Sonnets Paiens
Londres: Siegle, Hill & Co. (1909). 34pp.
Item #5714
A quite uncommon collection of homoerotic poetry printed in England, but distributed by Messein in France. The collection includes a number of erotic poems, including 'Adolescents", "Corydon", "l'Éphèbe" and "Sonnet pour un Androgyne". An attractive publication with a Beardsley-esque frontispiece of a faun's head and decorative covers. The author died quite young in a bus accident, but produced several similar collections and contributed to Pan: Revue Libre and Mercure de France. The introductory poem is by Paul Roba, a poet to whom the collection is dedicated. Very good in wrappers.
e: Albert Messein succ. Paris), Undated (1909) (12.8x15.5cm. - circa) 34pp. Brooch. Pink cover. First dish decorated with an Art Nouveau floral frame. "Decadentist" frontispiece representing a head of fauna in a taste close to the rare Viennese Secession ORIGINAL EDITION printed on Holland paper. These sonnets “proceed from inclinations analogous to those of a Jacques by Adelsward Fersen and elegant homosexuals among whom Jean Cocteau made his debut” (ref. - “Dictionary of erotic works” 444). This collection is dedicated to the Belgian poet Paul Roba, who signs the initial sonnet. Francis Latouche died at the age of 28 in a bus accident when he left Henry Durand-Davray's home (translator and close friend of Wilde), of whom he was the secretary. Jacques Adelswärd-Fersen paid tribute to him in the review Pan, in 1913. Jacques Vaché (one of the inspirers of Surrealism) liked to evoke the tragic fate of Paul Roba (strangled around the age of 20) and Francis Latouche, whom he welcomed the "stanzas of a raucous paganism.
Price: $350.00