New York: William Faro, Inc., 1932. Notorious erotica publisher Samuel Roth also wrote "sequels" to his successful pirated editions of D.H. Lawrene's work. This is a Very Good copy of the First Edition. Black cloth binding with a paper label on the spine. Clean text; 216 pages.Corners are bumped, and there is wear to the head and foot of the spine. The spine label has been chipped, but is completely readable. No dustjacket.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. First Edition. View More...
Cosmopoli: Kama Shastra Society of London and Benares, 1886. Burton's translation of this erotic work is the first one in English; it had been made into French in 1876, in a tiny run. This is a Near Fine copy of the First Edition, "for Private circulation only." One of the two known variant bindings: marbled paper-covered boards, with tips and spine in brown leather. Fiove raised bands on the spine, with titling and decorations in gilt. Clean text; xiv, 236 pages. Very bright and clear. There is a bit of rubbing to the edges; else a Fine copy. . First Edition. Quarter-Bound. Near Fine/No Jack... View More...
Cosmopoli: Kama Shastra Society, 1885. This is a Near Fine copy of the first English translation of the now-famous "Art of Love," done for the Kama Shastra Society ("for private circulation only") by F.F. Arbuthnot and Sir Richard Francis Burton. Only the letters of their names appear on the Title Page. The First Edition (1873) was less than ten copies, so almost all extant are the three reprinted versions. There is a misprint of Burton's initials on page xiii, indicating the Second Issue. White vellum binding, ruled on the front cover in gilt; titling, rule, and "1885" on the spine. Clean tex... View More...
New York: Boar's Head, 1949. Boccaccio's sexy classic, illustrated with decorations by the artist Fabio Fabbi (1861-1946). This is a Near Fine copy of the First Edition Thus. Orange cloth binding withblack lettering on the spine. No dustjacket. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. First Thus.. Hard Cover. Near Fine/No Jacket. First Edition. View More...
New York: Boni & Liveright, 1925. Here is a beautiful set of Boccaccio's erotic masterpiece, number 62 in an edition LIMITED to 1000 copies that have been SIGNED by the publisher. Large, heavy octavos, "For Subscribers Only". Dark green cloth bindings, ruled, with a gilt medalion of the author on the front cover; gilt lettering on the spine. The Translation is by John Payne; Introduction by Francis Hueffer. Absolutely clean text on heavy stock. Volume One (xxix, 374 pages) goes to the end of the Fifth Day; Volume Two (355 pages) includes three Appendices, by Richard Garret, Sir Walter Raleigh,... View More...
New York: Three Sirens Press, 1931. Boccaccio's "Questions of Love" dates to 1472, and was a prototype for his masterwork, the "Decameron." Here is an unusual printing, using an anonymous 16th-century English translation for the text. Illustrated by Alexander King; with an Introduction by Thomas Bell. Bound in a ribbed blue cloth and quarter-bound in suede, an unusual choice by the publisher. Gilt lettering on the spine. Very Good condition, with shelf-soiling and bumped corners. Clean text; 133 pages. No dustjacket. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. First Thus.. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket... View More...
New York: Willey Book Company, 1948. An erotic novel of life in a brothel that was first published in 1930, then reprinted by Triangle during the Second World War - no doubr giving comfort to many a GI far from home. This is the postwar reprint. Gray cloth binding with red lettering on the spine. Clean text; 288 pages. Great illustrations, with an expressionist feel, by Jeanette Seelhoff. Light fading around the margins. The vivid and striking dustjacket is unclipped, but has edgewear, with chipping and creasing. In an archival plastic protector. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Reprint.. Hard... View More...
New York: The Panurge Press, 1930. This section of Sir Richard Burton's "Arabian Nights" was deleted from the popular editions, due to its controversial premise that a certain region of the world comprised an area where homosexuality was "popular and endemic." This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of an edition LIMITED to Two Thousand copies. Magenta cloth binding, ruled and decoratively stamped. Gilt titling on the front cover and the spine, with a gilt Panurge logo on the rear cover. Clean text; 107 pages; top-edge is gilt, others deckle. Added to Burton, in the rear, is an essay by the critic an... View More...
London & New York: John Lane The Bodley Head & Dodd, Mead and Company, 1926. Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) left his satirical poem incomplete, but it has been enjoyed nonetheless ever since. This is a Very Good copy of the First Edition Thus, a very nice production. The 93 illustrations and decorations by John Austen (1886-1948) are erotic, but not pornographic; in an art deco style, they are actually quite delightful. Clean text; 408 pages (includes Notes). The surface is soiled and the rear hinge is cracked but holding nicely. The fron paste-down has a bookplate featuring Captain Ahab... View More...
(New York): The Bibliophilist Society, 1931. First published in 1724, this was Defoe's final novel, in the same vein as his "Moll Flanders," written two years earlier. A popular 18th Century theme was the decline of a young woman into harlotry, allowing some moralizing along with titilation. This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of the First Edition Thus, an imprint by the "Bibliophilist Society." This publisher was active from 1929-1933, specializing in classic titles that were a bit risque. Often they were illustrated with slightly erotic artwork, as here. Black cloth binding, ruled, with orange t... View More...
Paris, London and New York: Societe Des Beaux-Arts, 1912. One of the most popular novels by French literatiste Theophile Gautier (1811-1872). A romance, with a reputation as gentle erotica. (Wikipedia says "Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) In September 1833, Gautier was solicited to write a historical romance based on the life of French opera star Mlle Maupin, who was a first-rate swordswoman and often went about disguised as a man. Originally, the story was to be about the historical la Maupin, who set fire to a convent for the love of another woman, but later retired to a convent herself, short... View More...
New York: The Pierre Louys Society, 1927. Gautier's romantic erotic novel has been reprinted many times. This is a Very Good copy of the First Edition Thus, "Privately Printed" for "The Pierre Louys Society" in a LIMITED EDITION of 1250 copies (960 For America). Highly decorative binding in gold and purple; the spine is olive green linen (faded to more of a brown) with gilt lettering. Clean text; 407 pages, rough-cut; with a List of the 12 Illustrations at the end. The illustrations are by Clara Tice (1888-1973), and are exceptional. Tice was an established member of the avant-garde whose work... View More...
William Faro, Inc., 1930. D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) wrote "Chatterley" in 1928, and it remained controversial for four decades.This is a Very Good (Minus) copy of the First Edition Thus, a "pirate edition" published by Samuel Roth (1893-1974) under his William Faro imprint. Roth has become infamous as a nice Jewish boy gone bad; he was prosecuted and jailed several times as a pornographer for publishing works that seem mild today; James Joyce enjoined him for a pirated edition of "Ulysses." Although an Orthodox Jew, he wrote and published an anti-Semitic screed. He particularly disliked J. Edg... View More...
Stockholm: Jan Forlag, 1953. This is a Very Good copy of the First "Continental" Edition, in English but printed in Sweden. At this time the book was still under ban, and the copyright page states: "This edition not to be soldin the British Empire orU.S.A." This contains the unexpurgated text from 1928. Issued in softcover, the cream-colored paper does look a bit used at the edges and has some light smudging on the front cover, but what would one expect unless it had beenput away in a dark closet, say, for several decades? There is also a light crease on the rear cover, a diagonal chip to the ... View More...
Nesor Publishing Co., 1930. This is a Very Good (Plus) to Near Fine copy of the First Edition Thus, a pirate edition attributed to the rather notorious pornographic publisher Samuel Roth (1893-1974). Variant maroon cloth binding with gilt titling on the spine. Clean text; 316 pages; owner signature on the FFEP. There is no publication date, but the dustjacket art, by A.K. Skillin, is dated 1930. It shows significant edgewear, with wrinkling and chipping at the margins. In an archival plastic protector.. First Thus. Hard Cover. Very Good (Plus)/Very Good (Minus). 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Dus... View More...
Paris: Privately Printed, 1929. One of the most famous (or infamous) erotic novels of the Twentieth Century. This is a Very Good copy of "The Author's Unabridged Popular Edition," First Edition Thus, published the year after the First Edition; it includes an exclusive Introduction by Lawrence. There is no place or publisher listed; however, it was published in Paris by Edward Titus, the expat husband of Helena Rubenstein; this was unabridged, and was a frequent target of pirates. Not rebound; in the original dark blue cloth binding with gilt lettering on the spine. Clean text; 365 pages. Rubbe... View More...
Private, 1930. Another rather charming tale of obsession by a romantic "soft core" French author (1870-1925) whose erotic writing has remained popular.The illustrations by William Siegal are less explicit than is usual in Louys' works. This copy is from a privately-printed edition of 2500 (so stated; however, the delimitation on this copy has been left blank). Presented in a Fine Binding: black paper-covered boards with gilt lettering, parchment spine; high-quality deckle-edge paper;153 pages. Near Fine condition: slight wear at the edges of the spine, else Fine. No dustjacket. Size: 8vo - ove... View More...
New York: The Olympia Press, Inc., 1968. A reissue of the Traveller's Companion edition (#92) from 1963. This is a Near Fine copy of the First Edition Thus ("...especially designed and bound for the members of The Olympia Book Society." Dark blue cloth binding with fancy gilt decorations and titling on the front cover and spine. Clean text; 246 pages.Green stain to edges. Lightly rubbed around the edges. Lacking a dustjacket.. First Thus. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine/No Jacket. 16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. First Edition. View More...
New York: American Ethnological Press, 1934. This is a Very Good (Plus) copy of the First Edition Thus, printed "for subscribers only" in an edition LIMITED to 600 copies. Translated from the original German by David Berger. Beautiful deorative paper-covered boards (a floral garden motif, of course) with a green cloth spine; gilt lettering on the spine. Clean text; 443 pages; topedge stained green. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs of young female "natives" in the nude. Bumped corners and POS on front paste-down and FFEP. No dustjacket. An attractively-produced book, and not particu... View More...
London: Anonymous (Privately Printed), 1901. Addington (1840-1893) was a poet, literary critic, and historian of the Renaissance, but this short treatise on homosexuality is a famed precursor to the work of Kinsey, Masters, and Johnson. First published privately in 1883. Also "privately printed" with no published listed, this edition is LIMITED to 100 copies. This is a Very Good copy, which is un-numbered, suggesting that more than 100 were printed. Dark green cloth binding. Clean text; 73 pages. Some scuffing, and some chips to the spine. No dustwrapper; in an archival plastic protector. Size... View More...
