Desboulmiers, or Jean-Auguste Jullien: Honny soit qui mal y pense, ou Histoires des filles célebres du XVIIIe siecle. […] Premiere et seconde partie.
 
”A Londres”, 1761. 8vo. 192 pp.
 
Sewn as issued in original marbled boards, worn, a few marginal nicks, else fine.
 
First edition of this banned book, rare. The book was immediately put on the Index of forbidden books by the catholic church (Index Librorum Prohibitorum) but was nevertheless reprinted several times. The present first edition in two parts ends with the ”Histoire de Suzette”, later editions were extended with additional stories.
 
Histories of the frivolous loves of girls and ladies of France under the reign of Louis XV. Desboulmiers (1731-1771) was a man of letters, theater historian and playwright. After having been cavalry captain, he unsuccessfully looked for a position in Germany, but instead returned to settle in Paris, where he published numerous works in quick succession. They are mostly novels or collections of light stories, such as the present, where the reader is invited to share the company of ”ces femmes charmantes que leur penchant a dévouées au service de leur patrie sous les étendards de la volupté”.
 
Desboulmiers, who was also interested in the fine arts, owned a cabinet of drawings and paintings. However, he had to part with it shortly before dying, at the age of barely 40, after having imprudently postponed a bloodletting which, according to the doctors of the time, could have saved him.