Two Novels by Guillaume Apollinaire
Paris: Olympia Press, 1959. 1st Edition Thus. 12mo, publisher’s stiff illustrated paper wraps.
First one-volume edition in English of French poet Guillaume Apollinaire’s pair of erotic novellas, openly inspired by the works of Marquis de Sade. In the early 20th century, Apollinaire worked in the French national library’s forbidden Enfer section, where he studied banned erotic works, most prominently Sade, whom he wrote a monograph on in 1909. Originally published two years prior to his critical study, The Debauched Hospodar follows Prince Mony Vibescu, a deviant Romanian descendent and his boundless sexual odyssey from Bucharest through Paris and across Europe. Memoirs of a Young Rakehell, first published in 1911, takes the form of a memoir, recounting a young libertine’s string of erotic encounters and misadventures. Published here by Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press, famous for first publishing Nabokov's Lolita, among other scandalous classics. Issued as number 70 in Olympia's Traveller's Companion series. Uncredited translations by Scottish writer Alexander Trocchi. Textblock slightly spung from wraps but holding soundly, light edgewear to wraps. Very good. Item #12552
$75.00