Aphrodite (Ancient Manners), Translated Into English From the French of Pierre Louÿs - Limited Edition of 26 Copies on Japan Vellum, Lettered from A to Z by Louÿs, Pierre - 1919

Privately Printed (Mitchell Starrett Buck). LEATHER BOUND. B00ZM136FS 1919 limited edition (26 copies) 'Privately Printed' by the translator, Mitchell S. Buck / Nicholas L. Brown (New York), 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches tall red full leather signed Stikeman & Co. bound, ornate gilt ruling to covers and lettering to spine, top page edges gilt, fore and bottom page edges untrimmed, green and red leather front and rear pastedowns ornately tooled in gilt (with Stikeman and Co. in gilt to the bottom of the rear leather pastedown), beige moire endpapers, printed on fine Japan vellum paper, 30 full-page engravings (10 hand-colored) with tissue guards, xx, 269 pp. Bumping to lower tip of front board and upper tip of rear board. Slight rubbing to covers, and moderate edgewear, with a couple of nicks to the fore edge of the front board and wear visible along the spine. A couple of unopened signatures (easily remedied with a playing card). Occasional very slight marginal foxing. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - of this scarce limited edition issue, magnificently bound by the legendary Stikeman and Co. of New York. Identified on the limitations page as Copy I of 26 copies (A - Z) produced on Japan vellum (a fine, thick, glossy paper, made in imitation of vellum, generally, as here, a light tan color, produced in Japan from native fibers that are of relatively great length). The sensuous frontispiece and nine other full-page art nouveau engravings are in this limited edition presented in three versions - in black ink (as given in all other editions), in red ink and hand colored - for a total of 30 engravings, each with tissue guard. Note that this is a heavy and oversized book, so additional postage will be required for international or priority orders. Contact us for links to more than a dozen high-resolution images of this handsome volume, a rarity among early American erotica, especially in such a distinctive binding by the renowned New York firm of Stikeman and Co., founded by Henry Stikeman (d. 1932), and rising to American preeminence as ornate binders in the late nineteenth century. ~DD~ Aphrodite is the first book published by American poet, translator and classical scholar Mitchell S. Buck (1887 - 1959), a translation of the 1896 first novel of the French decadent Pierre Louys, Aphrodite: Moeurs Antiques. The best-selling work of French fiction of its day, Aphrodite is a voluptuous look at courtesan life in ancient Alexandria, telling the story of Chrysis, a courtesan, and the sculptor Demetrios. Buck's translation first appeared in 1913, as here 'privately printed,' probably at the translator's expense. According to Buck's introduction, in this 1919 issue errors were corrected, 'the entire translation carefully revised, and the illustrations added.' It most likely was arranged through former Philadelphia bookseller Nicholas L. Brown, who officially became a publisher in 1916, and thereafter issued most of Buck's output, moving to New York in 1918. Between 1916 and 1932, Brown published small editions of poetry, belles lettres and translations, sometimes without his imprint but stating that the title has been 'issued privately for subscribers' (in order to evade prosecution for dealing in obscene materials). Such classical erotica is very tame by modern standards, but in the teens and twenties such material was policed by self-appointed authorities such as John S. Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Sumner and his ilk had success in getting various literary works banned, such as Theodore Dreiser's The Genius (1915) and James Branch Cabell's Jurgen (1919). Pierre Louys (1870 - 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to 'express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection.' Aphrodite, his first novel, is considered a mixture of both literary excess and refinement, and, numbering at 350,000 copies, was the best selling work by any living French author in his day. Many erotic artists have illustrated Louys's writings, but we have been unable to identify the artist here, who signed the work with a distinctive script 'L.' In his Foreword to Louys's 1932 Collected Works, Buck noted how the times had already changed: 'Unless we are professional reformers, we are no longer shocked, except at tragedy. ... we can, in the main, observe public semi-nudity without rioting. Even the sinister manifestations of sex are known to all who care to read about them. And our physical health and perfection now receive as much, if not more, attention than the ultimate destination of our soul. All of which is a rather encouraging development.' . Good. 1919. First Edition.