AUBENAS (Sylvie) & COMAR (Philippe) — OBSCENITIES: AUGUS - Lot 24

AUBENAS (Sylvie) & COMAR (Philippe) — OBSCENITIES: AUGUSTE BELLOC’S BANNED PHOTOGRAPHS AUBENAS (Sylvie) and Philippe COMAR. Obscenities. Banned Photographs by Auguste Belloc. Paris, Albin Michel – Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2001. Small quarto, publisher’s illustrated hardcover, 95 pp., photographic reproductions in black, sepia, and color. ISBN Albin Michel 2-226-11961-2; ISBN BnF 2-7177-2170-3. A very interesting book devoted to the erotic photographs of Auguste Belloc (1805–1873) held in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. In October 1860, approximately 5,000 indecent photographs were seized from Belloc’s home. The book reproduces and analyzes, in particular, the 24 stereoscopic views now held in the BnF’s “Enfer” collection. The authors contextualize these images within the history of early 19th-century erotic and pornographic photography, as well as within Belloc’s own photographic oeuvre. The BnF specifically classifies the volume under the subjects “Belloc, Auguste” and “Erotic Photography—19th Century .” It is therefore a more documentary and historically interesting work than the typical modern erotic albums in this series. Condition: good to very good condition; slight scuffing on the cover and minor signs of wear; interior in fresh condition.