![[CLELAND, John (1709-1789).] Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. London: Printed for G. Fenton in the Strand, 1791.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_10773_0057_000(cleland_john_memoirs_of_a_woman_of_pleasure_london_printed_for_g_fento121408).jpg?w=1)
Details
[CLELAND, John (1709-1789).] Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. London: Printed for G. Fenton in the Strand, 1791.
2 volumes in 1, duodecimo in sixes (180 x 105 mm). Engraved title and 16 engraved plates including the frontispiece, all hand-coloured; most attributed to Isaac Cruikshank (1764-1811), the first three plates in volume 2 evidently the work of another artist. Pagination in volume 1 beginning at 13 but the text complete; without final blank leaf M5 in volume 2, possibly as issued. (Occasional light browning, occasional light soiling, some short marginal tears some of these repaired.) Contemporary English roan, sides with a gilt rule border (expertly rebacked and repaired). Provenance: Brent Gration-Maxfield (signature) – Gérard Nordmann (label; his sale, Christies’ Paris, 14-15 December 2006, lot 136).
RARE EARLY EDITION OF THE MOST CELEBRATED EROTIC NOVEL IN ENGLISH, ALL THE PLATES WITH CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLOURING, AND IN A CONTEMPORARY BINDING. The Nordmann copy. Although dated 1791 this edition probably appeared very early in the 19th century, with the plates sometimes attributed to Isaac Cruikshank. Through the course of its long and clandestine printing history – it remained illicit into the 1970s – Fanny Hill was the object of constant government prosecution, with editions systematically suppressed, and often destroyed. As a result any early edition, particularly with hand-coloured plates, is exceptionally rare. This copy is apparently the only surviving from this edition: WorldCat gives no locations, and AE and ABPC list no other copy at auction. Not in Ashbee.
2 volumes in 1, duodecimo in sixes (180 x 105 mm). Engraved title and 16 engraved plates including the frontispiece, all hand-coloured; most attributed to Isaac Cruikshank (1764-1811), the first three plates in volume 2 evidently the work of another artist. Pagination in volume 1 beginning at 13 but the text complete; without final blank leaf M5 in volume 2, possibly as issued. (Occasional light browning, occasional light soiling, some short marginal tears some of these repaired.) Contemporary English roan, sides with a gilt rule border (expertly rebacked and repaired). Provenance: Brent Gration-Maxfield (signature) – Gérard Nordmann (label; his sale, Christies’ Paris, 14-15 December 2006, lot 136).
RARE EARLY EDITION OF THE MOST CELEBRATED EROTIC NOVEL IN ENGLISH, ALL THE PLATES WITH CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLOURING, AND IN A CONTEMPORARY BINDING. The Nordmann copy. Although dated 1791 this edition probably appeared very early in the 19th century, with the plates sometimes attributed to Isaac Cruikshank. Through the course of its long and clandestine printing history – it remained illicit into the 1970s – Fanny Hill was the object of constant government prosecution, with editions systematically suppressed, and often destroyed. As a result any early edition, particularly with hand-coloured plates, is exceptionally rare. This copy is apparently the only surviving from this edition: WorldCat gives no locations, and AE and ABPC list no other copy at auction. Not in Ashbee.
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