Pierre LOUŸS. Les Chansons de Bilitis, Librairie de l'Art in - Lot 160

Lot 160
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Pierre LOUŸS. Les Chansons de Bilitis, Librairie de l'Art in - Lot 160
Pierre LOUŸS. Les Chansons de Bilitis, Librairie de l'Art indépendant, Paris, 1895. Volume in-8 of 134 pages, half emerald green wedge-cut chagrin, spine ribbed, preserved cover, gilt head, untrimmed (modern binding). Original edition. Limited edition of 510 copies. One of the 480 on wove paper. Enriched copy with a cover and an autograph signed letter, where the author reveals his deception. The letter is addressed to Professor Landouzy, a medical celebrity of the time, doctor at the Laennec Hospital, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, editor of the Revue de Médecine and the Presse Médicale, member of the Medical Pathology Section of the Académie de Médecine. A masterful literary imposture in which Pierre Louÿs invented the character of Bilitis, an unknown woman living on the island of Lesbos, presenting his book as a translation of his sapphic pieces discovered on the walls of an underground tomb. Some scholars added biographical details about the existence of this rival of Sapho. The joke lasted only a few weeks, but did not make everyone laugh, and Louÿs, pointed out like a joker, bore the after-effects for the rest of his life. The success was equal to the scandal. The book, adored by Nathalie Barney and Renée Vivien, became the bedside book of the lesbian world. Back to the past.
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