Carrington

Charles Carrington Collection:Thais | Translated from the French of Anatole France. LONDON , CHARLES CARRINGTON, 1901. Illustrations by Martin Van Maele.

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This Book

As a rolling tribute to my good friend Michael Neal, who sadly passed away on October 21st. I am continuing with my promise to catalogue all the Charles Carrington titles from our combined collections. This particular title is one from Michaels collection and a wonderful example of a working book that has been read and bears the signs of wear with pride. An absolute treat to handle, great size and weight, printed on heavy hand made Van Gelder paper, beautiful print job and fabulous Van Maele illustrations, always at his best when there is room for his marvellous monsters.

Thaïs is a novel by French writer Anatole France, published in 1890 and considered one of his best works. It is based on events in the life of Saint Thaïs of Egypt, a legendary convert to Christianity who is said to have lived in the 4th century. In the story, Paphnuce, an ascetic hermit of the Egyptian desert, journeys to Alexandria to find Thais, the libertine beauty whom he knew as a youth. Masquerading as a dandy, he is able to speak with her about eternity; surprisingly he succeeds in converting her to Christianity. Yet on their return to the desert he becomes fascinated with her former life. She enters a convent to repent of her sins. He cannot forget the pull of her famous beauty, and becomes confused about the values of life. Later, as she is dying and can only see heaven opening before her, he comes to her side and tells her that her faith is an illusion, and that he loves her.

Anatole France (François-Anatole Thibault 1844-1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and sceptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie Française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature “in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament”. France is also widely believed to be the model for narrator Marcel’s literary idol Bergotte in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.

 

Title Page and Frontis.

THAIS | TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH | OF | ANATOLE FRANCE | [quotation] | LONDON | CHARLES CARRINGTON | 1901 | All rights reserved
8vo. 304pp. Limited edition of 500 copies on hand-made paper watermarked Van Gelder. Frontispiece + 20 engravings by Martin van Maele done in shades of black and brown; with tissue guards. 6″x9″, x+304pp, hardbound, blue moire silk boards with blind stamped borders, gilt titles on spine, deckled edges, Van Gelder hand-made paper, beautiful tipped-in illustrations protected by tissue guard and printed in combination of black & brown ink, good condition, bumping to corners, some sunning to spine, slight foxing to prelims, interior pages clean.

(Kinsey: 843.7 F815 t3E 1901. The Satyrical Drawings of Martin van Maele; Cythera Press, 1970. Private collection.)Description
Thais, Anatole France, trans. Robert B. Douglas, illus. by Martin van Maële (Charles Carrington, London, 1901 [first English translation, first edition, limited edition, one of 500])

The First English translation of France’s adaptation of the Golden Legend tale. Originally published in Paris by Calmann-Lévy, 1890; and again by Romagnol in 1900, with illustrations by Lauren, in a limited edition of 300 copies [Forbidden Books, p.29]. Anatole France is a pseudonym used by Jacques Anatole Thibault.

Frontispiece

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Charles Carrington Bookshop label

See Also

Charles Carrington Collection: Henryk Sienkiewicz, Pan Michael, Paris: Charles Carrington1904, Illustrated by Martin Van Maele.

Books for Trade: Anon (Gustav Droz), Un été à la Campagne, A Mitylene n.p (Paris) n.d (1920) (Briffaut). Illustrations by Van Troizem ( Van Maele )

This Book is Not For Sale

Charles Carrington Collection: Jean de Villiot; La Flagellation Amoureuse. Charles Carrington , Paris 1904, illustrations by Martin van Maele.

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This Book

Another rare Carrington, with Van Maele illustrations, this one a fairly recent acquisition, and yet another example of the quality of Carrington publications, therefore as much attention given to text and page decorations as the illustrations. This will have been a later rebind as the original covers are only partially preserved.

Title Page

Jean de Villiot, La Flagellation Amoureuse; DANS L’HISTOIRE DES MŒURS ET DANS LA LITTÉRATURE SUIVIE DE La Flagellation des Femmes EN FRANCE SOUS LA REVOLUTION ET LA TERREUR BLANCHE Cinq eaux-fortes de MARTIN VAN MAELE PARIS CHARLES CARRINGTON, LIBRAIRIE-EDITEUR 13, Faubourg Montmartre, 1904. 12.7cm. x 21.59cm. 240pp. Printed on laid paper by Veuve Félix Guy et Cie, 20th April 1904. Title page printed in orange and black. Head and tail pieces. Decorative first letter to each chapter. 5 full-page engravings (signed) by Martin van Maele with tissue guards .

This Book: Rebound in quarter black leather on cream textured boards, spine decorated with 4 gilt fluerons, 4 raised bands , lined in gilt, author and title stamped in gilt lettering. Original front and back covers, cropped and pasted on card inserts. Some light sporadic foxing but overall in very good condition.

Original cover

Half title

Print Detail

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Van Maele 1

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Van Maele 2

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Van Maele 3

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Van Maele 5

Table 1

Table 2

Original Back Cover

Reference:

Erotica Bibliophile Charles Carrington

See Also

Books for Trade: Jean de Villiot: Parisienne et Peux-Rouges, La Flagellation à Travers le Monde. 20 compositions symboliques de Henri Caruchet. Paris: Charles Carrington, 1904.

Charles Carrington Collection: Jean du Villiot (trans): La Flagellation Des Femmes en Allemagne. illustrations par Martin van Maele, Paris Charles Carrington, 1901.

This Book is not for sale

Any questions, or additional information to enhance the listing please complete the contact form.

Charles Carrington Collection: An English Doctor: How Women are Flogged in  Russian Prisons, Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1899

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This Book

This one is for the bibliophiles, no illustrations! A very rare item,  effectively a pornographic novelette, written in letter form, a salacious account of an alleged visit by an English doctor to a convent prison  in Siberia, where he witnesses and records the most severe of tortures and punishments to  the female inmates, by which he finds himself extremely aroused, and following his departure from said institution seeks to re-enact his experience by employing prostitutes versed in the fetishist  arts. Strong stuff not for the faint hearted. And yes it is in English, a French version was published in a compendium of flagellation material also by Carrington but minus the sexual content.

Title Page

Curious Sidelights of Social History: How  Women are Flogged  in  Russian Prisons, Narrative of a Visit to a Convent Prison in Siberia, by an English  Doctor. Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles, 13 Faubourg Montmarte,1899. In original publishers paper wraps, printed in red and black on a salmon pink paper, over plain card covers. List of English Publications printed on back cover, interestingly this is clearly over-stamped “12 Jan 1903”, Title page duplicates the cover and is also printed in red  and black. Contents. 12.07cm. x 19.69cm. xvii + 48pp. Printed on laid paper. Condition, Under a protective opaque sleeve, the book is complete, but shaken, stitching visible, in paper wrap, some light foxing to front cover and spine, Very Good.

This title is from the Michael Neal Collection

Front Cover

Statement

Sample text

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Back Cover

The date stamp, obviously a later addition at the top of the back cover is possibly another indication that the books were stored in sheets and wrappers added when a copy was ordered, thus explaining some confusion caused to bibliographers, when advertisements for titles often list books, printed years after  the publication of the book under scrutiny.

Bibliographical Note Guacamole P77 (110)

Links:

Eroticabibliophile Carrington

 

This book is Not for Sale

Any information, questions or comments please complete the Contact Form

 

 

 

 

How  Women are Flogged  Flogged in  Russian Prisons
Narrative of a visit to a convent prison in Siberia by an English doctor. Paris: Libraire des Bibliophiles, 1899.
12.07cm. x 19.69cm. xvii + 48pp. Printed on laid paper. Title page printed in red and black.

A note in the Kinsey copy states: “More erotic than the French version in Villiot’s Curiosities et Anecdotes de flagellation”.

Charles Carrington Collection: Jean du Villiot (trans): La Flagellation Des Femmes en Allemagne. illustrations par Martin van Maele, Paris Charles Carrington, 1901.

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This Book

Here we are again, back to the strange and complex world of the books published by Charles Carrington, (not his real name), under, in this case his most common imprint, being his company name. Nothing is quite as it seems with these books and if you attempt to follow future listings you will gradually become just as confused about it all as I am. For the moment lets just focus on this one title, except, it isn’t just one title. Confused? Brilliant, let us proceed.

Originally published in German, Written by W. Reinhard.  Lenchen im Zuchthause in c. 1848. Though claiming to be a direct translation of the German Edition, it appears that this the first, French language edition, was actually translated from the First English language edition, published clandestinely by Charles Carrington entitled Nell in Bridewell, in 1900 under his Society of British Bibliophiles imprint.

It is worthy of note that there is often significant variation in content, between French and English translations of Carrington books (in all imprints), A clandestine imprint usually indicating  greater sexual (pornographic) content, although at times the same device was used to hide the publisher from, outraged authors and fellow clandestine publishers when he had nicked their books without consent or in breach of copyright.

Nobody gave a toss about the flagellation stuff, and it was generally, neither censored, nor proscribed. Although this rule, like all good rules, does have exceptions

Brilliant!

As with other listings in this collection, I will distinguish between the actual book (This Book), and the bibliographical description, which describes how the book should have looked when it was made, Even this is subjective as very few bibliographical descriptions are completed “Book in Hand”. Mine are!

Title Page

Jean du Villiot (trans): La Flagellation Des Femmes en Allemagne. illustrations par Martin van Maele, Paris Charles Carrington, 1901. Rebound in red patterned cloth, over brown leather boards, spine in brown leather with title embossed, in red and black text and Publisher and date in black. Original (remains of) paper cover (front and back) pasted in. (original paper spine not retained), Number 309/500, on papier de Hollande. 236 rough cut pages. No printer referenced in this copy. Dimensions including binding (24 x 15.5 x 4.5 cm, weight 1 kg) Frontispiece and 19, duotone full page illustrations, signed (motif),by Martin Van Maele, each with its own tissue guard, (with textual description, and the number of the facing page printed in red). With 8 additional illustrations in text, by G.Dola and J. Wely.

Complete and in Very Good condition. From the Michael Neal Collection his note. Villiot – La Flagellation des femmes en allemagne 1901from the Leonardt collection lux binding slipcase.

NOTE: The following bibliographical description is in error,  the 20 illustrations by Van Maele, includes the frontispiece.

Bibliographical Description

LA FLAGELLATION | DES FEMMES [red] | EN ALLEMAGNE | Récit authentique d’une Prisonnière [red] | TRADUIT DE L’ALLEMAND DE | W. REINHARD | PAR | JEAN DU VILLIOT [red] | Vingt illustrations par MARTIN VAN MAELE | [vignette] | PARIS | CHARLES CARRINGTON [red] | 13, FAUBOURG MONTMARTRE, 13 | [short rule] | 1901 (13.97 x 22.86 cm). xi + 356 pp. Frontispiece + 20 engravings in red and black (with tissue guards), signed with Van Maele’s monogram. The in-text illustrations are by J.W. [J. Wely?] and G.D. [G. Dola?]. Printed by A.– G. Lemale [from a note in the copy at Kinsey] in a limited edition of 500 copies on Holland. First published as Lenchen im Zuchthause in c. 1848. This present edition is a French translation of Nell in Bridewell, published by Carrington   in 1900 under his Society of British Bibliophiles imprint. (Kinsey: 833.7 R369 l5F 190. Leonhardt: lot 419. Private

Perry, S. A.. Martin Van Maele: An Illustrated Bibliographical Checklist (Kindle Locations 290-297).  . Kindle Edition.

Spine

Pasted in Cover

Limitation Page

The Illustrations

Frontispiece

Facing Page 20

Facing Page 22

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Page 55

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Page 100

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Page 191

Tissue Guard Sample

Facing Page 201

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facing Page 238

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Facing Page 268

Page 338

Pasted in Back Cover

See Also

Who is the Artist? Illustrations from Nell in Bridewell (Lenchen im Zuchthause) | (Society of British Bibliophiles, Paris, 1900,

Books for Trade: Anon (Gustav Droz), Un été à la Campagne, A Mitylene n.p (Paris) n.d (1920) (Briffaut). Illustrations by Van Troizem ( Van Maele )

This Book is Not For Sale

Any questions or comments, please complete a contact form.

Charles Carrington Collection: Henryk Sienkiewicz, Pan Michael, Paris: Charles Carrington1904, Illustrated by Martin Van Maele.

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This is the first, in what promises to be a very large collection of titles published by Charles Carrington, either openly or under one of his clandestine imprints, many of the titles originate from the Michael Neal collection, which provides some very interesting, rare and obscure titles, others have come from various sources and have been in my possession for varying amounts of time, some I have listed previously on this site and are no longer in my possession, but as the nature of the site is to catalogue and preserve images of actual books, I am able to link them retrospectively and avoid the expense of having to purchase them again. More of this another time.

I have chosen, for no other reason, than a Van Maele connection, to list “Pan Michael”, as the first title in this new collection, and in doing so I have stumbled upon a bibliographical mystery, as I cannot locate another 1904 edition, and  as I cannot find a listed copy of the 1902 Carrington edition that has the Van Maele illustrations. I can only assume the the illustrations were designed specifically for the 1904 edition and there were never any in the 1902 edition.

There are various earlier editions of this title in English, French and Polish. I am not clear why Carrington chose to publish this title, as despite his forays into, pseudo-scientific and medical publications, as well as folk lore, the underlying theme to both openly published and clandestine imprints is sex, including a large selection of books on the flagellation theme, even with the books by Anatole France there is a gothic/demonic content with a very erotic and sensual imagery, both textual and especially in the Van Maele illustrations, I just cannot make this title fit into any of Carringtons traditional genres. Unsure if anyone can answer this question, but a always any suggestions or contributions to enhance the listing are always welcome

 

 The description provided by S.A. Perry, in her Martin Van Maele bibliography. references in detail the 1904 edition. My copy does not have the original covers which explains why I have 10 illustrations, the “onze” (eleven), referenced on the title page, included the illustrated, cover. Still 10 is better than none, and this leaves the door open for some generous donor to provide an image of the  cover, to complete the listing.

As will be the norm, my description is titled “This Book” and describes the copy I have in hand “warts and all”, this will be followed by a full bibliographical description (where there is one), which describes the book as it was (allegedly) when it was produced. A note of caution is, that many bibliographers have never seen the actual book, and their descriptions, are often the result of using earlier bibliographers descriptions, or from research on-line or in National, or University  collections. In the worst case scenario descriptions are from publishers catalogues, which in the case of Carrington, and similar publishers, are largely fabricated, and with false information as to the limitation numbers, the various luxury editions and the cost of such items. This goes with the territory of publishing erotica in whatever form, and such activity in this area is still happening today, with false provenance of newly discovered works and mysterious unknown artists, suddenly appearing on the market.

It must be said of Carrington, that whatever false claims he made, he did produce an astonishing number of incredibly beautiful books, sadly the only way you can experience the reality of such an object is to hold it in your hands, to take in the exotic scent of an old book, to feel the quality of the paper and weight and physical presence of the object, which is in itself a work of art, that cannot be reproduced today. And that is without even thinking about the illustrations, which lose their essence when paint shopped to make clean electronic copies.

THIS BOOK

 Title Page

Rebound in blue marbled boards, with green cloth spine, title, author, motif in gilt, with 3 sets of gilt parallel lines. ( see image at head of this listing). Lacking original paper covers, endpapers and any reference as to limitation. Commences with title page. 638 pages, dimensions (with binding 18 x 13 x 4 cm), weight 700 gr.  Contents complete with 10 full page plates from engravings, single sided on slightly heavier paper than the text, presumably tipped in, but attached in sequence to the page of relevant text. Each image indexed and with textual description, and signed with Van Maele’s motif signature. Overall condition good, with general marking and wear appropriate to a book of this age which has been in circulation. as mentioned above the title page indicates “Onze” (eleven) illustrations, this includes the illustrated cover which is absent from this book. Rare Title. Not for sale.

Cover

Sample text

Full Bibliographical Description.

Pan Michaël HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ | [short rule] | Pan Michaël | (MESSIRE VOLODVOVSKI) | TRADUIT PAR CHARLES GROLLEAU | [short rule] | Puisque saint Michael conduit toute | l’armée des Cieux et a gagné tant de | victoires sur les légions infernales, | je le choisis pour patron. | (Le Déluge.) | NOUVELLE ÉDITION | Onze dessins de Martin VAN MAELE | [short rule] | PARIS | CHARLES CARRINGTON, LIBRAIRE-EDITEUR | 13, FAUBOURG MONTMARTRE, 13 | [short rule] | 1904
In-12. (13 x 19 cm). 638 pp. 10 captioned hors-texte drawings in black signed with Van Maele’s monogram. Illustrated front cover (title in red) signed Martin + his monogram. Printed by E. Arrault   et Cie. Hors-texte: 37, 65, 95, 223, 271, 349, 391, 445, 481, 536 From a 1904 Carrington catalogue published in the back of Le Pantalon Féminin, 1906: « Nouvelle édition de dix dessins hors texte, par Martin van Maele, et d’une couverture illustrée par le même. Un fort volume in-18 jésus de 600 pages. 50 exemplaires sur Hollande, 15 sur Chine. » (Bibliothèque Nationale: 8-Y2-53302. Private collection)

Perry, S. A.. Martin Van Maele: An Illustrated Bibliographical Checklist (Kindle Locations 538-543). . Kindle Edition.

The Illustrations

 

 

See Also

Books for Trade: Octave Mirbeau The Diary of a Lady’s Maid . Paris: Charles Carrington, 1903. illustrations by Emile Mas, engraved by Eugène Dété.

Books for Trade: Charles Sackville: Mr Howard Goes Yachting: London -Paris, Printed for Subscribers Only MCMVIII. (Carrington)

Any comments or contribution of images or information please complete contact form.

A rare display of the Outrageous, and a massive display of the Voluptuous.

/ Steve M. / Leave a comment

 Pleased to announce that, I have obtained a small selection of 4 of the seven titles, written and published by Jean Vergerie, under the La Collection de l’Églantine. imprint.

For which detailed history and creative text, will be provided by my good friend Christophe Bier. 

Also coming soon but a much larger project, is the listing and detailed imagery of some 60 Charles Carrington publications, which will be listed in brief as Books for Trade, But will be the basis for my New Collection for Bibliophiles, for which access to, will require a subscription.

The contents of this collection include both openly published and clandestine titles, many illustrated, by the Likes of Van Maele, Avril, Fredillo, as well classical illustrators.

Many copies in mint unopened condition, and a significant number ,where previous description were from “catalogue only”, including some wonderfully decorated examples of the printers, and bookbinders art of the late Victorian period, as well the inimitable engravings of Eugene d’Ete.

There will also be a supplement to this of a small collection of works published by Isidore Liseux, Augustine Brancart, Jules Gay, and Henry Kistaemackers.

Supplementary information and collection history provided by Michael Neale, and bibliographical information courtesy of S.A. Perry.

Finally I am going to link my existing listings with illustrations by Van Maele and add significant others by him to another New Collection, again with the kind support of S.A Perry.

Books for Trade: Anon R. de B.);Voluptueux Souvenirs ou Le Souper des douze. Pour la bibliothèque des “Disciples d’Éros” [Maurice Duflou],Romainville(Paris) n.d. (1927), Illustrator : Achille Devéria.

/ Steve M. / 1 Comment

I am embarking on a short list, of titles which are all , what I refer to as rescued books, this is because although the general condition is at best Fair to Good, they are such rare titles that their importance outweighs any consideration of condition.

R. de B. Voluptueux souvenirs ou Le Souper des douze. Pour la bibliothèque des “Disciples d’Éros” [Maurice Duflou],  Romainville. [Paris]1927. Contents 143 pp ,Rebound in red boards. Original frontcover, preserved. 12 B&W inset illustrations by Achille Devéria,  reproduced in half-print and drawn in bistre on coated paper. Specifications : In-4 ecu. Book reserved for subscribers only and not for the trade. Edition limited to only 350 copies, this one being no 215/350, on paper Pur Fil Lafuma.

Notes : This work was written to accompany two series of engravings by Devéria: The Five Senses and The Seven Deadly Sins .

 

Books for Trade: Alfred de Musset,Gamiani ou une nuit d’excès. Fac-similé de l’édition de Paris, 1833. Introduction by Jacques Duprilot.

Books for Trade: Jacqueline de Lansay (Johanes Gros), Les délices libertines. Roman inédit. Moncontour, au bonheur des dames. n.d. [Maurice Duflou, circa 1935].

 

Charles Carrington Collection: Weird Women; The Crimson Curtain; Happiness  in Crime; A Dinner of Atheists; A Woman’sVengeance. Translated from the French  of  Barbey d’Aurevilly.  With Eight Wood Engravings.  London.  Privately Printed. For the Lutetian Bibliophiles’ Society, (Charles Carrington).  MCM. (1900)

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This is yet another title where the size of the book,its binding , age and rarity, made flat scanning impossible, so the images below are photographic, I am aware that they are not perfectly square or flat, but they are the best I can that I can do with available resources. In any case I  think they look pretty good.

A slight departure, In that this book is not strictly speaking, “erotica”,  It is however a clandestine publication, The Lutetian Bibliophiles Society actually being our old pal Charles Carrington.
This is the first English translation (by some considerable number of years), of Barbey d’Aurevilly’s masterpiece of decadent literature, “Les Diaboliques” a sort of mixture of crime, horror and the supernatural, more closely related to the Gothic novels of the late 1700’s than the erotica of the Fin de Siecle 1890’s. Originally published as individual short stories, the collection was published as Les Diaboliques, in October 1874. In December 1874, the book was seized and prosecuted as an offence to public morality, In 1875 the charges were dismissed. As is often the case,  the scandal made the book more popular, despite this, it was not reprinted until 1882 in an edition revised by Barbey and considered the definitive French language edition; this anonymous translation published clandestinely by Carrington in 1900 is based on the 1882 edition. The entire books is dedicated to strange stories of dangerous women, the French title Les Diaboliques, literally translates to “devilish”, but is generally accepted as “The She Devils”, not to be confused with the 1958 Ophelia Press title of that name which  is an English translation of Piere Louys’ “Trois Filles et leur Mere”

A fascinating character in his own right, Barbey was a great friend of Baudelaire and had attempted to assist him in the 1850’s when “Le Fleurs du Mal” was prosecuted. In his later years he was feted by writers such as Leon Bloy and J.K Huysmans.He died on April 23 rd 1899.

For an updated translation with a useful introduction see :-

Diaboliques: Six Tales of Decadence Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly U of Minnesota Press, 2015

WEIRD WOMEN ;The Crimson Curtain; Happiness  in Crime; A Dinner of Atheists; A  Woman’s Vengence, TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH  of  Barbey d’Aurevilly  WITH EIGHT WOOD ENGRAVINGS.  LONDON.  PRIVATELY PRINTED. LUTETIAN BIBLIOPHILES’ SOCIETY  MCM. (1900).12mo. (16 x 19.5  x  6 c.m) xv + 490pp. Two volumes in one. Limited edition of 500 copies on Van Gelder. 13 wood-engraved plates. Frontispiece by Lambrecht  + [8 by Emile Mas and 4 by Ren = René Lelong], all engraved by Eugene Dété. Foreword by Charles Carrington. Two stories in the book not listed on the title page: Don Juan’s Proudest Triumph and What Lay beneath the Cards. (Library of Congress: PQ2189.B32 D57.)

Note, The title page indicates eight wood engravings, The content actually delivers; Frontispiece and 2 engravings for each of the six short stories.

 

Frontispiece

 

Foreword sample text

See Also

Books for Trade: Charles Sackville: Mr Howard Goes Yachting: London -Paris, Printed for Subscribers Only MCMVIII. (Carrington)

Books for Trade:LA FLAGELLATION A TRAVERS LE MONDE: Jean de Villiot. La Tradition de la Garde. Charles Carrington. PARIS 1907

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Carrington Collection:Anon;(Georges Joseph Grassal ) The Memoirs of Dolly Morton. Philadelphia: Society of Private Bibliophiles (Charles Carrington) n.p. (Paris) 1904.

/ Steve M. / 2 Comments

This one was an enormous challenge, and is listed here as a first draft, a clandestine reissue of a title published by Carrington in 1899, this edition profusely illustrated, the earlier edition as far as I can ascertain was not illustrated. I have attempted to make sense of the Mendes bibliographical,information only to find it confusing and uninformative, from reading his notes on this edition, it is obvious that he has not seen the 1899 edition. He states that Carrington “lost his nerve” and decided to go clandestine on the 1904 edition but does not speculate as to why? My theory is that the illustrations are the reason, if Mendes is correct, the in text illustrations in the 1904 edition are lifted from ” Le Beau Negre” (1902) (Carrington) , which I haven’t seen, but from modern day reportage, appears to have been a critique of the slave trade in the southern United States, which presumably gave Carrington a ready supply of flagellation material. The inclusion of these illustrations in the 1904 Dolly Morton along with the additional 10 engraved illustrations, in what is a pornographic novel is pushing the limits a bit., to say the least, especially when you look at Dola’s head and tail pieces to the rather sanctimonious introduction, which surely cannot have appeared in “Le Beau Negre”. I would like to know exactly which of the decorative illustrations (engraved plates aside), appear in both of the books in question.

Because of the fine paper, the binding and the scarcity and value of this book, I am only presenting “open book” scans, so no flattened images.

Updated with additional photographic images of full page illustrations 03/03/20

I await some further developments in consultation with a fellow bibliophile, and will update this post as and when i find anything new to share.

Updated following communication with Patrick Kearney  Feb-March 2020.

My comments plain text Patrick’s in italic, the “Peter” referred to is Peter Mendes.

Steve, hi :

I just spoke to Peter about your edition of “Dolly Morton.” He has actually
seen the first edition, but didn’t describe it because it wasn’t clandestine.
Textually it is identical to the 1904 edition.

The reason Carrington published the second (1904) edition secretly was
because he was beginning to have problems with the law, and was on the
verge of doing a runner to Bruxelles. The illustrations were not a problem
however since, as you note, they had been used earlier for an openly
published edition of a different work on a related subject.

Carrington’s French translation of “Dolly Morton” was published openly
because he cut out the sex scenes. The flagellation scenes were retained
as they were less of a problem for the law, which in itself is a perversity
to my mind.

Best wishes

Pat

Thanks for that Pat, partially answers my question, but does not confirm
that the 1899 edition was unillustrated, which I believe to be the case.
And from a listing I found of Le Beau Negre there were no hors- texte,
which means the 10 hors- texte in 1904 Mémoires were commissioned for that edition.

Dear Steve :

I’m not sure that the original edition of Dolly Morton did have
illustrations. The Dawes copy in the Private Case has none,
and no others in captivity that I’ve been able to locate do either.
Library catalogues *usually* indicate the presence of plates or
illustrations, although rarely go to the trouble of counting them.
Incidentally, the only copy of the first edition in any major UK
research library is held by the BL.

I do agree, though, that if the illustrations to “Le Beau negre”
were all in-text, the 10 hors-texte in the 1904 Dolly Morton
were very likely done specially for that edition.

Best wishes

Pat

Many thanks Pat
That answers my questions, and I shall update the blog with yours
and Peter’s information.
I’m still curious about “Le Beau Negre“, I missed a copy just a
few weeks back, I cannot quite understand what the content would be,
as Carrington had already covered Dolly Morton in the desexed
version “En Virginie”. Yet if the story line was close enough for
the en texte illustrations to be transposable, was it just a rehash of Dolly Morton?

Dear Steve :

I rather doubt that the two books — “Beau negre” and “D. Morton” — are
related, except thematically. The former is by Hector France, the “Musk,
Hashish & Blood” man, while the latter of course is ascribed to Grassal.
Carrington seemed interested in flagellation works, but whether from his
own fancies or those of his customers I am unable to say. Perhaps a
combination of the two? Slavery and a Civil War fought to suppress it
seem ready-made subjects for novels about the domination of women
and so it’s not surprising that Carrington’s hacks used the topic. Hector
France is dismissed rather briskly by Wikipedia as an “auteur de
nombreux récits à caractère érotique” with no further biographical
information save for his dates (1837-1908) and a short-title list of his
works. His best known book, “Musk, Hashish and Blood” seems famous
mainly because of its title, which is certainly piquant. It appears to be a
translation of a work called “Sous le burnous” (1886).

Warmest regards

Patrick

My warmest thanks to Pat Kearney, for his advice and for his permission to post it.

 

Anon;(Georges Joseph Grassal ) The Memoirs of Dolly Morton. Philadelphia: Society of Private Bibliophiles (Charles Carrington) n.p. (Paris) 1904.
8vo. 303pp. Title page framed in red. 10 half-tone steel engravings and numerous text illustrations (mainly head and tail pieces). by George Dola. Printed on smooth wove paper. Issued for subscribers in an extremely small edition of 100 copies at a cost in 1904 of £3,3.0. (Three guineas).

The engravings are signed G.D. [i.e. G. Dola]. The text illustrations were first used in Carrington’s Le Beau Negre, published in 1902 [Mendes: 160-A]. The author has been falsely attributed to Hugues Rebell [Georges Grassal] and/or Jean de Villiot, which is actually a collective name/pseudonym. It has been suggested that the author is Hector France [Mendes: 160-A]. Carrington published the French translation clandestinely as En Virginie in 1901, which retains the flagellation scenes but expurgates all the sexual descriptions.  This work was also published by Jean Fort under his imprint Collection des Orties Blanches in c.1917 as Dolly Morton with author as Donovan Kipps, illustrated with 7 plates Louis Malteste; and again as The Memoirs of Dolly Morton in c.1928, which is a reprint of Carrington’s En Virginie.

Preface

 

for detail about this title and author see:-

http://www.alexislykiard.com/translations/memoires_of_dolly_morton.htm

See also

Books for Trade: Jean de Villiot; Camille et Moi: La Flagellation à Travers le Monde, PARIS Charles Carrington; 1904

 

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