QUIGNARD (Marie-Françoise) & SECKEL (Raymond-Josué), eds - Lot 241

QUIGNARD (Marie-Françoise) & SECKEL (Raymond-Josué), eds. — L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque. Éros au secret. Paris, BnF Éditions, 2019. Large in-4 volume, 320 pp., publisher’s illustrated hardcover, very abundant black-and-white and color illustrations (approximately 220 illustrations). ISBN: 978-2-7177-2826-2. Edited by Marie-Françoise Quignard and Raymond-Josué Seckel, with contributions from Annie Le Brun, Pascal Quignard, Éric Walbecq, Sylvie Aubenas, and several specialists in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. A major study devoted to the “Enfer” section of the Bibliothèque nationale, where, beginning in the 1830s, books, prints, and photographs deemed “contrary to public decency” were gradually gathered. The book traces the history of this clandestine collection, as well as the history of censorship and erotic publishing, from the Ancien Régime to the present day. It examines how these items entered the Library—through seizures, confiscations, donations, or acquisitions—and their gradual transition from the status of banned objects to that of cultural heritage documents. It features a wealth of illustrations drawn from the BnF’s collections: rare books, bindings, prints, drawings, and erotic photographs. Notable figures include Sade, Apollinaire, Pierre Louÿs, Bataille, and the great illustrators of licentious literature. The photographs highlight remarkable sections devoted to Vivant Denon and his erotic etchings, as well as to Félicien Rops, including *La Vrille*, *Le Cheval de bois*, and *Agonie*. The BnF itself describes the book as a compendium of licentious pleasures, an illustrated anthology of scandal, and a history of censorship. This is the new 2019 edition, following the catalog published for the exhibition *L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque: Éros au secret*, held at the BnF in 2007–2008. A very fine copy, with pages in pristine condition. The illustrated hardcover is well-preserved; only minimal signs of wear are visible in the photographs. A complete and clean copy.