[Curiosa] Denis Diderot / Berthommé Saint-André - Les Bijoux Indiscrets [1/15 hors-commerce] - 1936

Very beautiful illustrated edition by Berthommé Saint-André of 'Bijous indiscrets' by Diderot, a libertine novel published anonymously in 1748, including here two frontispieces and 30 color etchings in the text and on full pages, printed in the workshops of La Tradition.

Charming curiosa, limited to 500 copies on large vellum from Arches in the original shape. This is one of the rare 15 nominative copies outside of commercial sale, enriched with a note from the publisher [for Monsieur Paul Haasen, with all sympathy].

Paperback, with an ochre suede cover, featuring the publisher's gold mark at the center of the front cover. Comes with a double slipcase, a cardboard box, and a matching slipcase. In very good condition despite the worn slipcase (a large red stain on the front of the slipcase of volume II), with slightly rubbed slipcases. Interior is impeccable. A very fine copy.

This allegory, which is Diderot's first novelistic work, depicts Louis XV as the sultan Mangogul of Congo, who receives from the genius Cucufa a magic ring that has the power to make the genital parts ('jewels') of women speak.

A comparable trope, which Diderot must have known, is found in the bawdy fabliau The Knight Who Made the Fools Speak. The very idea of making the female genital apparatus speak, through magical intervention, is also present in a story by Caylus dating from 1747.

Berthommé Saint-André, Denis Diderot
Les Bijoux Indiscrets. Illustrated with original etchings by Berthommé Saint-André [2 volumes]
Paris, La Tradition, 1936
in-4, 24.5 x 19 cm; 227 + 206 pages (complete)