Casanova / Leroux - Mémoires - 1931

EROS TRAVELS TO THE ALCOVE AND SALONS: THE THEATRE OF DESIRE, IN TEN SPLENDID ILLUSTRATED VOLUMES
Copy No. 890 of the 1931 edition printed in a stated edition of 2,335 copies
Large illustrated edition of extraordinary elegance and sensuality of the Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova, published in Paris in 1931 and conceived as an authentic typographic and pictorial work of art. The ten volumes present the complete text of the Mémoires accompanied by a richly rich apparatus of color plates drawn from the original watercolors by Auguste Leroux, a refined and theatrical interpreter of the eighteenth-century gallant universe. The illustrations – intense, luminous, sometimes bold – gracefully and erotically convey the atmosphere of alcoves, salons, boudoirs and the amorous escapes that mark the life of the great Venetian seducer. The work stands as one of the most fascinating and collectible illustrated libertine editions of twentieth-century France, where text and image dialogue in a crescendo of desire, play, and seduction.
MARKET VALUE
Complete 10-volume editions of the Mémoires de Casanova illustrated by Auguste Leroux, in uniform decorated bindings and in good condition, are consistently sought after on the international collectible market. The erotic-literary appeal of the work, combined with the quality of the color plates and the stated edition size, supports valuations generally between 1,500 and 1,900 euros, with possible increases for particularly fresh copies or with well-preserved and vivid illustrations.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION - COLLECTOR'S COPY
10 volumes in contemporary half-leather binding in burgundy with marbled boards, gilded borders and decorations; spines richly tooled with gold titles and tomes numbers. Gilded edges. Color plates printed on coated paper from Auguste Leroux’s original watercolors, of notable chromatic quality and composition, depicting gallant scenes, amorous encounters, sumptuous interiors and moments of seduction.

Pagination:
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(4); 2nn; (2); 6nn; 308; 2nn; (8)
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In luxury books, with a history spanning several decades, a few imperfections may be present that are not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Mémoires de Casanova.
Paris, Javal et Bourdeaux, 1931.
Giacomo Casanova.
Illustrations by Auguste Leroux.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Memoires of Casanova are one of the boldest and most magnetic autobiographies in European literature: not merely a repertory of conquests, but a vivid fresco of eighteenth-century society between Venice, Paris and the courts of Europe. In this 1931 edition, the libertine text is clothed in images that amplify its sensual charge.

Auguste Leroux translates visually the game of glances, veils and hands that touch; his feminine figures, elegant and vibrant, embody a refined eroticism that is more suggested than explicit, in perfect balance between Rococo grace and modern twentieth-century sensibility. The plates are not mere ornaments, but a theatrical interpretation of seduction, where light, color, and gesture build a true stage of desire.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798), Venetian adventurer, writer and diplomat, has become the universal symbol of the Enlightenment seducer. His memoirs, written in French in the last years of his life, constitute an exceptional document on the intellectual and libertine life of eighteenth-century Europe.

Auguste Leroux (1871–1954), French painter and illustrator, was known for his elegant and sensual interpretations of literary texts. His plates for Casanova represent a high point of his illustrated output, characterized by warm chromatics, sinuous lines and a sophisticated, theatrical eroticism.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Copy 890 of the 1931 edition printed in a stated edition of 2,335 copies, divided by quality of paper and states of the illustrations according to the Justification du tirage. Conceived as a grand illustrated edition of prestige, these Memoirs lie in the tradition of luxurious French publishing of the early twentieth century, where the book becomes a sensory object as much as the text it contains.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France), Catalogue général,
Casanova, Giacomo. Mémoires. Paris, Javal et Bourdeaux, 1931.
Notice BnF: FRBNF40318058.
WorldCat (OCLC),
Casanova, Giacomo. Mémoires. Paris: Javal et Bourdeaux, 1931.
OCLC No. 458061884 (illustrated set by Auguste Leroux, 10 volumes).
Carteret, Léon. Le Trésor du bibliophile romantique et moderne (1801–1875),
Paris, 1924–1928, vol. IV, pp. 121–123 (for criteria of classifying the great illustrated French editions of the luxury 20th century; typological comparison with illustrated deluxe editions).
Talvart & Place, Bibliographie des auteurs modernes de langue française,
t. II, p. 64–66 (for the editorial history of Casanova illustrated editions in France).
Cohen, Henri – de Ricci, Seymour, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1912 (for typological comparison of illustrated libertine editions; methodology of classification applied to luxury twentieth-century editions).