Paris: Librairie Generale Catholique (1922). 287pp. A fictionalized version of the events leading up the the eruption of Mt. Pele in 1902, which resulted in the death of 30,000 people around St. Pierre, the capitol. St. Pierre has been described as the Sodom of the Caribbean, a town rife with prostitution, decadence, blasphemy, homosexuality and unbelief and many believed this was the reason for the eruption. The author portrays assorted sacrileges and "decadent behavior" that occurred immediately before the eruption. Very good in original wrappers, light wear to covers and spine, pages uncut. Quite rare. More

Rugby: George Over (1889). Sayle's second book of verse, highly praised by John Addington Symonds and reviewed by Charles Kains Jackson in the Artist and Journal of Home Culture. Sayle went on to become a noted bibliographer in Cambridge, where he lived most of his life. Original white buckram a little yellowed, covers a bit marked, light browning to endpapers, erratum present at rear. Inscribed by the author to Godfrey Llloyd ('Godfrey Lloyd / from / C.S. / Cambridge/ June 20. 1897.') on front endpaper. Bookplate of previous owner on front pastedown. Limited to 220 copies. Uncommon. Young 3439. d'Arch Smith 250. More

London: Kegan Paul, Trench (1885). 59pp. More

Berlin: Fritz Gurlitt Verlag (1923) lg 4to. The classical erotic elegies of Tibullus are illustrated with five homoerotic and romantic etchings of young men engaged in various pastoral activities. Although not explicit, the images are quite sensitive and beautifully conceived. One of a total edition of 220 copies, this is example LVII. Each plate by Schoff is signed in pencil. Very good in original red boards with leather spine which is slightly worn, boards lightly worn and very light spotting throughout. Uncommon. More

[Deauville, France : Marthe Régnier, ca. 1923?]. One of a series of large folios dedicated to the Parisian beaux monde in the 1920s. Thirty-two colored illustrations all colored by hand (J. Saude) including images of Paul Poiret, Leonora Hughes, The Maharajah of Kapurthala, King Alfonso of Spain, C. Gulbnkian, the Aga Khan, Elsa Maxwell, Vionnet and many others. Many of the images bear penned identifications of those portrayed. Contemporary 3/4 leather binding with marbled paper boards and endpapers. Some wear to edges and spine, leather is a bit discolored- internally very good. Rare. More

Paris: Imprimerie A. Lanier et ses fils, 1888. (76 p.). This very uncommon doctoral dissertation on "sexual anomalies" undertaken under the direction of Valentin Magnan. Serieux proposed that a great number of people with "aberrant sexuality" were in fact insane « anormaux constitutionnels ». More

A collection of twelve Signe de Piste (and related) catalogs, brochures, order forms and correspondence from the proprietors of the publications. Many bear penned or penciled notations in the hand of Anthony Reid. Generally very good. More

London: Faber & Faber (1933). 8vo. 332pp. Sitwell's compendium of relatively unknown English eccentrics. Very good in green linen boards, frontispiece and jacket by Pavel Tchelitchew, light wear to jacket. More

London: Printed for M. Downing, in Bartholomew-Close, near West-Smithfield (1738). 28pp. The Society for the Reformation of Manners was founded in the Tower Hamlets area of London in 1691. Its espoused aims were the suppression of profanity, immorality, and other lewd activities in general, and of brothels and prostitution in particular. One of many similar societies founded in that period, it reflected a sea-change in the social attitudes in England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and a shifting from the socially liberal attitudes of the Restoration period under Charles II and James II to a more moral and censorious attitude of respectability and seriousness under William and Mary. This document notes that "Great numbers of Bawdy-houses, Sodomitical haunts, Common gaming-houses, and other Disorderly houses, have been suppressed and shut up; and the streets very much purg'd from the Wretched tribe of Night-walking Prostitutes and most detestable Sodomites." The Society flourished until the 1730s, with 1,363 prosecutions in 1726-7. There was a series of raids on "molly houses" (homosexual brothels) in 1725. One prominent victim of the Society was Charles Hitchen, a "thief-taker" and Under City Marshal. He acted as a "finder" of stolen merchandise, negotiating a fee for the return of the stolen items, while extorting bribes from pickpockets to prevent arrest, and leaning on the thieves to make them fence their stolen goods through him. His business may have been undermined by the success of his competitor Jonathan Wild. In 1727, Hitchen was accused of sodomitical practices, and tried for sodomy (a capital offence) and attempted sodomy. He was sentenced to a fine of 20 pounds, to be put in the pillory for one hour, and then to serve six months in prison. He was badly beaten while in the pilory, and died soon after being released from prison. Very good, disbound from another volume, but intact otherwise. Uncommon. More

Utrecht (1731). 20pp. Emanuel Valk (1697-1732) was minister in Velzen (1723-1730) and later in Vianen. In 1730, he was suspected of sodomy and resigned from his church and moved to Utrecht, where he wrote pamphlets about his case. In 1732, he was arrested in Utrecht and handed over to the police of Vianen, where he subsequently committed suicide in his cell. The 'Letter to a friend' contains copies of the summons of 27 August 1731 and the sentence of 19 November the same year. The second work listed is signed by the author opposite the title page. Contemporary marbled limp boards. title page lightly foxed; one leaf loosening, backstrip damaged. Both wrks are quite rare. More

Colombes (S.) Éditions Athanor, 1930. 15pp. Very good in wrappers. More

London: David Nutt in the Strand (1894). 168pp. The only published prose collection by the eccentric Estonian count, a highly praised collection of macabre stories. Stenbock, a contemporary of Oscar Wilde, was "bizarre, fantastic, feverish, eccentric, extravagant, morbid and perverse" according to Arthur Symons and many others shared similar thoughts about the gay poet, whose life ended the year following publication of this collection at age thirty-five. See Adlard, Stenbock, Yates and the Nineties; Young 3631* A good copy of a quite rare book with cover illustration by the author, light cover wear, corners lightly bumped, front cover a bit darkened, rear cream boards lightly stained. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, p. 401. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy Volume II, p. 104. See Tymn (ed), Horror Literature 3-227. Bleiler (1978), p. 186. Reginald 13606. More