• Title-page in black and red: LE | SOPHA, | CONTE MORAL.NOUVELLE EDITION. | PREMIERE PARTIE. | {vignette} | A PEKIN, | Chez l'imprimeur de l'Empereur, | 1749. || Pagination: Two volumes in one. [2] – blanks, [2] – blank / frontis., [i, ii] – t.p. / blank, [iii] iv-xxi [xxii] ; [1] 2-253, [254-256] – table / blank, [2] – blanks; [i, ii] f.t. (seconde partie). [iii] 4-237 [238-240] – table / blank, [2] – blanks ; ills. 1 frontispiece, 4 plates and 2 vignettes by Pelletier after Clavereau, 2 fleurons by Fessard after Cochin. Collation: 12mo; a12, A8B4–T8V4, X8 [*1]; A8B4–T8V4. Binding: Full mottled calf, flat spine, compartments double-ruled in gilt, gilt flowers and foliage in compartments, crimson title label; marbled endpapers. Printed on laid paper, watermarked. Size: 14.8 x 8.8 cm Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, de Ricci (266); J. Lewine (124-5).
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). No publisher seal, no date or censor seal; probably a private printing. Signed: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a red double gourd cartouche. Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 231 x 294 mm, with the use of mica and black lacquer.    
  • Description: Three volumes, 17 x 14 cm each, uniformly bound in quarter crimson morocco over marbled boards, spine with raised bands tooled gilt with gilt lettering and fleuron, marbled endpapers, publisher’s wrappers preserved (moire-waffle in light pink (vol. 1), cream (vol. 2) and blue (vol. 3), engraved), printed on wove paper, outer and bottom margin untrimmed, illustrated with etched/aquatint front wrapper, frontispiece, tail- and headpieces, and full-page plates in sepia, presumably after Zyg Brunner. Title-page (red and black): LE DIABLE | AU | CORPS | ŒUVRE POSTHUME | DU TRÈS RECOMMANDABLE DOCTEUR | CAZZONÉ | (ANDRÉA DE NERCIAT) | Membre extraordinaire de la joyeuse Faculté | phallo-coîro-pygo-glottonomique | TOME PREMIER (DEUXIÈME; TROISIÈME) | ALENÇON | 1930 || Vol. 1: front wrapper, blank leaf, h.t./limitation, t.p., [1] 2-180, 2 blank leaves, back wrapper; frontispiece, 7 full-page plates (incl. frontispiece), and 13 tail- and headpieces. Vol. 2: front wrapper, blank leaf, h.t./limitation, t.p., [1] 2-193 [194 blank], blank leaf, back wrapper; 8 full-page plates (incl. frontispiece), and 12 tail- and headpieces. Vol. 3: front wrapper, blank leaf, h.t./limitation, t.p., [1] 2-180 [181 colophon], [182 blank], blank leaf, back wrapper; frontispiece, 8 full-page plates (incl. frontispiece), and 13 tail- and headpieces. Limitation: 30 copies (№ 1-30) on Japon Impérial, 300 copies (№ 31-331) on Vélin d’Arches. This copy is № 109. Colophon: Printed on May 25, 1930, 350 copies on Vélin d’Arches with numbers from 31 to 380 [sic!] Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970) № 1394, p. 129. Contributors: André-Robert Andréa de Nerciat (French, 1739 – 1800) – author. Zyg [Zygismund; Sigismond Leopold] Brunner (Polish, 1878 – 1961) – artist.
  • Softcover volume, 33 x 26 cm, collated in folio, not bound, in publisher’s French flapped pictorial wrappers, lettering to spine; printed on thick wove Arches paper watermarked “MBM”, upper edge trimmed, owner’s blind stamp to h.t. “Ex Libris Comte Tony de Vibraye”, glassine dust jacket, in a slipcase. Collation: π2 1-262, total 54 leaves, plus 4 leaves in wrappers, plus 10 plates, incl. frontispiece; coloured aquatints after Sylvain Sauvage; coloured etched vignette to front wrapper, gilt woodcut to back wrapper, woodcut title-page and woodcut headpiece after the same. Pp.: [4] [1] 2-102 [2]. Front wrapper (gilt and black): LA NUIT & LE MOMENT | {vignette} | OU | LES MATINÉES DE CYTHÈRE | PAR | MONSIEUR DE CRÉBILLON LE FILS | || Title-page (woodcut): CRÉBILLON LE FILS | | LA NUIT ET LE MOMENT | OU | LES MATINÉES | DE CYTHÈRE | {vignette} | A PARIS | AUX DEPENS D'UN AMATEUR | | M CM XXIV || Limitation: De cette édition il a été tiré un exemplaire unique sur japon impérial comportant dix aquarelles originales, deux cents trente exemplaires sur vélin d' Arches numérotés 1 à 230, dont les dix premiers avec une suite de hors texte sur japon. N° 1 [Print run limited to 230 copies on Arches plus a unique copy on Japon with original watercolours, this is copy № 1 on wove paper]. Seller’s description: La Nuit et le moment ou Les Matinées de Cythère. Paris, Au dépens d'un amateur, 1924. In-4, en feuilles, non rogné, couverture illustrée et étui. Ouvrage illustré de 4 gravures sur bois et de 10 eaux-fortes libres en couleurs hors texte de Sylvain Sauvage. Tirage à 231 exemplaires, celui-ci le n°1 sur vélin d'Arches. Manque la suite de hors texte sur japon. De la bibliothèque du Comte Tony de Vibraye, avec cachet à froid. Dutel, n°2062. Catalogue raisonné: honesterotica.com; Dutel III 2062. Contributors: Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon [Crébillon fils] (French, 1707 – 1777) – author. Sylvain Sauvage [Félix Roy] (French, 1888 – 1948) – artist. Provenance: Antoine Henri Gaston Hurault de Vibraye [Comte Tony de Vibraye] (French, 1893 – 1951)
  • Kitagawa Utamaro. Illustration from book Ehon koi no Onamaki, published in 1799. Reference found by Chris Uhlenbeck: he found one of the designs in Hayashi Yoshikazu's 20-volume set Edo makura-e shi shusei: Kitagawa Utamaro. Size: Chuban (25.5 x 18.5 cm), two book pages glued together.  
  • Description: Hardcover, 20.5 x 16 cm, contemporary binding, ¾ calf with raised bands over marbled boards in a marbled slipcase, marbled endpapers, original wrappers preserved, t.e.g., gilt lettering to spine. Content: Scapin Maquereau, drame en un acte par M. Albert Glatigny; La grisette et l’étudiant, pièce en un acte par M. Henry Monnier; Le bout de l’an de la noce, parodie du bout de l’an de l’amour de M. Théodore Barrière par MM. Lemercier de Neuville et J. du Boys; Un caprice par Lemercier de Neuville; Les jeux de l’amour et du bazar, comédie de mœurs en un acte par Lemercier de Neuville. Title-page: LE THÉATRE ÉROTIQUE | DE LA RUE DE LA SANTE | {vignette} | PARIS | — | 1932 || Collation: 2 blanks, original front wrapper with blue lettering «LE THÉATRE ÉROTIQUE | DE LA RUE DE LA SANTE», [1]4 (2 blanks, frontis., h.t. / limitation), [2]4 (t.p., f.t.p., 2 leaves of text), 3-184 (incl. 2 blanks), original back wrapper, original spine, 2 blanks; 5 full-page illustrations within collation, 5 original drawings extraneous to collation. Pagination: [4] [1-8] 9-135 [136] [4], ils. Limitation: 20 copies on Japon and 250 copies on Vélin, this is copy № 12. Edition: 1st edition thus, illustrated with 20 stencil-coloured (au pochoir) photogravures, 5 of them full-page after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan], enriched with 5 full-page original crayon drawings by the same artist. Provenance: Stamp with J.-P. Dutel device to 1st blank leaf. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970): 2498, p. 385; Nordmann/Christie’s (2) 515, p. 251 Contributors: Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan, Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist. Joseph Albert Alexandre Glatigny (French, 1839 – 1873) – author. Henry-Bonaventure Monnier (French, 1799 – 1877) – author. Théodore Barrière (French, 1823 – 1877) – author. Louis Lemercier de Neuville [La Haudussière, Louis Lemercier] (French, 1830 – 1918) – author. Jean Charles Duboys [Du Boys] (French, 1836 – 1873) – author. Original crayon drawings by Rojan:
      Colour prints after Rojan's drawings:
  • Title page: L'AN DEUX MILLE QUATRE CENT QUARANTE. | Rêve s'il en fût jamais. | Le temps présent est gros de l'avenir... | Leibnitz. | {letterpress device} | A LONDRES. | MD CCLXXII. || Pagination: [i-iv] v-xii, 1-402 [2]; Collation: 8vo; π6 A-Z8 Aa-Bb8 Cc2. Binding: 19 x 12 cm, full mottled calf, rebacked, spine with gilt-lettered red label, compartments ruled gilt, with gilt fleuron ornament, marbled endpapers and all edges; printed on laid paper, with tall “s”. Probably published in Paris, anonymously. Handwritten nut-ink inscription to the title "Par Mercier". See also: LIB-0979.2016
  • Single volume, 18 x 12.5 cm, bound in ¾ crimson morocco over marbled boards, gilt double-fillet borders, spine with gilded raised bands, gilt in compartments, gilt-lettered label, marbled endpapers, top margin gilt, text printed on dense wove paper, with 8 etchings by anonymous on thin laid paper (Chine) with tissue guards, after original lithographs by Devéria and Henri Grévedon or Octave Tassaert for the 1833 edition (1926 re-print LIB-3135.2023); the plate with the ape after 1864 edition (LIB-3087.2022) and the plate with the donkey after unknown. Title-page: GAMIANI | OU | DEUX NUITS D’EXCES | PAR | A D M | — | EN HOLLANDE | – | 1866 || Pagination: [4] (h.t., t.p.), [i] ii-xvi, [3] 4-153 [154 blank]; total 158 pages plus 8 plates (anonymous etchings), incl. frontispiece. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel I: A-470; Pia: 518/9. BNF Enfer 418. Note: This edition is conformant with Dutel, but not with Pia, who mentions [2], xvi, 148 pp. Pia writes: 'According to a bibliographic record published in 1874 by Vital Puissant, this edition was printed in Brussels by Briard on behalf of Alphonse Lécrivain, a Parisian publisher who took refuge in Belgium'. Catalogue Poulet-Malassis & ses amis description: № 74. [Alfred de MUSSET] A D M. Gamiani ou deux nuits d’excès. En Hollande, 1866. In-8 de xvi, 153 pages, demi-maroquin cerise à coins, dos à nerfs orné, lets dorés sur les mors, tête dorée, tranches naturelles, couverture conservée (reliure ancienne). Illustré de 8 gravures sur Chine dont l’une en frontispice, toutes accompagnées de serpentines. Piqûres et mouillures. Dutel A-470, pas à l’Enfer de la BnF.  
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a red double-gourd cartouche Publisher: Unknown (no seal). Date: c. 1832 Izzard: "... red cloth decorated with the characters Yauan, one of Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1791 – 1859) poetry names, and the name of his residence in Fukagawa. The absence of publisher's emblem and censorship seals may indicate that this was a privately issued print, not for public use". Ref.: [LIB-2967.2022] Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865): His world revisited / Catalogue № 17, Exhibition March 17-21, 2021. — NY: Sebastian Izzard, LLC., 2021; p. 112-3, fig. 32). Size: Fan print (aiban uchiwa-e); 235 x 295 mm.
  • Colour (tone) lithography, image 268 x 410 mm, sheet 317 x 470 mm; signed on bottom-left of the image “Pelikan 1905”, and pencil ms inscription: E. Pelikan to the lower-right corner of the sheet. Contributor: Emilie Mediz-Pelikan (Austrian, 1861 – 1908) – artist. Seller's description: Austrian-German painter and graphic artist. Emilie Mediz-Pelikan was born in Vöcklabruck in 1861. She studied at the Vienna Academy and followed her teacher Albert Zimmermann to Salzburg and in 1885 to Munich. In 1891 she married the painter and graphic artist Karl Mediz (1868 - 1945), with whom she lived in Vienna and from 1894 in Dresden. She was in contact with the Dachau Artists' Colony and went on study trips to Paris, Belgium, Hungary and Italy. In the Dachau artists' colony she was friends with Adolf Hölzel and Fritz von Uhde. In 1889 and 1890 she spent time in Paris and in the Belgian artists' colony Knokke. In 1898 she was represented at the first art exhibition of the Vienna Secession, and in 1901 at the International Art Exhibition in Dresden. In 1903 she and her husband had a group exhibition, at the Hagenbund in Vienna. In 1904, she showed graphic works at the Dresden royal court art dealer Richter, and in 1905 and 1906 she exhibited at the Berlin Künstlerhaus. It was not until around 1900 that she achieved her artistic breakthrough with her landscape paintings. Since the estate of the artist, who died prematurely in Dresden in 1908, was lost in the former GDR until the 1980s, it was quite late that the artist was rediscovered and revalued both in Austrian art history and on the art market. In 1986, the first major exhibitions took place at the Upper Austrian State Museum and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, followed by numerous smaller exhibitions in private galleries in Vienna, Linz and Munich. The artist received recognition during her lifetime from numerous prominent fellow painters as well as from the art critic Ludwig Hevesi. Together with Tina Blau, Herbert Boeckl, Marie Egner, Theodor von Hörmann, Franz Jaschke, Eugen Jettel, Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, Rudolf Junk, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Johann Victor Krämer, Heinrich Kühn, Carl Moll, Rudolf Quittner, Rudolf Ribarz, Emil Jakob Schindler, Max Suppantschitsch, Max Weiler, Olga Wisinger-Florian and Alfred Zoff, she was a protagonist of the reception of Impressionism in Austria. This style went down in Austrian art history under the term "Stimmungsimpressionismus".
  • Katsukawa Shun'ei. The Sumo Bout between Yotsuguruma (right) and Yamaoroshi (left). Date: 1800 or 1805/06. Similar sheet can be found at Edo Tokyo Museum. Size: Vertical Ōban. Sumo wrestler Yotsuguruma Daihachi (1772 - 1809) first appeared in the records of national tournaments in winter of 1794. Then he lost 3 matches and won zero. He first won in the spring tournament of 1797 in a match against maegashira (the fifth-highest rank of sumo wrestlers) named Kougamine. Yamaoroshi Gengo (born 1762) came in at the winter tournament of 1799 . He was much more successful in his career than Yotsuguruma, but he had never won a tournament. It was the time of great Raiden, who won most of them. In the spring tournament of 1800 Yotsuguruma and Yamaoroshi fought against each other for the first time. Yotsuguruma lost. The next time they met on the ring was at the winter tournament of 1805, and again in 1806. Both matches were won by Yamaoroshi. Yamaoroshi retired in 1809; Yotsuguruma died in 1809.  
  • Description: Hardcover small 4to, 20.3 x 15.8 cm, contemporary binding, quarter carrot morocco with raised bands over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers preserved, gilt lettering to spine. Content: Scapin Maquereau, drame en un acte par M. Albert Glatigny; La grisette et l’étudiant, pièce en un acte par M. Henry Monnier; Le bout de l’an de la noce, parodie du bout de l’an de l’amour de M. Théodore Barrière par MM. Lemercier de Neuville et J. du Boys; Un caprice par Lemercier de Neuville; Les jeux de l’amour et du bazar, comédie de mœurs en un acte par Lemercier de Neuville. Title-page: LE THÉATRE ÉROTIQUE | DE LA RUE DE LA SANTE | {vignette} | PARIS | — | 1932 || Collation: 3 blanks, original front wrapper with black lettering «LE THÉATRE ÉROTIQUE | DE LA RUE DE LA SANTE», [1]4 (2 blanks, frontis., h.t. / limitation), [2]4 (t.p., f.t.p., 2 leaves of text), 3-184 (incl. 2 blanks), original back wrapper, original spine, 3 blanks; 5 full-page illustrations within collation, 3 original watercolours extraneous to collation bound in between 11 and 12 blank leaves. Pagination: [4] [1-8] 9-135 [136] [4], ils. Limitation: 20 copies on Japon and 250 copies on Vélin, this is copy № 201. Edition: 1st edition thus, illustrated with 20 coloured photogravures, 5 of them full-page after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan], enriched with 3 full-page original watercolours by him. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970): 2498, p. 385; Nordmann/Christie’s (2) 515, p. 251 Contributors: Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan, Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist. Joseph Albert Alexandre Glatigny (French, 1839 – 1873) – author. Henry-Bonaventure Monnier (French, 1799 – 1877) – author. Théodore Barrière (French, 1823 – 1877) – author. Louis Lemercier de Neuville [La Haudussière, Louis Lemercier] (French, 1830 – 1918) – author. Jean Charles Duboys [Du Boys] (French, 1836 – 1873) – author. Original watercolours:
  • Title: L'ART | D'AIMER, | ET | POÉSIES DIVERSES | DE M. BERNARD. Pagination: [2] – t.p. / stanza by Voltaire; engraved t. p., frontispiece, [1] 2-170; pp. 1-61 – L'art d'aimer; pp. 62-111 – Phrosine et Mélidore; pp. 112-170 – Poésies diverses; illustrations. Collation: 8vo; π1 (letterpress t.p.), A-K8 L5; + 8 plates: (1)* engraved title page facing the stanza by Ch. Baquoy; (2) plate as a frontispiece by Ponce after Ch. Eisen, inscribed Chant I above the image, dated 1772, facing p. [1], chant 1er of l’art; (3)* Ch. Baquoy after P. Martini, inscribed Chant II below the image, facing p. 22, chant 2nd of l’art; (4) Ch. Baquoy after Eisen, inscribed Chant III above the image, facing p. 44, chant 3rd of l’art; (5)* Patas after P. Martini, inscribed Chant Ier below the image, dated 1775, facing p. 62, chant 1er of Phrosine; (6) Ch. Baquoy after Eisen, inscribed Chant II above the image, facing p. 74, chant 2nd of Phrosine; (7)* C. Gaucher after P. Martini, facing p. 84, chant 3rd of Phrosine; (8) Ch. Baquoy after Eisen, inscribed Chant IV above the image, facing p. 97, chant 4th of Phrosine; * – images additional to 1772 edition by Le Jay [LIB-2706.2021] (i.e. plates 1, 3, 5, and 7 are new). A counterfeit edition by an anonymous publisher. Binding: brown pebbled morocco, triple fillet gilt-ruled boards, raised bands, gilt in compartments, gilt label lettering to spine, marbled endpapers, AMG; printed on laid paper, with tall 's'. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, De Richi (1912): p. 132: describes a counterfeit edition with 170 pages and 3 additional plates plus an engraved title. This seems to be a combination of Lejan [sic] Paris 1775 edition, which normally has 134 pages, 8vo, title engraved by Baquoy and three plates after Martini by Patas, Baquoy and Gaucher. Contributors: Nicolas Ponce (French, 1746 – 1831) – engraver. Jean Charles Baquoy (French, 1721 – 1777) – engraver. Jean-Baptiste Patas (French, 1748 – 1817) – engraver. Charles-Étienne Gaucher (French, 1740 – 1804) – engraver. Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778) – artist. Pietro Antonio Martini (Italian, 1738 – 1797) – artist. Pierre-Joseph Bernard [Gentil-Bernard] (French, 1708 – 1775) – author of the text.
  • Description: Two volumes 23.1 x 14.9 cm each, collated in 4to, uniformly bound in French flapped wrappers with the title and an engraved vignette, coloured; wrapped in glassine; cased in a cardboard chemise (23.1 x 15 cm) with a diaper of two hearts pierced by an arrow, in pink; and both volumes cased in a slipcase (23.8 x 15.2 cm) with the same diaper. Printed on unpaginated dense wove paper watermarked ‘Arches’, engravings with clear plate marks. Illustrations are by Jean Dulac. Title-page (double-fillet frame, black and red in manuscript) Nelly et Jean | – | nous deux | simples | papiers | du|  tiroir secret | {vignette} | Première partie (Deuxième partie) | – | Gravé | et imprimé | pour les auteurs | et leurs amis || Vol. 1: 1 blank, π4 (blank, h.t., frontis., engr. t.p.), 1-84, [2 blanks]; total 39 leaves with 19 hand-coloured burin engravings, incl. wrapper, frontis., and t.p. Unpag. Vol. 2: 1 blank, π4 (blank, h.t., frontis., engr. t.p.), 1-114, [1 colophon] [2 blanks], total 52 leaves with 27 hand-coloured burin engravings, incl. wrapper, frontis., and t.p. Unpag. Limitation: total print run of 295 copies of which 12 (№№ 1-12) on Japon Impérial, 13 on Vélin d’Arches (№№ 13-25), 30 on Japon Impérial (№№ 26-55) and 240 on Vélin d’Arches (№№ 56-295); this is copy № 97 on Vélin d’Arches. Contributors: Marcel Valotaire (French, 1889 – 1979) – author. Jean Dulac (French, 1902 – 1968) – artist. Printed by Coulouma (Argenteuil) and Vernant (Paris). The same title with illustrations by Gaston de Sainte-Croix was published in 1956:  LIB-2880.2021.