[Nicolas-Edme RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE]. Le Pornographe, ou Idé - Lot 90

[Nicolas-Edme RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE]. Le Pornographe, ou Idées d'un honnête-homme sur un projet de règlement pour les prostituées, Propre à prévenir les Malheurs qu'occasionne le Publicisme des Femmes ; avec des Notes historiques et justificatives. A Londres, Chez Jean Nourse, A La Haie, Chez Gosse Junior, & Pinet, 1769. 2 parts in one volume in-8, full red morocco, 5-rib spine decorated with gilt fleurons and fillets, gilt date at foot, filleted edges, framed with quadruple gilt fillet on back covers, red moire endpapers, all edges gilt, untrimmed, lined case (Duhayon binding). 368 pp. (badly numbered: pages 5-6 do not exist). False-title page reinforced in outer margin. FIRST EDITION. The first volume in the series of "Idées singulières", in which Restif, gripped by reformomania, proposed numerous social reforms. Here, he attacks prostitution. For him, public girls should be cloistered and all aspects of their lives carefully regulated. Restif had a run-in with the censors, who criticized him for wanting to "legalize an immoral state". The book was a huge success. Rives Childs, p. 210; Revue des Romans II, 200. Beautifully bound, washed copy.