Chez la petite Lolotte au Palais Royal, Paris, 1887. 204pp. An uncommon erotic work, largely ignored in the literature. Very good in original wrappers, rebound in vellum. One of 120 numbered copies (#95). Very good, a few darkened areas on final sheets. According to scholar Patrick Kearney: "The identity of 'E.D.' remains something of a mystery. Was he Edmond Dumoulin or Emile Desjardins? Both names have been proposed by sources which are normally reliable. Or perhaps, as has also been suggested, there were two authors working for the same publisher who coincidentally had identical initials. The first public suggestion that the author was Dumoulin seems to occur in the entry (no. 175) for Odor di femina in L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris: Mercure de France, 1913), the product of the combined talents of Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Perceau and Fernand Fleuret. The note to the entry reads: "E. D. sur lequel on n'a pas beaucoup de renseignements serait, d'après les uns, un courtier en vins de Bordeaux, selon les autres un functionnaire de la Gironde. Son nom serait Dumoulin. Quoi qu'il en soit, il a publié des écrits libres, jusque vers 1900, chez H[i]rsch, chez D[u]r[i]ng[e], chez Mme R[o]b[e]rt, et chez d'autres. C'est un des plus voluptueux et le plus sensuel des auteurs sous le manteau de la fin du XIXe siècle et parlois il a de l'esprit. Ses meilleurs ouvrages sont: L'Education d'une demi-vierge, excellent roman quit devait avoir une suite, laquelle écrite, n'a jamais paru; Mémoires d'une danseuse russe, l'Odyssée d'un pantalon, Mes amours avec Victoire, Mes étapes amoureuses, Les Stations de l'amour, Les Callipyges, Jupes troussées. La reste ne vaut pas grand'chose, mais l'Education d'une demi-vierge et la Danseuse russe ont quelque sens. The force of the attribution is weakened somewhat by the fact that two of the books listed, L'Education d'une demi-vierge and Les Stations de l'amour, are by a different author entirely, most probably Adolphe Belot. Neverthless, Dumoulin's name is specifically mentioned, and I believe the source of their information to be Charles Hirsch, a French bookseller and publisher who had a shop in London in the last years of the 19th century. As a dealer in erotica, one may reasonably assume that he knew Henry Spencer Ashbee, the great English collector, and as we shall see Ashbee knew the truth of the attribution in the case of one book at least. By 1930, one of the compilers of L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque Nationale had second thoughts concerning Dumoulin. In entry no. 70.4 of his Bibliographie du Roman érotique au XIXe Siècle, Louis Perceau writes: "E. D. serait un nommé Desjardins, qui aurait été professeur de Faculté à Montpellier. Perceau's source of information is unknown to me, and neither do I know where the Christian name Emile seems first to have been used. The earliest I am aware of seems to be late 1950s reprints of Mes étapes Amoureuses which are listed below. But Edmond Dumoulin definitely wrote at least one of the 'E. D.' books, a collection of erotic verses called Rondeaux et sonnets galants (1887). Limited to just 120 copies, it is one of the rarist of the 'E. D.' books, and it is fortunate that the British Library has an exemplar in its Private Case erotica collection. It is part of the Henry Spencer Ashbee bequest, and Ashbee, who knew Auguste Brancart, the book's publisher, thoughtfully added the following pencil note to it: "Received from A. Brancart of Amsterdam. Dec. 1887. 10 francs. Author Edmond Dumoulin, St. Seurin de Cadourne, Medoc, Gironde, France." The suggestion that the pseudonym 'E. D.' might in fact belong to two separate authors with the same initials appears to have been first fielded by Peter Mendes in entry 137-A of his Clandestine Erotic Fiction in English 1800-1930. A Bibliographical Study where he points to the strong stylistic and thematic variations in the books signed 'E. D.' He develops his argument further: "…since the Ashbee note [viz. the one giving Dumoulin's name and address] appears in a copy falling into the more 'normal' heterosexial groupings, 'Desjardins' could possibly have been the author of the texts in which flagellation is the dominant motif; significantly, only 'E. D.' texts of this latter kind were translated into English in this period… Whether one author or two, all the books signed 'E. D.' were first published at Amsterdam by Auguste Brancart between 1888 (Rondeaux et sonnets) and 1892 (Maison de Verre and Mémoirs d'une danseuse russe). In all, there were eighteen separate titles published, although one of them, Après le bal (1889) was a separate publication of the third playlet included in Théâtre Naturaliste, published the same year. Nevertheless, even seventeen separate novels in the space of four years is an achievement, and lends support to Mr. Mendes' theory. More

A collection of ephemeral material from the 1950s-60s from the collection of Herbert Boyce Satcher, a renowned Philadelphia bibliophile. Included here are 9 paper cocktail napkins, 10 folded note cards, 11 folded greeting cards, all of which bear humorous printed greetings and images. All are in very good condition, some duplicates. More

Zurich: Der Kreis (1959). An unbound set of the complete year of 12 issues for 1959. It was published in German, French and English and contained articles on literature, art and culture and each edition contained photographs and artwork, many by renowned artists. Artwork by George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, George Platt Lynes, Jean Boullet and stories by James Barr, Michael Kuzmin and others. In Hubert Kennedy's book The Ideal Gay Man, which chronicles the history of Der Kreis, Kennedy describes the magazine as having been "the world's most important journal promoting the legal and social rights of gay men" for much of its publication period and one of very few such journals in Europe at the time. Additionally, it remains the only gay publication to include editorial content in three languages. (Wikipedia) In 2014, the magazine's history was documented in a Swiss docudrama film eponymously titled The Circle. The film, which features a mix of historical footage from the 1950s and dramatizations of events, won the Teddy Award and the Panorama Audience Award in the documentary category at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. $250. More

Regensburg : Verl. f. Sexualliteratur (1951). 72pp. One of several essay by Biederich arguing for the abolition of s. 175. Very good in wrappers. More

Hamburg: Grieger (1952). 57pp. Study of the gay poet August von Platen published by Charles Grieger, who was at the center of the gay rights movement in post-War German. Very good in illustrated wrappers. More

Buenos Aires: J. Suárez (1942). Number 277 of an unknown number of copies issued. Good in browned wrappers, edgewear and light sunning to wrappers. More

Paris: Alyscamps Press (1994). The Ode was originally published in April 1926 in the Revista de Occidente and is considered one of the finest paeans to friendship in Spanis and Lorca greatly admired Dali's work for its symmetry, objectivity and lack of sentimentality. This English translation by Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno was issued in an edition of 100 signed broadsides (#22) and incorporates two half-tone photographs of the pair taken in the 1920s. Very good on handmade Zerkall paper (60 cm x 40 cm). More

Paris: Les Editions Parisiennes [1933]. 249pp. A survey of the sexual attitudes of Moroccans in the 1930s, the author presents his observations as a travelogue with numerous references to prostitution and homosexuality. The book bears a printed dedication to Francis Carco, Very good in original wrappers, signature and ownership stamp on front endpages Uncommon. More

[Madrid] La novela de Bolsillo [1917]. 62pp. A quite uncommon erotic novel by the eccentric and prolific gay writer. More

Leipzig: Spohr (1903). 204pp. An offprint from Hirschfeld's Jahrbuch für sexual Zwischenstufen articulating his views on homosexuality. More

Paris: Sansot (1909). 93pp. Paule Riversdale was the heteronym adopted by Renée Vivien (née Pauline Mary Tarn) for several publications that appeared during the years of her relationship with Baroness Hélène de Zuylen. Originally published in 1903, this edition is a significantly revised collection issued by her second publisher and was one of the last books issued before her death in 1909. Very good in original yellowing wrappers. Rare. More