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Dix Sujets Aimables dans le Goût Antique : Inventés dessinés gravés en couleurs imprimés et enrichis d’une savante préface par Le Chevalier Rémy. Se trouve à Cythère et ne se vend nulle part.
[Paris]: 1917. 4to, original white cloth portfolio with ribbon ties. 1 engraved title, 3 engraved text leaves with illustrated borders, 10 engraved plates, 1 engraved colophon, all printed in color, most a mixture of aquatint and engraving. Set of ten imaginative color aquatints in the Art Nouveau style, depicting various erotic scenes from the playfully fanciful to the grotesque. One of 20 copies on Japan within the larger edition of 110, each plate signed by the artist in pencil with the pseudonym “Remigius Eques” and numbered 12/20. This issue containing the plate “L’Hésitation aux portes du Temple” instead of “L’Amour Astronome,” which is found in a variant issue. Other plates include: “Messaline,” depicting her as voluptuous, red-haired, and fair, clutched mid-coitus by a man, apparently of African descent, wearing an earring, who gazes determinedly into the distance, as they lie on a divan decorated with ghostly penises, all apparently winging their way over the sheets to the place of penetration; “Timides Essais” showing two bashful adolescent lovers seated opposite one-another, legs languidly outstretched, toes dexterously employed for the other’s pleasure; “La Roue de l’Amour,” a wheel of phalluses resting on winged penis “feet” being ridden and kissed by two of the scene’s three nubile young women and turned by one of three putti; and “Hommage à Priape,” depicting a herm of Priapus, almost Buddha-like in his large-bodied serenity, draped in garlands and closely attended by two adoring young women while a third figure, a winged surprise lover, tiptoes up behind, with one hand directing his erect member towards the curvaceous posterior of the young woman, and holding a finger beside his nose “shh”-ing the viewer into playful complicity. Several other aquatints show figures of ambiguous or mixed gender-physicality, most notably the hermaphroditic caryatids on the title-page. Also remarkable is the multi-raciality of the images: fair-skinned Messalina and her very dark-skinned lover represent the tonal extremes of the spectrum, but other aquatints and characters range from shades of orange and pink to blue and shades of gray. André Lambert (1884–1967), born in Stuttgard into a family of architects, studied in Munich and Paris, under Hugo von Habermann and Fernand Cormon, respectively. While in Paris he founded the review “Janus,” written entirely in Latin, with Georges Aubault. Lambert moved to Spain in 1920, and spent much time illustrating various works in Latin. His fascination with the ancient world is further evidenced by the present work, influenced by the erotic art of Pompeii. Lambert apparently worked in theater design and illustrated works for Jules Verne and Gustave Flaubert, but is best known for his erotic art. REFERENCES: Pia, Pascal. Les livres de l’Enfers: bibliographie critique des ouvrages érotiques dans leurs différentes éditions du XVIe siècle à nos jours, no. 373; Dutel, Jean-Pierre. Bibliographie des ouvrages érotiques publiés clandestinement en Français entre 1880 et 1920. CONDITION: Portfolio soiled and worn at extremities with some fraying at head and foot of spine, some relatively minor discoloration to upper and lower covers; contents very good, tissue guards lightly toned, some with wrinkles and creases.
Item #4105
Price: $4,750.00