoroae, first published in 1796, and reprinted several
times. A fascinating list of works available from Dr. Petit-
Radel is included at the end of the volume, featuring
mostly medical texts related to venereal diseases,
gynecology, lactation, and other health related topics. The
front cover bears the statement “Printed by Paul
Renouard, Rue Garencière, n. 5,” while what appears to be
English language printers’ waste is visible through the back
cover.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
4. [La Morlière, Jacques Rochette de]. Les lauriers ecclésiastiques, ou Campagnes de l'abbé T***.
De l'imprimerie du clergé, Luxuropolis: 1777.
18°: A-P6 [$3 signed]; [1-2] 3-180 pp.; Original patterned paper wrappers backed with printer's waste, all
edges untrimmed, many bolts unopened. Lovely near fine gem, tiny trace of worming on the patterned paper
front wrapper, some faint soiling. (19). Rare: OCLC lists 3 copies of this “nouvelle édition.”
SOLD
The copy is preserved in a fine and charming patterned paper wrapper produced in the city of Orléans,
presumably by Letourmi.
This Forbidden Best-Seller of Pre-Revolutionary France (cf. Darnton, p. 64) was originally published in 1747
under the title, Campagnes de l'abbé T., ou Les lauriers ecclésiastiques. The eponymous abbé T. appears in
this soft-core libertine tale cast in the same vein as the more well known Thérèse Philosophe (1748), in which
the same abbé T. appears as a character. The author, Jacques Rochette de La Morlière (1719-1785), was a
playwright and frequenter of the Café Procope, and Marie Anne Doublet’s salon. He was also a bit of a
schemer who miscalculated his influence in the theatre world, leading to his eventual downfall. The book is
also mentioned by Edmond de Goncourt in La maison d'un artiste (Paris: 1898, vol. 2, p. 5-6) as a classic
example of the 18th century Novel of Manners, "a voluptuous and mischievous tale by a little dandy..." Cf.
also: Gay 2.781.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
5. [LUCHET ? (Jean-Pierre-Louis de La Roche du Maine, marquis
de)]. La femme vertueuse, ou le débauché converti par l'amour: lettres
publiées pour l'instruction de quelques sociétés. Dans le genre des
liaisons dangereuses.
Chez Lefevre, Libraire, rue de l'ancienne comédie françoise. Amsterdam; &
se trouve à Paris: 1788.
2 vols. 18°: (vol. 1) π2 a8 A-H12/6 I4 [$6/3 signed]; [4], 1-16, [1] 2-151 [1]
pp.; (vol. 2) π2 A-O12/6 P6 [$6/3 (-C6, H3) signed]; [4], [1] 2-262 [2] pp.
SOLD
Original blue paper wrappers backed with printer’s waste, vol. 1 with
mss spine label, volumes protected in glassine, pages untrimmed, and
remarkably well preserved in their original state.
An uncommon book; OCLC suggests that both the 1787 and the
1788 imprints are equally rare (about half a dozen holdings for each).
A gentleman “devoted to the cult of pleasure,” the Marquis d'Alozan, snatches the beautiful Countess of
Ozanbrun from the hands of brigands, with whom he falls in love. Not only does the latter resist him, but
Alozan is subjected to mockery from the Chevalier de Marmeuil, his former companion in debauchery: will
the debauché be converted by the love of a virtuous woman, as the title suggests?
The work is epistolary in form: 58 letters that date from June 22, 178* to May 28 of the following year, the
novel is part of the tradition of the debauchery of manners of the Age of Enlightenment, illustrated by Les
Égarements du cœur et de esprit by Crébillon fils, and in the lineage of La Nouvelle Héloïse, which is cited in
the epigraph, and of course, Laclos' extremely popular work.
“Published in 1787, five years after Les Liaisons Dangereuses, to which the author alludes in the subtitle, this
epistolary novel takes place between opulent Parisian residences and country chateaux. It continuously
bounces from schemes to revenge, from disguises to kidnappings. Here, there is no "war" as in Laclos'
masterpiece: the battle is fought with flashing barbs, [that are] cruel, comical and deliciously sulphurous”
(Claudine Brécourt-Villars). The identity of the author, which is hidden behind the initials “M[onsieur]. l’A.
D. L. G.”, remains a mystery. For the scholar Brécourt-Villars, who republished the novel at La Table Ronde
(2012), it could be the Marquis de Luchet, a friend of Voltaire. (Gay, I, 283).
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
6. Le Talisman de la volupté, ou, La relique de Ste. Thérèse .
Paris: Chez Pilardeau ... Et chez tous les Marchands de nouveautés: 1800.
12°: π2 1-1212 x1 [$1,5 ($5 as ‘$*’) signed]; [4], [1] ii-iv [5] 6-193 [194]
pp.; Contemporary marbled-paper wrappers; untrimmed, cover chipped
and nearly detached, paper covering the spine detaching, but still present,
edges chipping and soiled, but a complete contemporary copy lacking only
the frontispiece.
$500
In his introduction the author tells us that one of his goals in composing
this narrative is to expose the hypocrisy of the overly zealous in their
religious beliefs. Relying on Classical examples to make his point, the text
is heavily footnoted by the author with Greek and Latin references. The
author includes an account of an acquaintance in Florence, who prayed to
Saint-Theresa to intervene on his behalf. Saint-Theresa provides the
gentleman with a talisman, which proves irresistible to his lover...
Quérard cites an euphemistic contemporary review as follows: “This work, which uses sarcasm to strike at
fanaticism, seems to us to contain too bitter a satire with regard to religion. It is, above all, in the [foot]notes,
which seem made, not for the fable, but the fable for them,… that the author writes most successfully. As for
his reflections on the morals of women, we will observe that to us they seem too naked for most readers: they
are, nonetheless, useful, since debauchery cannot be shown with enough ugliness...” French irony anyone?
Quérard: v.5. p.70. Rare: OCLC lists a single copy; another located at Avignon.
The renowned essay on the art of pooping
7. [Rémard, Charles]. La Chézonomie, ou l'Art de ch...: poème didactique en quatre chants, par Ch.
R*** .
Scôropolis, et se trouve à Paris: Chez Merlin: 1806.
$500
12°: π4 [1]6 2-166 [$1 signed]; [i-vii] viii-xi [xii], [1-3] 4-131 [132-35] 136-191 [1] pp.; Contemporary red
paper wrappers, edges untrimmed and many of the bolts unopened. Very near fine, a little chipping at the foot
of the spine, but a marvelously preserved copy.
First edition of this didactic poem in four songs, with a detailed section of notes
(beginning at p. 135) on literary sources for these poems devoted to the art of
defecation [the French verb in its vulgar form chier, is noted in the title, “l’Art de
ch- - -”]; one of the most famous scatological poems. The work, published
anonymously, opens with a dedicatory Epistle to good chieurs of all ranks, of all
ages, and of all sexes—setting the tone for the work that follows. The author,
according to Barbier, is Charles Rémard, formerly curator at the library at the
Chateau de Fontainebleau (Barbier, v. 1, col. 583). One reference reports that
“the author of Chézonomie was a man of precaution: fearing that his book might
disappear as a result of the irreverent reaction one might have to it, he took care to
have it printed in a single copy on vellum. This copy earned him 200 francs at a
sale which took place in Fontainebleau in 1809.” Cf. Bibliotheca Scatologica, no. 6.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
8. Swedenborg, Emmanuel. Traité curieux des charmes de l'amour conjugal
dans ce monde et dans l'autre... traduit du latin en français par M. de Brumore.
G.-J. et J.-H. Decker, Berlin et Basle: 1784.
8°: π2 A-M8 N8 (-N8? Missing, blank) [$2 (A1) signed]; [4], [1-3] 4-206 pp.;
Contemporary marbled paper over card stock. Covers slightly faded and mild
rubbing, some internal tanning but an untrimmed and original copy, near fine.
The translator is Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, from the original Latin,
Deliciae sapientiae de amore conjugali (1768).
$650
The curious treatise, which was Swedenborg’s first of this kind, led to accusations of heresy
(Mohammedanism) and his mental health was questioned. Here, Swedenborg develops his mystical theories
on the union of souls, making it difficult to separate the scientist from the visionary. His work would have
considerable influence, especially on French writers of the romantic generation, like Balzac, who quotes him
extensively, and Baudelaire, who would draw on Swedenborg’s theory of desire.
9. J.F., médecin anglais. Des causes et des remedes de l'amour, considéré
comme maladie, pour servir de supplément au livre intitulé: De l'homme et de
la femme, considérés dans l'état de mariage…
Et se trouve a Paris, chez Costard, fils, & compagnie, A Londres [i.e Paris?]: 1773.
12°: π4 A-E12 [$5 signed]; [8] [1] 2-119 [120] pp.; Contemporary thick gray
wrappers, untrimmed, covers from printer’s waste, spine well-rubbed with loss, but
the sewing is holding.
$400
This work presents love as a disease, with its causes and remedies analyzed—a
parody of medical texts. This work does not appear in either Barbier or Brunet. It
is a philosophical and physiological study more than it is a medical text.
Roman-à-clef on Louis XV and Mme. de Pompadour, including the list of characters, often absent.
10. Crébillon (Claude-Prosper Jolyot de, attributed to)]. Les Amours de Zeokinizul, roi des
Kofirans.
Imprimerie de Sa Hautesse, Constantinople: 1779.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
12°: π4 A-D12 E8 (E8 blank, missing?) [$6 (-E5,6) signed]; [i-v] vi-vii [viii] [1] 2-109 [1]
pp. Thin blue paper wrappers (contemporary?), spine with (later?) darker blue paper.
Untrimmed, soiling at the edges and some spotting.
$750
Roman-à-clef on Louis XV and Mme. de Pompadour, with the printed list of characters
identified by their real-life counterpart, often absent. The title is an anagram:
Zeokinizul, roi des Korifans equals Louis Quinze, roi des Français.
A scarce satiric roman-à-clef on Louis XV and Mme. de Pompadour, first published in
1746. Authorship attributed from Tchemerzine IV, 193. Also attributed to Mme. de
Vieuxmaisons, Cioranescu, Dix-huitième siècle, I, 21748; and to L.A. de la Beaumelle,
Querard II, 454. (26). The work inspired a follow-up, L'Asiatique tolérant, which
employs the same anagrams for the characters’ names.
11. Le Parnasse libertin, ou Recueil de poésies libres.
au dépens de la Compagnie, Amsterdam: 1788.
12°: A-K6 [$3 signed]; [1-2] 4-119 pp.; Contemporary
gray-blue wrappers backed with printer’s waste,
Untrimmed, spine with loss, some spotting to . Only copy
recorded of this edition at the BnF.
$400
A famous collection of libertine epigrams and verse containing light, or more spicy poems, some of which are
signed by their author (La Fontaine, Piron, Rousseau, Voltaire, etc.).
The editor of this collection starts the volume with the following Avertissement: Des pièces qui compo sent
ce petit recueil, les unes voient le jour pour la première fois; les autres avaient déjà été imprimées, mais dans
des ou vrages séparés. On a donc cru rendre service aux personnes qui aiment à s'amuser par la lecture des
poésies libres, en pu bliant dans un seul volume ce que nous avons de mieux en ce genre [Of the pieces that make up
this little collection, some appear for the first time; others have already been printed, but in separate editions. So we thought we were doing a
service to those who enjoy reading “liberal poetry”, and thus brought together in a single volume best we have in this genre]”.
(Pia, Les livres de l’Enfer, II, p. 528, col. 1001-1002.- Dutel, Bibliographie des ouvrages érotiques publiés
clandestinement en français entre 1650 et 1880, A-842.)
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954
The History & Adventures of Milord Fart in eleven chapters.
12. [Fagnan, Marie Antoinette]. Histoire et avantures de milord Pet.: conte
allégorique.
Chez Gosse junior, La Haye: 1755.
12°: π2 A-D8/4 E8 F2 [$4/2 (-F2) signed]; [4], [1] 2-68 pp.; Original pink paste-paper
wrappers, manuscript spine label, partly removed, untrimmed, stab sewing has been
removed, some very minor worming near the end of the volume, and a few leaves
spotted.
$750
Histoire et avantures de milord Pet. occupies eleven chapters: his birth in Culote [meaning “trousers” or
“underwear” in French], an imaginary town in the Netherlands, amid the embraces of twin sisters; he is
received at court; he becomes a soldier, rises to the rank of major; he is successively a musician and a doctor.
While the Bibliographie des ouvrages relatifs à l'amour (Gay 2.63) cites Madame Fagnan as the author of this
work, it seems most unlikely that a woman author would compose an essay on such a noisy topic; the authors
of France littéraire (1769), assign it to the Chevalier Duclos. Cf. Bibliotheca Scatologica, no. 100.
OCLC: 3 copies
13. [Sanadon, Noel Etienne]. Pervigilium Veneris. Veillée des fêtes de Vénus avec des remarques
critiques sur la meme piece.
Suivant la Copie imprimée à Paris 1667: c. 1715.
12°: a-g6 [$3 signed]; [i-v] vi-xviii, [2] [1] 2-63 [64] pp.; Original marbled
paper wrappers; cf. Bulletin du bibliophile, Volume 1848, no. 1558, p. 78.
Text derived from a copy of the 1667, Paris edition.
$300
Latin original with French translation facing of this classical poem celebrating
a festival for Venus. The short poem is accompanied by 48 pp. of remarks by
the Jesuit Father Noel Etienne Sanadon, according to Gay, 2nd ed., p.70. T.S.
Eliot references the poem in the notes to The Waste Land.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954An Utopian Tale set in the Isle of Naudely
14. Le Chapeau pointu de Merinde extrait de la relation du voyage du
prince de montberaud, dans l’isle de Naudely.
Chez D. Jollet, Paris: 1705.
12°: A8 B-C4 [$2 (-A1, +A4) signed]; [1-2] 3-19 [20] [2] pp.; Original marbled
paper wrapper a bit faded, the text faintly tanned, otherwise a very good copy in
original condition.
$300
A curious utopian story describing the morals of the residents of Merinde, who
were condemned to wear for the duration of their lives a strange and
extraordinarily tall hat for the crime of adultery.
The philosophical tale of a “doubly cuckolded” Vice-King
15. [G. de Brémond]. Histoire galante d'un double cocu.
Chez Jean-Francois Roger, Amsterdam: 1703.
12°: A-G6 H4 I2 [$3 (-H3, I2; A3 as’A5’) signed ]; [1-2] 3- 96 pp.; Original marbled paper wrappers with
glassine, spine weak, pages tanned.
Described by Gay as follows: “The adventure contained in this small volume is
natural and well told. Brémond's style has no great qualities, but it is neither long-
winded nor pretentious, and the story can be read from cover to cover without
fatigue, as one would do for a simple anecdote. The volume is as follows: ... A poor
Vice - Roy, afflicted on all sides and cuckolded on top of it, asks himself what he
ought to do with his wife; but there being so many cuckolds in the world he
eventually consoles himself, and finally resolves to keep her...” Gay 2.563.
16. Jean Pierre Nicolas Du Commun, dit Véron. Les Yeux, le Nez et les Tetons, ouvrages curieux,
galants et badins, composés pour le divertissement d'une dame de qualité .
Chez Jean Pauli, Amsterdam: 1760.
$600
3 parts in one volume, with a half-title for the volume, and red and black title pages for each part, as issued.
8°:π4 A-E8; 2π1 *4 A-D8 E4; 3π1 *2 A-H8 I2 [$5 (-2E5) signed]; [8], [1] 2-80; 2[2] [i] ii-vii [viii], [1] 2-72; 3[6],
[1] 2-132 pp.; Original blue paper wrappers, all edges untrimmed, glassine torn in a few places, else fine.
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Gerald W. Cloud Rare Books • Manuscripts • Archives 1900 Sestri Lane, #244, Petaluma, CA 94954The title vignettes vary with each section: les Yeux (eyes)
le Nez (nose), and les Tetons (breasts). Third edition of
this collection of licentious texts and poems dating
mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries, collected and
commented on by Véron, who added “Poesies Diverses
du Sieur du Commun,” his own verses (pp. 74-132 at
the end of the third part). They were first published in
Amsterdam in 1716-1720 and have gone through
several editions. Each section has been printed so that
they could also be sold separately.
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