161 - 1756 TANZAÏ ET NÉADARNÉ, HISTOIRE JAPONOISE, CLAUDE DE CRÉBILLON, EROTIC SATIRE, 2 VOLS

1756 TANZAÏ ET NÉADARNÉ, HISTOIRE JAPONOISE, CLAUDE DE CRÉBILLON, EROTIC SATIRE, 2 VOLS An early 2 volume edition of the brilliant satire by prolific French Novelist Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707-1777), son of the famous French poet and playwright Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1674-1762). This work was extremely controversial at the time of its first publishing in 1734 due to its blatant criticism of important political and religious figures of the era, including the Cardinal de Rohan and the Papal Bull 'Unigenitus' issued by Pope Clement XI. It was so controversial, in fact, that de Crebillon ended up in the famous prison of Vincennes, the same which would later hold the Marquis de Sade during his first imprisonment. The story purports to be an old legend from Chechnya which had been translated first into Japanese, then Chinese, then Dutch, then Latin, and finally into French from the Venetian dialect of Italian. This farce is continued even into the publishing info of the title page, where the book pretends to have been published in 'Pekin' (Beijing) at Lou-Chou-Chu-La, His Chinese Majesty's sole printer for foreign languages. The tale is about a prince named Tanzaï who marries a woman named Néadarné before his 21st birthday, thereby breaking an agreement he made with a fairy. He is punished by having his genitals magically transformed into a milk-strainer, the only method of reversing the curse being to have a priest lick his altered genitals clean. Both volumes contain the bookplate of Lord John Rushout, 1st Baron Northwick, a famous English art collector and politician, and fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. This 2 volume leatherbound set was published in Paris, France, in 1756. Volume 1 includes a beautiful and detailed full-page engraving of a scene from the story. Vol. 1: [4], xxiv, 208; Vol. 2: [8], 328 Dimensions: 5 1/4 x 3 1/4 in., (13.3 x 8.3 cm.) Condition: Very good, with boards tight to hinges. Some loss to head and tail of the spine of Volume 1, with no impact to the binding itself. Please make all inquiries before bidding. All statements contained in the catalog, condition reports, invoices, advertisements, or elsewhere concerning the authorship, attribution, origin, date, age, period, culture, source, provenance, authenticity, genuineness, condition, rarity, importance, or value of any lot are statements of opinion only and shall not be construed as representations, warranties, or statements of fact. All lots are sold "as-is", refer to our T&C. Helios Auctions does not offer in-house shipping. We will provide a list of recommended shippers upon request.