-F)] (Text), [BIDEAULT (Louis)] (Plates). Habitudes Secrètes chez l?homme et chez la Femme.

[DEBRAY (Th.

About this Item

[Secret habits among men and among women]. Illustrated with 13 full page tinted engraved plates signed in the stone. First edition. 4to., 416pp., plate, marbled endpapers, in contemporary, possibly clandestine, quarter red morocco, with marbled paper covered boards, gilt titles and fillets on spine, thus: ' M Villemont Habitudes Secre?tes ', a few pencil corrections on the plates, French text. N.p. [Paris], n.p. [Librairie des Publications Modernes], n.d., 1890. £500.00 Endemic, light browning, corners and edges rubbed, spine scuffed, bookseller's annota- tions in front in pencil. Even without the plates, the text is very rare in both commerce and institutionally with one copy only on WorldCat at the National Library of Medicine, described as imperfect and minus a standalone titlepage as with this copy and bound with a volume of another illustrated work by the same author. Provenance: Dr. Michel Villemont's copy. A scary, strident attack on the medical dangers of masturbation illustrated with colour medical plates depicting the destruction of sexual organs, the ravaged skulls, hands, hearts and ul- cerated mouths of syphilitics, huge follicular tumours etc. An?ugly-beautiful' book that borders on the errant art of the mad. We think that the binding was made for/or gilt stamped for Dr. Ville- mont, the author of ?l'Amour conjugal', and was part of his private specialised library. A visual horror show of the biological consequences of unprotected sex and therefore of the libertine life, with the message that ?secret habits' lead to nightmarish diseases. More perversely, shall we suggest that it is a form of medical pornography? 219719.

Seller Inventory # 219719

Bibliographic Details

• Title: -F)] (Text), [BIDEAULT (Louis)] (Plates). Habitudes Secrètes chez l?homme et chez la Femme.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)