[Jean-Charles GERVAISE DE LA TOUCHE]. Histoire de Gouberdom, - Lot 52

[Jean-Charles GERVAISE DE LA TOUCHE]. Histoire de Gouberdom, Portier des Chartreux. This edition has been revised, corrected & enlarged under the eyes of the Holy Father. S.l.n.d. [Paris, 1772]. 2 parts in one in-8 volume, publisher's marbled paper boards with minor wear, untrimmed. Frontispiece, title-frontispiece, [1 f.], 333 pp. (continuous pagination) and 21 unsigned out-of-text engraved figures, most of them very free. Text printed on "F+P" watermarked paper accompanied by a cluster, engravings printed on blue-tinted paper. This masterpiece of 18th-century erotic literature is an uncompromising critique of the debaucheries of the clergy, which the author describes without restraint. It was a huge hit with contemporaries, including Voltaire, and was reprinted many times under various titles. To back up the claim on the title page that the work was corrected and enlarged under the Pope's watchful eye, an engraving shows him with a young woman on a sopha. One leaf torn but not missing, marginal wetness on the first and last leaves, a few light freckles, a few words ironed in ink. Missing in Pia and Cohen; Dutel A 514. Only two other copies are known, that of Roger Peyrefitte with 21 plates in black and that of Charles Hayoit. One of the very few known copies of this edition of one of the greatest erotic books of the 18th century, in contemporary binding.