226 - [WEGENER]. VERINEAU, Alexandre de [PERCEAU, Louis, pseudonym].

[WEGENER]. VERINEAU, Alexandre de [PERCEAU, Louis, pseudonym]. Twelve Lascivious Sonnets to Accompany the Series of Watercolors Entitled *Les Délassements d’Eros*. Erotopolis, A l'Enseigne du Faune [Paris, Maurice Duflou], 1925. In-4, folios on laid paper and 12 large stencil illustrations in tondo or oval frames. Publisher’s printed slipcase with laces (slipcase slightly oxidized, a few small foxing spots, laces torn off but interior remains fresh). First edition. Featuring 12 very free-style stencil prints by the Danish artist Gerda Maria Frederikke Wegener, née Gottlieb (1885–1940). Dedication by the author to Jean Fabert on the half-title page. In 1925, the publisher asked Louis Perceau to write these twelve sonnets to accompany and highlight the illustrator’s plates. This superb erotic and sapphic suite is still highly prized by connoisseurs. Printed on vellum with a small black wolf as the artist’s signature. Gerda was the wife of the artist Einar Wegener (1882–1931), who became Lili Elbe, the first person in history to undergo gender reassignment surgery. One of the great achievements of early 20th-century erotic illustration. Pia, 312 and 389. Dutel, II, 1356 and 1434. Gérard Nordmann Library, (Christie’s Auction 2006), I, 310.