[Erotica] Apulée/Crispijn van de Passe - Les métamorphoses ou l’Asne d’Or - 1633

APULEE.
The Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass of L. Apulée Philosoph. Platonic. A work of excellent invention and singular doctrine. Paris: At Samuel Thiboust, 1633.

In-8°. Full brown calf of the period stamped with arms in the center of the boards, spine with gold tooling and rosettes and Maltese crosses, title-piece in red morocco.

Superb illustrated edition of the 17th century of the licentious and esoteric masterpiece by Apuleius, recounting the tragicomic misadventures of the young Lucius transformed into a donkey and his final initiation into the cult of Isis.

This publication is particularly sought after for its abundant and famous copper engravings attributed to the Dutch master Crispijn van de Passe (Crisp. de Pas), including the architectural frontispiece title with the donkey’s head and a sequence of full-page engravings consisting of principal scenes and framed secondary vignettes.

The copy is bound in a magnificent period binding with the Marquis de Bonnelle’s arms, gilt at the center of both boards and repeated on the back by tools of the Maltese cross/stars in each compartment, testifying to noble provenance of first rank under Louis XIII.

Period binding solid and authentic despite wear and small losses at the headcaps and corners; spine split at the head but boards well preserved. Gilding on the spine and central arms well legible and well struck. Interior very fresh on period paper, with a sharp black impression of the plates engraved by Van de Passe.

L’Âne d’or d’Apulée is the only novel of ancient Latin literature to have survived to us in its entirety. Its mix of unbridled erotism, folk tales (including the mythical Amour and Psyche) and black magic made it a tremendous Renaissance-to-17th-century success.

Because of its very crude scenes of witchcraft (such as Aristomène’s magical slaying illustrated by Van de Passe), the book was several times placed on the Index by the Holy See. Yet the translator Jean de Montlyard and the publisher Thiboust found the ultimate workaround to outwit censorship in 1633: they added at the end of each chapter “Commentaries & Moral Explanations” asserting that all Lucius’s debaucheries were only a theological allegory of the human soul fallen into sin! Thanks to this ploy, all could read this libertine novel in good conscience in their libraries.