//Social life and customs
  • Etching on laid paper, backed. Massar (1971): 59-61. View of the Pont Neuf in Paris, with the statue of Henry IV at centre in front of the Seine, the church of St.-Germaine l'Auxerrois and the Louvre to the right, and the Hôtel de Nevers and Tour de Nesle to the left (MET). in the banner below: LUDOVICO XIIII GALLIARUM ET NAV REGI; below image: PONS LVTETIÆ STRVCTVS, DICTVS NOVVS, ET QVÆ EX EO PROSPICI POSSVNT.; bellow: En pulcherrimus toto ... caufatus, vifere; along the bottom: Ste. Della Bella Florentinus In. e Fecit DD. 1646. Cum Privilegio Regis; additional lettering a lower left and right identifying places depicted.

    State: 2nd, with the weathercock on the belltower of Église Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (under 8). Size: 35.5 x 67.6 cm. Condition: Three vertical folds, these partly cracked and backed at the bottom, dusty or slightly stained, partly slightly rubbed, a small diagonal crease on the upper left, tiny marginal blemishes.

    Quotation from Phyllis D. Massar. Presenting Stefano della Bella. — NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [1971]: "For size and complexity, one of Della Bella's most impressive achievements is his view of Paris across the Pont Neuf from a point between the buildings bounding the Place Dauphine. Besides the well-known landmarks-the Hộtel de Nevers, the Tour de Nesle, the church of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, and, at the centre, the bronze equestrian statue of Henri IV by the Florentines Giovanni Bologna and Pietro Tacca – the print provides a microcosm of Paris in transit across the Seine. With a glass, one can compile a census of 451 people, thirty-eight horses, nineteen dogs, three donkeys, and one lamb. All but lost in the vast scene, nevertheless, all contributing to it, are duelists, men fighting with staffs, brawlers routing passers-by, a tooth-puller making an extraction, sellers of sweetmeats and fruits, falconers, hunters with a pack of dogs, a legless cripple, many begging gypsies (one of them telling a fortune), and a hurdy-gurdy player with an audience. Moving among the splendid carriages is a humble water cart, and back among the market stands at the right is an early Seine-side bookstall."

    Catalogue raisonné: Massar (1971): pp. 58-61; De Vesme p. 132, № 850ii/ii. Contributor: Stefano della Bella (Italian, 1610 – 1664) – artist and engraver.
  • Front wrapper: PARIS SOUS NAPOLÉON III | Mémoires d'un homme du monde | DE 1857 À 1870 | PAR LE COMTE DE ARTHUR GRANDEFFE | {publisher’s device} | PARIS: IMPRIMERIE ET LIBRAIRIE CENTRALES DES CHEMINS DE FER | A. CHAIX ET Cie | RUE BERGÈRE 20, PRÈS DU BOULEVARD MONTMARTRE | 1879 || Similar lettering to t.p. Softcover 18.5 x 12 cm, publisher’s original blue wrappers, first and last leaves glued to wrappers, unevenly trimmed, some uncut, pagination [4] [i] ii-vi, [1] 2-413 [414], authors advert to back wrapper; mispaginated pp. 136-141; collation: 18mo, π6, 1-2218 236. Sticker with gilt lettering to front wrapper “LIBRAIRIE CENTRALE | BERTRAND & QUEYROT | MENTON”; sticker to spine "577".  
  • Hardcover volume, 18.2 x 11.8 cm, bound in quarter black polished calf with gilt lettering “cartonnage romantique” design to spine, marbled boards, matching marbled endpapers, blue margins. Title-page: SCÈNES | DE LA BOHÊME | PAR | HENRY MURGER | {publisher’s device ML} | PARIS | MICHEL LÉVY FRÈRES, LIBRAIRES-ÉDITEURS | RUE VIVIENNE, 2 bis. | 1851 || Half-title: ŒUVRES | D’HENRY MURGER || Advertisement: Chez le même Éditeurs. | BIBLIOTHEQUE CONTEMPORAINE | (page of text) || Collation: π2 (h.t/advert., t.p. / blank), 1-33 (17)12, χ6; total 212 leaves without ffls (3 front, 2 back). Pagination: [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / blank, [i] ii-xiii [xiv blank], [1] 2-406; total 424 pages. Scènes de la bohême, in later editions Scènes de la vie de bohème. Translations: Into English: LIB-2719.2021. Henri Murger. The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. (Scènes de la vie de Bohême) / Translated from the French. — London: Vizetelly & Co., 1883. Into German: LIB-2686.2021. Henri Murger. Die Bohème : Szenen aus dem Pariser Künstlerleben. — Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1906. Into Russian: LIB-3182.2023. А. Мюрже. Сцены из жизни богемы / Пер. с франц. и прим. Е. А. Гунста; вст. ст. С. И. Великовского; художник Н. А. Кравченко. — М.: Художественная литература, 1963. Contributors: Murger, Henri [Henry] (French, 1822 – 1861) – author.
  • Four-volume edition with 6+4+5+5 = 20 plates. Vol. 1 : Title page, in double-border, within rules; accents as per original, with tall «s»: Les | Parisiennes, | ou | XL caractères generaux | Pris dans les Mœurs actuelles, | Propres à servir à l'instruction | des personnes-du-sexe : | Tirés des memoires du nouveau Lycée-des-mœurs. | I Volume : Les jeunes-filles, | & les filles-à-marier. | A Neufchâtel , | Et se trouve à Paris. | Chéz Guillot, libraire de Monsieur, rue | S.-Jacques, vis-à-vis celle des Mathurins. | 1787. Pagination : [1-5] 6-300, plus 6 etched/engraved plates w/guard tissue after Louis Binet (French, 1744 – about 1800). Collation: 12mo; A14 B-M12 N4; first 6 leaves in gatherings B to M signed, with exceptions: A1,2 unsigned, A3-8 signed, A9-14, D5, N3,4 unsigned. Vol. 2: Title page: Text above the first rule similar; below: II Volume : Les N.lles–mariées : | Les Mariées depuis 3 ans. | A Neufchâtel , | Et se trouve à Paris. | 1787. Pagination : [1-3] 4-388, plus 4 plates. Collation: 12mo; A8 B-Q12 R6; A1,5-8, R4-6 unsigned. Vol. 3: Title page: Text above the first rule similar; below: III Volume : Les epouses | à imiter : à— suir | A Neufchâtel , | Et se trouve à Paris. | 1787. Pagination: [1-3] 4-392, plus 5 plates. Collation: 12mo, A4 B-R12; A1,3,4, G4, N4,6, O5 unsigned. Vol 4: Title page: Text above the first rule similar; below: IV Volume : Les J.nes-Mères, | &—de grands-enfans. | A Neufchâtel , | Et se trouve à Paris. | 1787. Pagination: [1-3] 4-380 [4], plus 5 plates. Collation: A-Q12; A1 unsigned. Binding: later (c. 1875 – 1885) uniform binding of all four volumes in motley 'percaline anglaise' (buckram) with black gilt-lettered labels to spine, marbled endpapers; printed on laid paper; armorial bookplate of Masséna engraved by Stern to front pastedown. Provenance: Library of Masséna; Victor Masséna, duc de Rivoli, prince d'Essling (French, 1836 – 1910) [photo]. Catalogue Raisonné: P.-L. Jacob, 1875: № XXXII, pp. 247-250. P. L. Jacob. Bibliographie et iconographie de tous les ouvrages de Restif de la Bretonne. — Paris: A. Fontaine, 1875. [LIB-2634.2021]. Contributors: Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne (French, 1734 – 1806) – text. Louis Binet (French, 1744 – c. 1800) – illustrations. Sources: MFA: ACCESSION NUMBER 37.1667a-b lacking one plate in vol. 4. Collation: 12mo, 4 vols. in 2; [v. 1] 150 leaves, plus 6 plates; [v. 2] 194 ll., plus 4 pls.; [v. 3] 196 ll., plus 5 pls.; [v. 4] 192 ll., plus 4 [of 5] pls. BNF Identifier ark:/12148/bpt6k1050366b. Collation: 4 vol. (300; 388; 392; 380 p., XX f. de pl.) : ill. ; in-12
  • Hardcover, publisher's white cloth with a black imprint to cover, red and black lettering to spine, pictorial DJ, pp.: [1-4] 5-398 [2]. Послесловие В. Столбова, художник В. Юрлов. Russian translation of Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez
  • Description: Six softcover volumes, collated in-4to, 14.3 x 10 cm in publisher’s lettered wrappers; printed on laid paper; series "Les petits mémoires de Paris"  illustrated with 23 out of 24 etchings by Henri Boutet: (I) Les coulisses de l’amour; (II) Rues et Intérieurs; (III) Le carnet d’un suiveur; (IV) Le petits métiers; (V) Les nuits de Paris; (VI) Toutes les bohêmes. Vol. I: Cream cover, lettered black and red in a black frame: LA MÉSSAGÈRE | LES | PETITS MÉMOIRES | DE | PARIS | CONTENANT | Quatre Eaux-Fortes originales | PAR | Henri BOUTET | I | Les Coulisses de l’Amour | {vignette brown Notre-Dame de Paris} | A PARIS | CHEZ DORBON l’AINÉ, LIBRAIRE | 53 ter, Quai des Grands-Augustins || Title-page: similar, in black, with «MDCCCVIII» in the bottom. Edition not stated. [1-8] ( 7 marked 1) 9-125 [3] contents, colophon; h.t. uncut from 1st blank, three original etchings instead of four (one missing?), incl. frontispiece. Colophon: IMPRIMÉ PAR SOINS | DE LA | SOCIÉTÉ TYPOGRAPHIQUE | DE | CHATEAUDUN || Back wrapper blank. Vol. II: Mint-green cover, lettered black and red in a black frame: LA MÉSSAGÈRE | LES | PETITS MÉMOIRES | DE | PARIS | CONTENANT | Quatre Eaux-Fortes originales | PAR | Henri BOUTET | II | Rues et Intérieurs | {vignette brown Notre-Dame de Paris} | A PARIS | CHEZ DORBON l’AINÉ, LIBRAIRE | 53 ter, Quai des Grands-Augustins || Title-page: similar, in black, with «MDCCCIX» in the bottom. Edition not stated. [1-6] 7-125 [2] contents, colophon (same as in Vol. I); h.t. uncut from 1st blank, four original etchings, incl. frontispiece. Back wrapper blank. Vol. III: Cream cover, lettered blue in a blue frame: LA MÉSSAGÈRE | LES | PETITS MÉMOIRES | DE | PARIS | CONTENANT | Quatre Eaux-Fortes originales | PAR | Henri BOUTET | III | Le Carnet d’un Suiveur | 4e Edition | {vignette smoking gentleman in a top hat} | A PARIS | CHEZ DORBON L’AINÉ, LIBRAIRE | 53 ter, Quai des Grands-Augustins || Title-page: similar, in black, with «MDCCCIX» in the bottom. 4th edition. [1-6] 7-124 [4] contents, colophon (uncut); h.t. uncut from 1st blank, four original etchings, incl. frontispiece. Colophon: Imprimé par soins de | l’Imprimerie de Paris | Têtes de chapitre, lettrines et culs de lampe de | M. Paul Guignebault | Eaux-fortes tirées sous la direction de | M. Henri Boutet || Back wrapper with a frame and a ribbon at center, in blue. Vol. IV: Tan cover, lettered red and black in a black frame: LA MÉSSAGÈRE | LES | PETITS MÉMOIRES | DE | PARIS | CONTENANT | Quatre Eaux-Fortes originales | PAR | Henri BOUTET | IV | Le Petits Métiers | {vignette worker with a ladder} | A PARIS | CHEZ DORBON L’AINÉ, LIBRAIRE | 53 ter, Quai des Grands-Augustins || Title-page: similar, in black, with «MDCCCIX» in the bottom. Edition not stated. [1-6] 7-119 [120 colophon, uncut] [8 advert., uncut];  four original etchings, incl. frontispiece. Colophon: IMPRIMERIE DE PARIS | 22, RUE DES VOLONTAIRES PROLONGÉE | – PARIS - XVe – || Back wrapper with a black frame and a red ribbon at center. Vol. V: Olive-green cover, lettered red and blue in a blue frame: LA MÉSSAGÈRE | LES | PETITS MÉMOIRES | DE | PARIS | CONTENANT | Quatre Eaux-Fortes originales | PAR | Henri BOUTET | V | Les nuits de Paris | Deuxième Édition | {vignette woman on a street} | A PARIS | CHEZ DORBON L’AINÉ, LIBRAIRE | 53 ter, Quai des Grands-Augustins || Title-page: similar, in black, with «MDCDIX» in the bottom. 2nd edition. [1-8] 9-118 [2 colophon, uncut] [8 advert., uncut]; four original etchings, incl. frontispiece. Colophon: IMPRIMERIE DE PARIS | 22, RUE DES VOLONTAIRES PROLONGÉE | – PARIS - XVe – || Back wrapper with a blue frame and a red ribbon at center. Vol. VI: Cream cover, lettered red and blue in a blue frame: LA MÉSSAGÈRE | LES | PETITS MÉMOIRES | DE | PARIS | CONTENANT | Quatre Eaux-Fortes originales | PAR | Henri BOUTET | VI | Toutes les bohêmes | Cinquième Édition | {vignette windmill} | A PARIS | CHEZ DORBON L’AINÉ, LIBRAIRE | 53 ter, Quai des Grands-Augustins || Title-page: similar, in black, with «MDCDIX» in the bottom and “Deuxième Édition”. 5th or 2nd edition. [1-7] 8-120 [2 colophon] [4 advert.] [2 blank]; four original etchings, incl. frontispiece. Colophon: IMPRIMERIE DE PARIS | 22, RUE DES VOLONTAIRES PROLONGÉE | – PARIS - XVe – || Back wrapper with a blue frame and a red ribbon at center. Contributors: Henri Boutet [La Mésangère] (French, 1851 – 1919) – author, artist, etcher. François Louis Dorbon [Dorbon Aîné] (French, 1878 – 1956) – publisher.
  • Pagination: [2] – letterpress title / blank, [2] – t.p. contents / to readers, [1] 2-368 [4 index], + 9 b/w and 27 coloured plates. Collation: 4to; letterpress title, [A]1 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 3A-3B4 3C3. Binding: 25 x 16 cm; gilt-ruled half-calf over marbled boards, flat spine, gilt-ruled compartments, gilt lettering; front board almost detached. References: Martin Hardie (1906), p.310 [LIB-2623.2021]; R. V. Tooley (1935), p. 26 [LIB-2641.2021]; J. R. Abbey (1953), Cat. № 212, p. 166 [LIB-2622.2021].
  • Publisher’s olive French flapped wrappers, in-4to, 33 x 25.3 x 6 cm, green and black lettering to front and spine, in a glassine dust jacket, in a marbled double slipcase 34.5 x 25.5 cm, unbound; pp.: [8] 1-436 [4], plus 30 colour plates with guard tissue, extraneous to collation; edition enriched with a set of 30 uncoloured etchings with guard tissue in a lettered paper folder. Title-page: ÉMILE ZOLA | NANA | ILLUSTRÉ DE | TRENTE GRAVURES ORIGINALES | DE | VERTÈS || PARIS | JAVAL ET BOURDEAUX | 44 bis, rue de Villejust | 1933 || Justification du tirage: il a été tiré de «Nana » d'Émile Zola. Soixante exemplaires sur japon impérial, numérotés de 1 a 60, avec un état en couleurs colorié a la main et un état en noir des trente gravures originales de Vertès. [Edition limited to 60 copies, this is copy № 54]. Colophon: « NANA », D'ÉMILE ZOLA, ÉTÉ ACHEVÉ D'IMPRIMER LE TRENTE AVRIL MIL NEUF CENT TRENTE-TROIS, EN CARACTÈRES ROMAIN ANGLAIS DU CORPS 16, SUR LES PRESSES DU MAITRE IMPRIMEUR COULOUMA, À ARGENTEUIL, H. BARTHÉLEMY, DIRECTEUR. LES COMPOSITIONS DE VERTÈS ONT ÉTÉ REPRODUITES EN FAC-SIMILÉ PAR D. JACOMET & Cie. Printed on April 30, 1933 by Coulouma in Argenteuil, H. Barthélemy, director; illustrations reproduced in facsimile by D. Jacomet & Co. Catalogue raisonné: Vokaer 30. Contributors: Émile Zola (French, 1840 – 1902) – author. Marcel Vertès [Marcell Vértes] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1895 – 1961) – artist. Javal et Bourdeaux – publisher. Daniel Jacomet (French, 1894 – 1966) – printer. Seller's description: Nana. Paris, Javal et Bourdeaux, 1933. 2 volumes in-4, en feuilles, non coupé, non rogné, chemise et étui. Ouvrage illustré de 30 gravures originales en couleurs de Marcel Vertès. Tirage à 60 exemplaires sur japon impérial contenant un état des illustrations coloriées à la main en couleurs et un état en noir. Chemise et emboîtage insolés.
  • Title: LES | CURIOSITÉS DE PARIS | PAR | CH. VIRMAITRE | PRÉFACE DE M. XAVIER EYMA | PARIS | P. LEBIGRE-DUQUESNE, LIBRAIRE-ÉDITEUR | 16, RUE HAUTEFEUILLE, 16 | 1868 || Collation: 18mo, π6; 1-1918. Pagination: [2] – pictorial title by A. Gill, engr. Marchandeau / blank, [2] – t.p. / blank, [2] dedication to Émile de Girardin / blank, [vii] viii-xii – préface; [1] 2-360, bfl. Note: pp. 223/224 and XIX chapter’s f.t. unpaginated and loose, but collation is not interrupted. Other chapters f.t. paginated. Binding: hardcover, quarter brown buckram over marbled boards, flat spine, gilt fillets, gilt lettering over the black label. Contributors: Charles Virmaître (1835 – 1903) – text. Xavier Eyma (1816 – 1876) – text / preface. André Gill (French, 1840 – 1885) – artist / pictorial title. Marchandeau (French, fl. c. 1867) – engraver / pictorial title.
  • Title in black and red: LIFE IN ENGLAND | in Aquatint and Lithography | 1770—1860 | ARCHITECTURE • DRAWING BOOKS | ART COLLECTIONS • MAGAZINES | NAVY AND ARMY • PANORAMAS ETC. | FROM THE LIBRARY OF J. R. ABBEY | — | A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL | CATALOGUE | — | LONDON | PRIVATELY PRINTED | AT THE CURWEN PRESS | 1953 || Pagination: 2 blank leaves, [2] – limited edition 114 of 400 / blank, [i, ii] – h.t. / blank, [2] blank / frontis., [iii, iv] – t.p. / printer, v – contents, [vi] –blank, vii-ix – list of plates, [x] – blank, xi-xiii – list of ill., [xiv] – blank, xv-xxi – preface, xxii – blank; [1, 2] f.t. / blank, 3-427 [428], 2 blank leaves. Binding: Hardcover, 32 x 25.5 x 6.5 cm; brown cloth, red label with gilt lettering to spine, tan DJ with lettering to front and spine.
  • Description: One volume in grey-blue French flapped wrapper, 24 x 16.7 cm, collated 8vo, with black and red lettering to front cover, printed on watermarked thick wove paper Alfax Navarre, margins untrimmed, some pages uncut, illustrated with 12 aquatint plates signed Le Loup. Front wrapper and title (red and black): RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE | L'ANTI-JUSTINE | OU | LES DÉLICES DE L' AMOUR | Nouvelle édition entièrement revue et corrigée, | établie pour la première fois sur le texte original de 1798. | PRÉCÉDÉE D'UNE NOTICE BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE | par HELPEY | bibliographe poitevin | {device} | ILE SAINT-LOUIS | DE L’IMPRIMERIE DE Monsieur Nicolas. Limitation: Printed 350 copies, numbered 1-350, on alfax paper; this copy is № 256. Collation: 1-158 166, incl. the 1st and last leaves within the wrappers, total 126 leaves plus 12 plates extraneous to collation. Pagination: [4 blank] [1-4] 5-243 [244 blank] [4 blank], total 252 pages, ils. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970) № 1025, p. 45. Ref.: Danson Erotica Collection at Trinity College, Oxford – KK.6.33. Contributors: Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne (French, 1734 – 1806) – author. Louis Perceau [Helpey] (French, 1883 – 1942) – author. Maurice Henri Hector Duflou (French, 1885 – 1951) – publisher. The artist – Le Loup – unidentified.
  • Pagination: [2] – letterpress title / blank, t.p. contents / to readers, [1] 2-368 [4 index], + 6 b/w (one folding) and 28 coloured plates (total 34). Collation: 4to; letterpress title, [A]1 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 3A-3B4 3C3. Binding: 25 x 16 cm; gilt-ruled half-calf over marbled boards, flat spine, gilt-ruled compartments, gilt lettering. 5 aquatints by Thomas Rowlandson (British, 1757 – 1827): Table D'Hote; Consulting the Prophet; The Prophet discovering himself and exposing the deception; The Arrival in Paris; Liberality to infirm beggars on leaving Yrvi. References: Martin Hardie (1906), p.310 [LIB-2623.2021]; R. V. Tooley (1935), p. 26 [LIB-2641.2021]; J. R. Abbey (1953), Cat. № 212, p. 167 [LIB-2622.2021].
  • Hardcover volume, 20.2 x 14.5 cm, aubergine cloth, gilt lettering and publisher’s device to spine, aubergine top edge, aubergine dust jacket with gilt lettering and black fleuron to front, gilt lettering and black fleuron and publisher’s device to spine, and a captioned photographic portrait to back, blurb text to flaps, price ”35s net | in U.K. only” unclipped; pictorial endpapers. Pp.: [1-8] 9-445 [446] [2], collation: A-O16, total 224 leaves. Title-page (in oval frame): JOHN FOWLES | THE | FRENCH | LIEUTENANT'S | WOMAN | — | Every emancipation is a restoration of the human | world and of human relationships to man himself. | MARX, Zur Judenfrage (1844) | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE | LONDON || Contributors: John Fowles (British, 1926 – 2005) – author. Herbert Jonathan Cape (British, 1879 – 1960) – publisher. Ebenezer Baylis & Son, Ltd. (f. 1858) – printer. The Trinity Press – printer.
  • Title page: PARIS | À TABLE | PAR | EUGÈNE BRIFFAULT. | Illustré par Bertall. | {vignette} | PARIS | PUBLIÉ PAR J. HETZEL, | RUE DE RICHELIEU, 76 — RUE DE MÉNARS, 10 | 1846 || Pagination : ffl, [2] – h.t. / imprim., [2] – wood-engraved pictorial t.p. bt Bertall, [2] – t.p. / blank, [i] ii-iv, 2] – f.t. / imprim., [1] 2-184, ffl; in-text woodcuts by Betrall. Collation: π6 1-462; size 8vo. Binding: brown quarter morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt device in compartments and gilt lettering to spine. Matching marbled endpapers, previous owner’s bookplate to front pastedown. Bookplate: Motto: “LITTERÆ SCIENTIA & ARTES / AR (monogram), 7738 BELIURE TOFFIER – TOURS / L. D.” Contributors: Eugène Briffault (French, 1799 – 1854) – author of the text. Bertall [ Bertal; Charles Albert d'Arnoux (French, 1820 – 1882) – illustrator. Pierre-Jules Hetzel (French, 1814 – 1886) – publisher. Printer: Imprimerie Schneider et Langrand, rue d'Erfurth, 1 (Paris). Paper: La papeterie d’Essonne.
  • Title: NOUVELLE | LISTE | DES JOLIES FEMMES | DE PARIS ; | LEURS NOMS ET LEUR DEMEURE. | PRIX TROIS FRANCS. | Se trouve A Paris , au Palais des plaisirs. | — | An 1808. || Pagination : [1-6] 7-70 [2 blank] Collation : 9vo, [A]9 B-D9. Binding: Original blue wrappers, 15 x 9 cm. Ref: OCLC finds only one copy, at the British Library. The BnF has a work of the same title, with the same pagination, dated 1803. The stated publisher seems to be fictitious. Quaritch description: 12mo, pp. 70; a little dusty, a few spots and marks; a very good uncut copy in original blue/grey wrappers; somewhat worn and stained. Very rare guide to Parisian prostitutes providing an extraordinary snapshot of the state of prostitution in the city during the First French Empire. The anonymous compiler begins with a brief history of prostitution in the capital, and its regulation, under Charlemagne and Louis VIII, describes a brothel established by Joanna I of Naples at Avignon and discusses Pierre-Jean Grosley’s estimate of the number of prostitutes in London. He then provides his liste, divided into categories including ‘houses of the first order’, ‘bawdy houses’, ‘actresses’, ‘washerwomen’, and ‘procuresses’, giving the name of each prostitute, an indication of their age, and their physical attributes, character, and particular talents. Rosanne, for example, chez Madame l’Évêque at the Palais du Tribunat, offers ‘unspeakably voluptuous pleasures to the nether regions’; Honorine prefers women; Scholastique likes wine with her lovemaking; Nanette has a penchant for soldiers; Genevieve favours the priapic; Dorsay enjoys S&M, and Madame Laperriere promises rejuvenation to the elderly. One Ducroisy is poetically described as possessing ‘a tuft as black as a crow above two alabaster columns’, while Félicité has skin ‘soft and white, sprinkled with golden freckles, like gold in Maraschino liqueur’. The author hopes that his listed will bring business to the ladies and pleasure to their clients, beseeching both to look after their health so that his guide might ‘serve Love, not Asclepius’.
  • Description: one volume, 31.3 x 23.8 cm, bound in crimson cloth with gilt lettering to spine, in a pictorial dust jacket, lettered to front: GEISHA | {image} | Beyond | the | Painted | Smile | {image} || Title-page: GEISHA | Beyond | the | Painted | Smile | edited by the | Peabody Essex | Museum | published by | George Braziller, Inc. | in association with the | Peabody Essex Museum || Pagination: 1-159 [160], ils. Contributors: Lisa Dalby, Lesley Downer, Arthur Golden, Peter M. Grilli, Money L. Hickman, Allen Hockley, Andrew L. Maske, Yoko Yamamoto.
  • Pagination: [2] – letterpress title / blank, t.p. with contents / to readers, [1] 2-376 + 7 b/w and 16 coloured plates (total 23); this differs to Abbey’s description of 372 pages + 4 pages index, and 41 plates (lacking 18 plates). In No 73 lacking 3 plates: Quadrant Regent st., Morning dress and Full dress. In No 74 lacking 5 plates: Charles str., Brienz, head dresses, full dress, and muslin patterns. In No 75 lacking 5 plates: 4 with bank notes and Castle of Rinkenberg. In No 76 lacking 1 plate: Cavern St. Beat. In No 77 lacking 2 plates: Wetzar and Lake Thun. In No 78 lacking 2 plates: Crescent at Portland Place and Environs of Thun. Collation: 4to; letterpress title, [A]1 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 3A-3C4 3D2. Binding: 23.5 x 15.5 cm; double fillet blind-ruled half-calf over pebbled cloth boards, raised bands ruled blind, crimson label with gilt lettering to spine. References: Martin Hardie (1906), p.310 [LIB-2623.2021]; R. V. Tooley (1935), p. 26 [LIB-2641.2021]; J. R. Abbey (1953), Cat. № 212, p. 174 [LIB-2622.2021].
  • Description: single volume 24.5 x 19 cm, collated 4to, bound by a previous owner in quarter red morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, with gilt lettering in compartments: "SPADDY | DÉVERGONDAGES", red marbled endpapers. Printed on wove paper with watermark “RIVES”. Title-page: SPADDY | DÉVERGONDAGES | BRUXELLES | Aux Dépens d'un Amateur | 1948 || Pagination: [4] – blank, [1, 2] – h.t. / limitation, [3, 4] – t.p. / blank, 5-151 [152] – blank, [4] – blank; uncut, illustrated with 16 hand-coloured lithographs extraneous to collation after watercolours by Féodor Rojankowski [Rojan]. Table of contents on p. 151. Limitation: 250 copies of which №№ I – XVI with original watercolour and b/w suite of plates and №№ 17-250 on Rives paper with coloured lithography; this copy is № 100 of 234 Rives paper copies. Catalogue Raisonné: J.-P. Dutel (1920–1970) № 1389 / p. 128.