Cadivec, Edith - Signed: Eros, der Sinn meines Lebens - 1932

Cadivec, Edith: Eros, meaning of my life. Private printing, (1932). With photographic portrait: 332 pages. Leather binding of the era with head gilt edge. 22 × 14.5 cm.
Signed and numbered copy by the author (9/100). - Ida Edith Cadivec (also Kadivec, 1879 – after 1952) was the center of a sensational trial, the Vienna Sadist Trial of 1924. - Originating from Slovenia, Cadivec met in her youth the sadomasochistically inclined Count Franz Schlick; after the end of the relationship she ran a private school for modern languages under the name Cadvé. She advertised regularly as a “strict language teacher.” There she primarily taught pupils from the lower social strata. They were often given tasks they could not solve. Subsequently the children were punished, with paying and occasionally prominent patrons watching.
On December 24, 1923 Edith Kadivec was charged by the Vienna Youth Court with mistreatment by twelve-year-old Gretl Pilz. Gretl Pilz was the daughter of a housemaid and was under the guardianship of Edith Kadivec. She stated that she had to undress or at least expose her buttocks before lying across Mrs. Cadvé’s knee. She was then whipped with a leather whip, but only when gentlemen present paid for it. On January 3, 1924 followed a medical examination in which the doctor found a clearly visible bruise. Otherwise he diagnosed no health disorders and noted that the child was well-nourished. Also on January 3 the police searched Kadivec’s establishment. Various instruments of punishment, letters with sadomasochistic content, a diary and a cash book were found, which helped create a client list. It turned out that the men during the punishment masturbated and sometimes performed cunnilingus on the accused afterwards. At the start of the actual trial the public was excluded. She was charged with defilement and seduction to fornication in multiple cases as well as fornication against nature. The last charge related to sexual acts with her daughter, but this charge was dropped during the trial. The defendant based her defense on the right of correction (zastraźnienie). On March 1, 1924 the verdict was pronounced; Edith Kadivec was sentenced to seven years in prison, two co-defendants to minor probationary sentences. On appeal the sentence was reduced to five years. On December 18, 1927, Edith Kadivec was released as part of a Christmas amnesty. The trial itself was followed by extensive media attention in Austria, even eclipsing the reporting on Hitler’s high treason trial following the Hitler–Ludendorff Putsch (Hitler Trial). Among others, Alfred Polgar and Karl Kraus commented on the case. Polgar called the court verdict sadistic, Kraus barbaric.
- Slightly rubbed. Very rare luxury edition, with an accompanying subscription sheet bearing another mounted photograph of the author.”