![[ASHBEE, Henry Spencer (1834-1900), attributed to.] My Secret Life. Amsterdam: Not for publication [probably Auguste Brancart, c.1888-c.1894].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_10773_0022_000(ashbee_henry_spencer_attributed_to_my_secret_life_amsterdam_not_for_pu115753).jpg?w=1)
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[ASHBEE, Henry Spencer (1834-1900), attributed to.] My Secret Life. Amsterdam: Not for publication [probably Auguste Brancart, c.1888-c.1894].
11 volumes, octavo (181 x 112 mm). Pagination: volume 1: [4], 378; vol. 2: [3], V, [5-] 373; vol. 3: [4], VIII, [7-] 379; vol. 4: [4], IX, [9-] 379; vol. 5: [4], VII, [1], [9-] 388; vol. 6: [4], IX, [1], 384; vol 7: [4], VI, [2], 369; vol. 8: [4], VIII, 383; vol. 9: [4], VII, [1], 386, [2]; vol. 10: [2], VII, [1], 376; vol. 11: [4], IV, 394. Bound without final blanks; without half-title in vol. 10, as the Nordmann copy. (Half-title in vol. 1 detached but present, occasional small marginal repairs, some half-titles and last leaves dust-soiled or lightly browned, occasional mostly marginal soiling or staining, vol.10 title with small marginal losses.) 20th-century vellum-backed brown paper-covered boards, spines with brown title label and numbering piece gilt (the spine of some volumes lightly browned, corners lightly rubbed). Provenance: [Dr Henrik Kismartony] – Karl Ludwig Leonhardt (manuscript inscription on rear endpaper of volume 1).
VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THIS MONUMENT OF EROTIC LITERATURE, PROVIDING INVALUABLE GLIMPSES OF VICTORIAN LIFE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. ONE OF ONLY FIVE COMPLETE COPIES KNOWN. The present copy is the source for the Grove Press edition of 1966 -- the first complete edition openly available, and the basis of all subsequent editions. This remarkable fictionalized erotic autobiography recounts the writer’s amorous escapades over the course of forty years, in approximately 4000 pages, describing the habits and predilections of countless conquests. Much mystery still surrounds the composition and publication of this unique work; but the quality of its prose and the great rarity of this production is beyond dispute. The exact number of copies printed is unknown but is said to be between six and twenty-five; a number closer to ten or fifteen is more likely. The four other complete copies known are: the Dawes copy in the British Library; the copy in the Kinsey Institute; the Milford Haven copy in a private European collection; and the Nordmann copy in a private European collection. A fifth, but incomplete copy, is in a private American collection. AE and ABPC record only one copy at auction, the Nordmann copy (sold, Christie’s Paris, 27 April 2006, lot 39). Eros invaincu 85; Mendes 23; Pia Enfer, 846-847.
11 volumes, octavo (181 x 112 mm). Pagination: volume 1: [4], 378; vol. 2: [3], V, [5-] 373; vol. 3: [4], VIII, [7-] 379; vol. 4: [4], IX, [9-] 379; vol. 5: [4], VII, [1], [9-] 388; vol. 6: [4], IX, [1], 384; vol 7: [4], VI, [2], 369; vol. 8: [4], VIII, 383; vol. 9: [4], VII, [1], 386, [2]; vol. 10: [2], VII, [1], 376; vol. 11: [4], IV, 394. Bound without final blanks; without half-title in vol. 10, as the Nordmann copy. (Half-title in vol. 1 detached but present, occasional small marginal repairs, some half-titles and last leaves dust-soiled or lightly browned, occasional mostly marginal soiling or staining, vol.10 title with small marginal losses.) 20th-century vellum-backed brown paper-covered boards, spines with brown title label and numbering piece gilt (the spine of some volumes lightly browned, corners lightly rubbed). Provenance: [Dr Henrik Kismartony] – Karl Ludwig Leonhardt (manuscript inscription on rear endpaper of volume 1).
VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THIS MONUMENT OF EROTIC LITERATURE, PROVIDING INVALUABLE GLIMPSES OF VICTORIAN LIFE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. ONE OF ONLY FIVE COMPLETE COPIES KNOWN. The present copy is the source for the Grove Press edition of 1966 -- the first complete edition openly available, and the basis of all subsequent editions. This remarkable fictionalized erotic autobiography recounts the writer’s amorous escapades over the course of forty years, in approximately 4000 pages, describing the habits and predilections of countless conquests. Much mystery still surrounds the composition and publication of this unique work; but the quality of its prose and the great rarity of this production is beyond dispute. The exact number of copies printed is unknown but is said to be between six and twenty-five; a number closer to ten or fifteen is more likely. The four other complete copies known are: the Dawes copy in the British Library; the copy in the Kinsey Institute; the Milford Haven copy in a private European collection; and the Nordmann copy in a private European collection. A fifth, but incomplete copy, is in a private American collection. AE and ABPC record only one copy at auction, the Nordmann copy (sold, Christie’s Paris, 27 April 2006, lot 39). Eros invaincu 85; Mendes 23; Pia Enfer, 846-847.
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