World Food Books

Le Sang et La Rose No. 2, 1969

1969, Japanese / French
Softcover, 228 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo

$110.00 - Out of stock

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(...less)

Revue de Érotologie, Homosexualité, Sadisme, Masochisme, Fétischisme, Narcissime, Infantilisme, Magie, Occultisme, Humour Noir, Complexe Psychisme. What more could you ask for? Le Sang Et La Rose is a masterpiece of the Japanese underground. A groundbreaking, powerful, yet short-lived Japanese arts and literary journal published in Tokyo from late 1968—mid 1969, published in a total of four luxurious, now collectible, volumes. The first three issues were edited by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), a legendary, controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade, and specialist in medieval demonology. The importance of this magazine to the Japanese avant-garde and radical culture cannot be overstated.

Born from a period of political, social and economical turmoil in Japan, Le Sang Et La Rose may be understood as a emblematic distillation and product of the late ‘60s student rebellion and anti-authoritarian underground culture. Wilfully politically subversive, the publication drew upon a vast range of perspectives - from criticism, literature, obscure esoteric sciences, art, eroticism, radical avant-garde and a historical-rooted Japanese counterculture; featuring literature, theory, art, photography, illustration and graphic design from the most innovative and subversive Japanese and international (predominately French) artists, authors and critics, spanning the themes above. As instigator, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in effect formulated the magazine’s design to be a spiritual and political operative that would weaponize its readers minds. This stance was made clear in the 1969 manifesto text — "My 1969" — in which Shibusawa discuss' how he perceived the ‘60s as being the age of ideas, ideas as weapons, and outlined a distain towards systems of power, moralism, State oppression, sanitised and harmless liberalism, dogmatic academic sciences and an outright distrust for ideological, progressive literary scholars who advocate "freedom of expression", but have never caused friction with the judicial power. The magazine sketched out an aim to push towards a new kind of personal freedom, intellect, autonomy and moral compass. Here, the concept of ‘erotism’ — as discussed by Georges Bataille in his highly influential 1957 book "Erotism: Death and Sensuality" — acts as a critical force. 

Issue no. 2 includes photographic features by Yasuhiro Yoshioka and Yoshihiro Tatsuki, the artwork of French decorator of department store mannequins and surrealist Sunday painter Clovis Trouille, Venus in Furs erotic photo shoot by Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Yokoo Tadanori, Hans Bellmer, Leonor Fini, Alberto Martini, Félicien Rops, Rene Magritte, an incredible feature "Machine for Murder" with art by Hiroshi Nakamura, Tomi Ungerer, Koichi Tanigawa, Osamu Tsukasa, Tatsuo Ikeda, Marcel Duchamp, Seiichi Horiuchi, and others, an article on the erotica of Ukiyo-e with a fold-out colour three panel poster, the fully illustrated museum supplement on Demonology by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa with artworks throughout history, texts by Apollinaire, Burroughs, Mutsuo Takahashi, articles on laws pertaining to homosexuality, Kama Sutra, shoe fetishism, and much more.

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), was a well-known and controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, and translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade. In 1960 he and his publisher, Kyōji Ishii, were trialled for public obscenity over the publishing of Shibusawa's translation of de Sade's Juliette into the Japanese language. What was to be known as the "Sade Trial" took 9 years and although many of Japan's leading authors testified for the defense, in 1969 the Japanese Supreme Court ruled them guilty and charged. This did not deter Shibusawa, whose essays on black magic, demonology and eroticism were popular reading in Japan, and in 1981 he was awarded the 9th Izumi Kyoka Literature Prize.

Good-Very Good copy. Light general tanning/wear. Some rippling to back cover.

File under: Yoshihiro Tatsuki Clovis Trouille Tadanori Yokoo Yasuhiro Yoshioka Yokoo Tadanori Hans Bellmer Leonor Fini Alberto Martini Félicien Rops Rene Magritte Hiroshi Nakamura Tomi Ungerer Koichi Tanigawa Osamu Tsukasa Tatsuo Ikeda Marcel Duchamp Seiichi Horiuchi Yasuhiro Ishimoto Guillaume Apollinaire William S. Burroughs Georges Bataille Mutsuo Takahashi Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo Periodicals Eros LGBTQ+ Art Surrealism Counterculture Japanese Photography Photography Out-of-print / Rare Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Theory / Essay Occult / Esoterica Fetishism / BDSM Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Philosophy Fiction / Poetry Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Ancient / Medieval / Gothic

Le Sang et La Rose No. 3, 1969

1969, Japanese / French
Softcover, 232 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo

$110.00 - In stock -

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Revue de Érotologie, Homosexualité, Sadisme, Masochisme, Fétischisme, Narcissime, Infantilisme, Magie, Occultisme, Humour Noir, Complexe Psychisme. What more could you ask for? Le Sang Et La Rose is a masterpiece of the Japanese underground. A groundbreaking, powerful, yet short-lived Japanese arts and literary journal published in Tokyo from late 1968—mid 1969, published in a total of four luxurious, now collectible, volumes. The first three issues were edited by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), a legendary, controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade, and specialist in medieval demonology. The importance of this magazine to the Japanese avant-garde and radical culture cannot be overstated.

Born from a period of political, social and economical turmoil in Japan, Le Sang Et La Rose may be understood as a emblematic distillation and product of the late ‘60s student rebellion and anti-authoritarian underground culture. Wilfully politically subversive, the publication drew upon a vast range of perspectives - from criticism, literature, obscure esoteric sciences, art, eroticism, radical avant-garde and a historical-rooted Japanese counterculture; featuring literature, theory, art, photography, illustration and graphic design from the most innovative and subversive Japanese and international (predominately French) artists, authors and critics, spanning the themes above. As instigator, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in effect formulated the magazine’s design to be a spiritual and political operative that would weaponize its readers minds. This stance was made clear in the 1969 manifesto text — "My 1969" — in which Shibusawa discuss' how he perceived the ‘60s as being the age of ideas, ideas as weapons, and outlined a distain towards systems of power, moralism, State oppression, sanitised and harmless liberalism, dogmatic academic sciences and an outright distrust for ideological, progressive literary scholars who advocate "freedom of expression", but have never caused friction with the judicial power. The magazine sketched out an aim to push towards a new kind of personal freedom, intellect, autonomy and moral compass. Here, the concept of ‘erotism’ — as discussed by Georges Bataille in his highly influential 1957 book "Erotism: Death and Sensuality" — acts as a critical force. 

Issue no. 3 (with cover by Bronzino, 1554) includes full-colour photographic feature by Kishin Shinoyama ("Virgin In Uniform" featuring models/artists Angela Asaoka, Akaji Maro, Yoko Ashikawa) and beautiful Shomei Tomatsu photo feature ("Scoptophilia"), the artwork of the great French cross-dressing painter-photographer Pierre Molinier, texts by Jirō Kawamura, Yumiko Kurahashi, Taruho Inagaki ("Memories of Hemorrhoids or "New Tsurezuregusa"), Akiyuki Nosaka ("Dear Penis, Goodbye"), Minoru Minamihara ("The Mystic Thought of Love in the Case of Jakob Böhme"), Takiji Kobayashi, The Fictitious Garden of Babylon by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, Tsunekazu Murata ("Witch's Ax : Concerning Heresy in Medieval Europe"), translation of Franz Kafka "Metamorphosis" illustrated by Franco Gentilini, recent research on homosexuality by film critic Jin'ichi Uekusa, Kama Sutra, more Gay (Danshoku) Japanese Theater history, Marquise de Blancvilliers by Koji Nakata, and much more.

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), was a well-known and controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, and translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade. In 1960 he and his publisher, Kyōji Ishii, were trialled for public obscenity over the publishing of Shibusawa's translation of de Sade's Juliette into the Japanese language. What was to be known as the "Sade Trial" took 9 years and although many of Japan's leading authors testified for the defense, in 1969 the Japanese Supreme Court ruled them guilty and charged. This did not deter Shibusawa, whose essays on black magic, demonology and eroticism were popular reading in Japan, and in 1981 he was awarded the 9th Izumi Kyoka Literature Prize.

Very Good copy. Light general tanning/wear.

File under: Kishin Shinoyama Shomei Tomatsu Pierre Molinier Franco Gentilini Yokoo Tadanori Angela Asaoka Akaji Maro Yoko Ashikawa Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Franz Kafka Yukio Mishima Taruho Inagaki Jun’nosuke Yoshiyuki Kôichi Iijima Jûrô Kara Ikuya Kato Minoru Yoshioka Ryûichi Tamura The Marquis de Sade Georges Bataille Andre Pieyre De Mandiargues Jirō Kawamura Yumiko Kurahashi Akiyuki Nosaka Minoru Minamihara Jakob Böhme Takiji Kobayashi Tsunekazu Murata Jin'ichi Uekusa Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Eros Fetishism / BDSM Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Japanese Photography Surrealism Philosophy Theory / Essay Fiction / Poetry Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Ancient / Medieval / Gothic Art Counterculture Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées LGBTQ+ Occult / Esoterica Photography Sociology / Politics

Le Sang et La Rose No. 1, 1968

1968, Japanese / French
Softcover, 228 pages, 23 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo

$110.00 - Out of stock

(more...)

(...less)

Revue de Érotologie, Homosexualité, Sadisme, Masochisme, Fétischisme, Narcissime, Infantilisme, Magie, Occultisme, Humour Noir, Complexe Psychisme. What more could you ask for? Le Sang Et La Rose is a masterpiece of the Japanese underground. A groundbreaking, powerful, yet short-lived Japanese arts and literary journal published in Tokyo from late 1968—mid 1969, published in a total of four luxurious, now collectible, volumes. The first three issues were edited by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), a legendary, controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade, and specialist in medieval demonology. The importance of this magazine to the Japanese avant-garde and radical culture cannot be overstated.

Born from a period of political, social and economical turmoil in Japan, Le Sang Et La Rose may be understood as a emblematic distillation and product of the late ‘60s student rebellion and anti-authoritarian underground culture. Wilfully politically subversive, the publication drew upon a vast range of perspectives - from criticism, literature, obscure esoteric sciences, art, eroticism, radical avant-garde and a historical-rooted Japanese counterculture; featuring literature, theory, art, photography, illustration and graphic design from the most innovative and subversive Japanese and international (predominately French) artists, authors and critics, spanning the themes above. As instigator, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa in effect formulated the magazine’s design to be a spiritual and political operative that would weaponize its readers minds. This stance was made clear in the 1969 manifesto text — "My 1969" — in which Shibusawa discuss' how he perceived the ‘60s as being the age of ideas, ideas as weapons, and outlined a distain towards systems of power, moralism, State oppression, sanitised and harmless liberalism, dogmatic academic sciences and an outright distrust for ideological, progressive literary scholars who advocate "freedom of expression", but have never caused friction with the judicial power. The magazine sketched out an aim to push towards a new kind of personal freedom, intellect, autonomy and moral compass. Here, the concept of ‘erotism’ — as discussed by Georges Bataille in his highly influential 1957 book "Erotism: Death and Sensuality" — acts as a critical force. 

Issue no. 1 (1968) sets the scene perfectly, opening with Japanese author Yukio Mishima depicted as Saint Sebastian by photographer Kishin Shinoyama in a pictorial feature "Les Morts Masculines", a photographic homage to Georges Bataille that also features the photography of Eikoh Hosoe, Ikkō Narahara, Masahisa Fukase, and Osamu Hayasaki, with models including Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata, actor Akira Mita, author Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, actor Jin Nakayama, playwright Jūrō Kara, and others. Other features include " All Japanese are Perverse" — stories by Japanese writers including Yukio Mishima, Taruho Inagaki, Yutaka Haniya, Shinji Sōya; Henry Miller's letters to Anais Nin; a colour gallery of artwork by Belgian painter Paul Delvaux; articles on Vampire fantasy in the arts (including many original illustrations; Witches (illustrated by James Ensor); Oriental Eros, Ancient Indian poetry; Kama Sutra; female bi-sexuality; the history of gay (Danshoku) theatre in Japan; the full-colour art gallery "Masturbation Machine", featuring avant-garde artists Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Masuo Ikeda, Setsu Nagasawa, Carlos Marchioli, Kuniyoshi Kaneko, Masakazu Horiuchi, Tadanori Yokoo, Koji Suzuki, Tommy Ungerer; the fully illustrated museum supplement "Pain and Pleasure : On Torture" by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa with artworks throughout history; pornographic stories by Guillaume Apollinaire and Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne (who coined the term "Pornographer"); fiction by Pierre Morion (pseudo. André Pieyre de Mandiargues); critic Jin'ichi Uekusa on the controversial writings of Roger Peyrefitte, illustrations by Ernst, Bellmer, Labisse, Fini, Lam, and much more.

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (1928—1987), was a well-known and controversial Japanese novelist, art critic, and translator of French writers such as Jean Cocteau, Georges Bataille and Marquis de Sade. In 1960 he and his publisher, Kyōji Ishii, were trialled for public obscenity over the publishing of Shibusawa's translation of de Sade's Juliette into the Japanese language. What was to be known as the "Sade Trial" took 9 years and although many of Japan's leading authors testified for the defense, in 1969 the Japanese Supreme Court ruled them guilty and charged. This did not deter Shibusawa, whose essays on black magic, demonology and eroticism were popular reading in Japan, and in 1981 he was awarded the 9th Izumi Kyoka Literature Prize.

Good copy with some spine damage and tanning/wear.

File under: Max Ernst Léonor Fini Felix Labisse Wilfredo Lam Hans Bellmer Paul Delvaux Natsuyuki Nakanishi Masuo Ikeda Setsu Nagasawa Carlos Marchioli Kuniyoshi Kaneko Masakazu Horiuchi Tadanori Yokoo Koji Suzuki Tommy Ungerer Tatsumi Hijikata Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Eikoh Hosoe Ikkō Narahara Masahisa Fukase Osamu Hayasaki Kishin Shinoyama James Ensor Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Jin'ichi Uekusa Roger Peyrefitte Yukio Mishima Taruho Inagaki Yutaka Haniya Shinji Sōya Henry Miller Suehiro Tanemura Guillaume Apollinaire Andre Pieyre De Mandiargues Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne Jūrō Kara Tensei Shuppan / Tokyo Fiction / Poetry Japanese Photography Occult / Esoterica Philosophy Photography Art Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Fetishism / BDSM LGBTQ+ Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Out-of-print / Rare Periodicals Counterculture Surrealism Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Ancient / Medieval / Gothic

Spicilege
By Marcel Schwob

2022, English
Softcover, 224 pages, 13.5 x 20.3 cm
Published by Wakefield Press / Cambridge

$36.00 - In stock -

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Exquisitely crafted essays on medieval criminal slang, ancient Greek prostitution, laughter, anarchy and more from the endlessly influential Marcel Schwob.

"All over the world," wrote Jorge Luis Borges, "there are devotees of the writer Marcel Schwob who constitute little secret societies." Spicilege, Schwob's last book published under his name, constitutes the handbook to these societies--to Schwob's work, to himself as erudite scholar and author, and to the twilight of the era of French Symbolism. Schwob was, as Paul Léautaud described him, a "living library," and the critical biographies gathered in the essays of Spicilege display a few of the volumes in that library: his groundbreaking research on François Villon (work that remains a cornerstone to our knowledge of Villon), his passion for Robert Louis Stevenson and his encounters with such less-remembered writers as George Meredith. But it is the carefully developed ideas in these essays and the eccentric yet thorough scholarship that draws them together that are of particular interest today: the understanding of criminal slang in the Middle Ages; the study of prostitution in ancient Greece; the folklore inspired by a Flaubert story; a complex critique of individuality that effectively laid the groundwork for Jarry's "pataphysics"; as well as ruminations on perversity, laughter, biography, love, terror and pity, and art and anarchy.

Marcel Schwob (1867-1905) was a scholar of startling breadth, an incomparable storyteller and a secret influence on generations of writers, from Apollinaire and Borges to Roberto Bolaño and J. Rodolfo Wilcock.

Translated by Alex Andriesse.

File under: Marcel Schwob Alex Andriesse Wakefield Press / Cambridge Fiction / Poetry Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Theory / Essay Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle

The Demon of the Absurd
by Rachilde; Preface by Marcel Schwob

2024, English
Softcover, 142 pages, 20.4 x 12.7 cm
Published by Snuggly Books / UK

$44.00 - In stock -

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There is no other reality than things invented by an inimitable imagination. Everything else is foolishness or error... If Rachilde is the only one to be frightened by mirrors, to contemplate in the glory of the sunset or the hermetic castle where she will never enter, to experience the pangs of death for a pulled tooth, it is because she sees further than we. The master of the absurd has entered our bodies, according to Jesus’ permission, and our sight has become obscured. If Rachilde’ s tales seem absurd to the demon named “Legion,” we can be sure that they contain an invaluable part of the truth.

Thus wrote Marcel Schwob in his introduction to Rachilde’ s classic collection of Decadent stories, The Demon of the Absurd, first published in 1894 and here presented for the first time in English, in a translation by Shawn Garrett.

These tales and pièces de théâtre, uniting tragedy and comedy, horror and deep mystery, in their sum total, represent a major work by the Queen of Decadence.

“Rachilde” was the pen name of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860–1953), one of the most important writers of the Decadent Movement. Her works include the novels Monsieur Vénus (1884), and The Princess of Darkness (1895), the latter book being written under the pseudonym Jean de Chilra. She also wrote a 1928 monograph on gender identity, Pourquoi je ne suis pas féministe (“Why I am not a Feminist”).

About the Translator: Shawn Garrett is a freelance editor, critic and short fiction aficionado. He currently co-edits the horror fiction podcast Pseudopod and posts weekly columns with Rue Morgue. His translations include Robert Scheffer’ s Prince Narcissus and Other Stories (Snuggly Books, 2019), and Gabriel Mourey’ s Monada (Snuggly Books, 2021).

File under: Rachilde Marcel Schwob Shawn Garrett Snuggly Books / UK Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Fiction / Poetry

The Blood-Guzzler and Other Stories
by Rachilde

2024, English
Softcover, 126 pages, 17.8 x 12.8 cm
Published by Snuggly Books / UK

$40.00 - In stock -

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Rachilde was the pseudonym employed by Marguerite Eymery (1860—1953). Though remembered today primarily for her novels, which include the Decadent masterpiece Monsieur Vénus (1884), for which was prosecuted as pornography in Belgium, where it was initially published, resulting in a conviction and a sentence of two years’ imprisonment imposed in absentia. She was, however, also an exceptional writer of short fiction. The current volume, adeptly translated by Sue Boswell, brings together six of her short stories, none of which have previously appeared in English. This array of strange, Symbolist tales, sometimes brutal, always bizarre, strikes with a deep psychological power and deft artistry.

The work of a true genius, The Blood-Guzzler and Other Stories is an important addition to the writings of the Queen of Decadence available in English.

Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist and playwright Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (11 February 1860 – 4 April 1953). Born near Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire, Rachilde went on to become a symbolist author and the most prominent women in literature associated with the Decadent Movement of fin de siècle France.

A diverse and challenging author, Rachilde's most famous work includes the darkly erotic novels Monsieur Vénus (1884), La Marquise de Sade (1887), and La Jongleuse (1900). She also wrote a 1928 monograph on gender identity, Pourquoi je ne suis pas féministe ("Why I am not a Feminist"). Her work was noted for being frank, fantastical, and always with a suggestion of autobiography underlying questions of gender, sexuality, and identity.

She said of herself, "I always acted as an individual, not thinking to found a society or to upset the present one."

File under: Rachilde Snuggly Books / UK Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Fiction / Poetry Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle

The Princess of Darkness
by Rachilde

2023, English
Softcover, 266 pages, 21.6 x 13.8 cm
Published by Snuggly Books / UK

$46.00 - In stock -

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Translated by Brian Stableford

Rachilde, the writer whose formal name was Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860-1853), is primarily remembered today for her sensational decadent novel Monsieur Vénus (1884), which was prosecuted as pornography in Belgium, where it was initially published, resulting in a conviction and a sentence of two years’ imprisonment imposed in absentia. She was, however, the author of numerous other works which, though less well-known, are of equal and sometimes even greater excellence.

One of the best and most striking of these is The Princess of Darkness (1895), here presented for the first time in English, in a superb translation by Brian Stableford. The novel, unquestionably one of the most daring works to come out of the Symbolist and Decadent movements, was written under Rachilde’ s other pseudonym, Jean de Chilra, and is at once a profound psychological study and a neo-Gothic masterpiece, featuring a haunted house and a family curse and other much more unusual motifs that are calculated to alienate readers as well as to challenge them, in a frightening treasure that any connoisseur of perversity is bound to savor and to think precious.

Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist and playwright Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (11 February 1860 – 4 April 1953). Born near Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire, Rachilde went on to become a symbolist author and the most prominent women in literature associated with the Decadent Movement of fin de siècle France.

A diverse and challenging author, Rachilde's most famous work includes the darkly erotic novels Monsieur Vénus (1884), La Marquise de Sade (1887), and La Jongleuse (1900). She also wrote a 1928 monograph on gender identity, Pourquoi je ne suis pas féministe ("Why I am not a Feminist"). Her work was noted for being frank, fantastical, and always with a suggestion of autobiography underlying questions of gender, sexuality, and identity.

She said of herself, "I always acted as an individual, not thinking to found a society or to upset the present one."

File under: Rachilde Brian Stableford Snuggly Books / UK Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Fiction / Poetry

Symbolists and Decadents
by John Milner

1971, English
Softcover, 160 pages, 18.5 x 12.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Studio Vista / London E P Dutton / New York

$20.00 - Out of stock

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Lovely first print 1971 copy of the Studio Vista/Dutton Pictureback book on Symbolists and Decadents by John Milner. A profusely illustrated study, almost a concise accompaniment to Philippe Jullian's study the same year.

"Thinkers, writers and artists in late-nineteenth-century Europe were impelled by their distrust of the growing materialism of their age towards a search for truths that were of personal and universal significance. The artist embarked on an interior journey and endeavoured to represent his experience of it in an art that would give body and form to emotions and dreams.

Originally a literary movement, Symbolism was born out of this inward search as writers and artists portrayed the longings and nightmares which epitomized the preoccupations of the fin de siècle death and frustration, union and conflict of the sexes, cruel or superfluous beauty, the fatal woman, the siren and the sphinx.

In this new introduction to these fascinating and highly individual artists John Milner traces the Symbolist and Decadent movements from the forerunners in the Pre-Raphaelite movement through the Synthetists (Gauguin and the Pont-Aven group), the Rose +Croix, the German and Austrian Secessions, the personal and fantastic vision of artists such as Odilon Redon and Arnold Böcklin.

Both Symbolist and Decadent painters were concerned with the expression of ideas, mood and emotions. The Decadents, however, in their reaction to a pragmatist and materialist age, withdrew into an exclusive dandyism, and embraced the twin rituals of Catholicism and diabolism; while the search for significance in the forms of Symbolist art was the shadow of a seeking for meaning and spiritual experience in a time of good sense and clear-cut ideas.

Artists of France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland and Britain are represented here with 115 compelling illustrations."

John Milner is a Lecturer in Art History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Very Good copy.

File under: Odilon Redon Arnold Böcklin Paul Gaugin James Ensor Gustav Klimt Fernand Khnopff Félicien Rops Jean Delville Jan Toorop John Milner Edgar Allan Poe Charles Baudelaire Oscar Wilde Algernon Charles Swinburne Studio Vista / London E P Dutton / New York Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Out-of-print / Rare Art Painting Sculpture / Installation Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Group Shows / Collections

Le symbolisme en Belgique
by Francine-Claire Legrand

1971, French
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 276 pages, 24 x 20 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Laconti / Brussels

$50.00 - In stock -

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Curator at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, Francine-Claire Legrand (Brussels, 1916–Saint-Gilles, 1995) was in charge of the modern art department. Published in 1971, her Le symbolisme en Belgique was and remains a pioneering work in which the author traces the history of the multiple trends that were developing in Belgium at that time. She brought them all together under the single concept of symbolism. Studies on Belgian symbolism have long relied on this groundbreaking work. Profusely illustrated in colour and b/w. That same year, the Belgian art historian published her first study on James Ensor, this unknown artist who became her favorite. She made a significant contribution to renewing the way we view the works of the Ostend painter created after 1900.

Good copy in Average DJ, moisture damage to boards and DJ (rippling), otherwise all-round good copy.

File under: Félicien Rops James Ensor Léon Spilliaert Antoine Wiertz Xavier Mellery Fernand Khnopff Francine-Claire Legrand Laconti / Brussels Painting Arte Informale / Haute Pâte / Tachism Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Out-of-print / Rare

James Ensor
Wildest Dreams, Beyond Impressionism

2025, English
Hardcover, 272 pages, 28 x 23 cm
Published by Prestel / Munich

$99.00 - In stock -

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English edition of this wonderful tribute to one of the fathers of international modernism, James Ensor.

James Ensor’s visionary spirit takes us on a journey through his manifold universe of still lifes, self-portraits, savage visions, carnival and satire. In the course of his career, Ensor grew into an unruly gamechanger who personally reset the rules of art. As he did so, he resolutely distanced himself from the classical European ideal of beauty and from the Impressionism that had initially fascinated him.

Ensor did not limit himself to painting – he also unleashed his passion for experiment in detailed drawings, huge collages and potent etchings. His love for the fanciful resulted in characteristically grotesque representations of countless wild dreams.

The pulse of a thrilling late nineteenth century beats through the more than two hundred works reproduced in this book. Ensor constantly surprises us with his contrasts between the comical and the macabre, the refined and the wanton, atmospheric bourgeois interiors and morbid skeletons.

Drawing on their wide-ranging expertise, fifteen authors each highlight specific facets of the Ostend artist’s developing practice to paint a fresh and comprehensive picture of Ensor’s life and work.

This publication accompanies the exhibition In Your Wildest Dreams – Ensor Beyond Impressionism from 28 September 2024 until 19 January 2025 at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).

File under: James Ensor Herwig Todts Prestel / Munich Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Art Painting Drawing

James Ensor and Still Life in Belgium: 1830-1930, Rose, Rose, Rose a mes yeux
by Sabine Taevernier and Bart Verschaffel

2024, English
Softcover, 192 pages, 27 x 22 cm
Published by Yale University Press / New Haven

$120.00 - Out of stock

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A unique journey with James Ensor through the history of still life in Belgium in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Still life played an important role within the work of Belgian expressionist and symbolist painter James Ensor (1860–1949). The quality and significance of his intriguingly complex still lifes become clear when placed within the broader development of the genre in Belgium between 1830 and 1930.

The book offers an overview of the nineteenth-century Belgian academic tradition of decorative painting, with intriguing work by lesser-known painters such as Jean Robie, Hubert Bellis, Frans Mortelmans, and Henri De Braekeleer, as well as forgotten female artists such as Berthe Art and Alice Ronner. In the early twentieth century, artists such as Louis Thevenet continued to develop the genre of still life in a traditional manner, while innovators such as the late James Ensor, Léon Spilliaert, Marthe Donas, Walter Vaes, and Gustave Van de Woestyne created highly personal interpretations.

This book is published on the first exhibition ever entirely devoted to James Ensor's still lifes at Mu.ZEE (Ostend).

File under: Jean Robie Hubert Bellis Frans Mortelmans Henri De Braekeleer Berthe Art Alice Ronner Louis Thevenet James Ensor Léon Spilliaert Marthe Donas Walter Vaes Gustave Van de Woestyne Sabine Taevernier Bart Verschaffel Yale University Press / New Haven Painting Drawing Group Shows / Collections Curatorial Theory / Essay Art Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle

Mutsumi Yamamoto
L'Eros Sacré

2010, Japanese
Softcover, 48 pages, 29.6 x 22 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Bunkamura Gallery / Tokyo

$150.00 - In stock -

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Rare copy of the large format catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition of renowned Japanese copperplate engraver and painter Mutsumi Yamamoto (1940–2001) held at the Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo in 2009. The catalogue includes Yamamoto's copperplate engravings created for books from the late 1960s through the early 1970s, including his prized work for Georges Bataille, as well as pencil drawings and oil paintings from the mid-1970s onward. Interspersed throughout the lush plates of Yamamoto's highly refined, dark, gothic-fantasy, and erotic-symbolist prints and paintings (whose admirers included Leonor Fini) are essays by rare book specialist Noriko Hayashi, former Hanga Geijutsu (Print Art) editor Kai Henmi, and Naosato Miyagawa. Designed in landscape format by Katsuhisa Toda.

Very Good copy, light wear to boards.

File under: Mutsumi Yamamoto Noriko Hayashi Kai Henmi Naosato Miyagawa Bunkamura Gallery / Tokyo Eros Drawing Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Art Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Surrealism Out-of-print / Rare Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Painting

Erotica Universalis: From Pompeii to Picasso
Edited by Gilles Néret

2011, English
Softcover, 575 pages, 19.5 x 14 cm
Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Taschen / Cologne

$55.00 - In stock -

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Wonderfully indecent pictures from famous scribblers and anonymous talents alike (TASCHEN's 25th anniversary special edition)

From the dawn of time, ever since Adam and Eve, all artists of every age – whether the Egyptian, Greek and Roman artists of Antiquity, or more recent famous names as Rembrandt, Courbet, Degas or Picasso – have succumbed to their fantasies, obsessions and libido, and produced erotic works that the censors have taken good care to keep from the public. For Erotica, we surface from the subterranean realms of the museums to enter those of our national and private libraries. Here we discover that not only most of our famous writers, such as Ovid, Aretino, Voltaire, Verlaine or Maupassant, wrote erotic texts that bordered on indecency, but also that great artists like Boucher, Fragonard, Dali or Matisse were inspired to provide suitable illustrations for these naughty books.

Very Good copy.

File under: Agostino Carracci Antoine Borel Marcantonio Raimondi Félicien Rops Aubrey Beardsley Hans Bellmer Pablo Picasso Rembrandt Edgar Degas George Grosz Robert Crumb Albrecht Dürer Michelangelo Buonarroti Parmigianino Rembrandt van Rijn François Boucher Jean-Honoré Fragonard Bernard Picart Gustave Courbet Auguste Rodin Henri Matisse Salvador Dalí Gustav Klimt Egon Schiele Balthus Jean Dubuffet Tom of Finland Gilles Néret Taschen / Cologne Eros LGBTQ+ Out-of-print / Rare Art Drawing Painting Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Renaissance / Neoclassicism / Romanticism Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Fetishism / BDSM Ancient / Medieval / Gothic

Odilon Redon
Otherworldly Visions

2026, English
Softcover, 112 pages, 25.5 x 20.4 cm
Published by Getty Publications / Los Angeles

$58.00 - In stock -

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This visually striking book provides an introduction to the mysterious and dreamlike work of the artist Odilon Redon.

Enigmatic and haunting, the work of the French Symbolist Odilon Redon (1840–1916) intrigues and entrances all who encounter it. During the first half of his career, Redon created dramatically monochromatic charcoal drawings and lithographs, dreamily dark images that plumbed the depths of his wild imagination. Eventually, however, he also turned to pastels, adopting a bold colorful palette in fantastical explorations of the natural world.

Featuring more than seventy illustrations, this publication offers an overview of Redon's career. The informative, accessible essays examine his disparate influences from the worlds of religion, mythology, literature, and music, and demonstrate why Redon’s mysterious work is an important precursor to Surrealism.

This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from July 14 to October 18, 2026.

Text by Danielle Canter, with contributions by Natalia Lauricella
Danielle Canter is assistant curator, Drawings, J. Paul Getty Museum.

File under: Odilon Redon Danielle Canter Natalia Lauricella Getty Publications / Los Angeles Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Art Painting Drawing

The Decadent Reader: Fiction, Fantasy, and Perversion from Fin-de-Siècle France Edited by Asti Hustvedt

1998, English
Softcover (w. dust jacket), 1096 pages, 22 x 14 cm
Published by Zone Books / New York

$79.00 - Out of stock

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In fin-de-siècle France, progress and material prosperity coincided with widespread alarm about disease and decay. The obsessions of our own culture at the end of the millennium resonated in a striking manner with those of the last fin de siècle: crime, pollution, sexually transmitted disease, gender confusion, moral depravity, alcoholism, and tobacco and drug use were topics of constant popular discussion in both epochs. The Decadent Reader is a collection of novels and stories from fin-de-siècle France that celebrate decline, aestheticize decay, and take pleasure in perversity. By embracing the marginal, the unhealthy, and the deviant, these writers attacked bourgeois life, which they perceived as the chief enemy of art. Barbey d’Aurevilly, J.K. Huysmans, Jean Lorrain, Guy de Maupassant, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Catulle Mendès, Rachilde, Jean Moréas, Octave Mirbeau, Joséphin Peladan, and Remy de Gourmont looted the riches of their culture for their own purposes. From an age of medicine they borrowed its occult mysteries rather than its positivism. In its social Darwinism, they found their monsters: sadists, murderers, transvestites, fetishists, prostitutes, nymphomaniacs, and hysterics. And they reveled in them, completely upending the conventions of romance and sentimentality. The Decadent Reader, which includes novels and stories that have never before appeared in English, as well as reappraisals of work that the reader may already be familiar with, offers a compelling portrait of fin-de-siècle France.

File under: Barbey d’Aurevilly J.K. Huysmans Jean Lorrain Guy de Maupassant Villiers de l’Isle-Adam Catulle Mendès Rachilde Jean Moréas Octave Mirbeau Joséphin Peladan Remy de Gourmont Zone Books / New York Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Eros Drugs / Psychedelia Occult / Esoterica Fiction / Poetry

Reconsidering Aubrey Beardsley
Edited by Robert Langenfeld

1989, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 508 pages, 24 x 16 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by UMI Research Press / Ann Arbor

$60.00 - In stock -

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First 1989 hardcover edition.

Aubrey Beardsley, one of the most fascinating figures of turn-of-the-century European culture, was a prodigious master who continues to defy those who thought his art would remain a prisoner of the 1890s. His acute black and white drawings touched the work of Bakst, Toulouse-Lautrec, Klee, and Picasso, among others, and, a century after his death, he continues to capture the imagination of artists, scholars, and enthusiasts alike.

In Reconsidering Aubrey Beardsley, editor Robert Langenfeld and nine distinguished essayists from England and America — including Brian Reade, lan Fletcher, John Stokes, and Karl Beckson — reevaluate Beardsley's art and writing from a variety of viewpoints, testing new perceptions and qualifying established judgments. Departing from previous studies, Langenfeld and his colleagues offer a broad assessment of this controversial and exciting figure. Topics treated include Beardsley's use of paradox in both art and writing, his influence on modern theatrical style, his attitude toward women, and his view of the artist/illustrator as literary critic. In addi-tion, an annotated secondary bibliography with more than 1500 entries, compiled by Nicholas Salerno, provides for the first time a comprehensive record of the many responses — books, articles, letters — to Beardsley's life and work.

For nearly a century Aubrey Beardsley has eluded the sharpest descriptive and biographical skills of his critics and admirers. As his centennial approaches, Reconsidering Aubrey Beardsley will provide a well-documented, richly illustrated source of knowledge for those interested in literature, theatre, gender studies, as well as art of the fin de siècle.

Robert Langenfeld received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since 1983 he has served as editor of English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, and in 1988, as co-publisher, he founded ELT Press and its 1880-1920 British Authors Series.

Dr. Langenfeld has published articles on George Moore, Shakespeare, and Hemingway, and co-authored, with David Eakin, George Moorés Correspondence with the Mysterious Countess. His George Moore: An Annotated Secondary Bibliography was published by AMS Press in 1987. He is also a major contributor to the Hardy and Shaw volumes in the Annotated Secondary Bibliography Series from Northern Illinois University Press. Dr. Langenfeld is currently working on George Mooré's Last Works: The Demise of an Iconoclast.

VG copy in VG dust jacket, preserved under mylar wrap.

File under: Aubrey Beardsley Félicien Rops Robert Langenfeld Aubrey Beardsley Brian Reade lan Fletcher John Stokes Karl Beckson UMI Research Press / Ann Arbor Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Illustration / Graphic Art / Bandes Dessinées Eros Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Art Drawing Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Theory / Essay LGBTQ+ Performance / Dance / Theater

SHATTERED FORMS: Art Brut, Phantasms, Modernism
by Allen S. Weiss

1992, English
Softcover, 158 pages, 23 x 15 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by State University of New York Press / New York

$45.00 - Out of stock

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Art Brut, also termed Outsider Art, has long been suppressed from most art historical writing. Why this rejection? The hyperbolic expressions of Romanticism and Symbolism nourished a desire for derangement and dissociation that inspired both Expressionism and Surrealism. Simulated delirium became the object of the new art - experimental, avant-garde, modernist - which arose from the fragmented codes, the shattered forms of everyday communication. But what of those artists whose works, and often whose deliria, are the manifestations of sheer eccentricity, of social isolation and marginalization, or of madness? In this book Weiss investigates the origins of the unrestricted contemporary artistic field, seeking its sources in those works hitherto absent from the official histories of art - works that constitute art's dark interior, its disturbing netherworld. Secluded, occluded, excluded, Art Brut nevertheless extends the limits of artistic creativity and aesthetic discourse, regardless of whatever anxieties such works may produce. Shattered Forms explores the relations between Art Brut, the psychopathology of expression, and avant-garde Modernism, attempting to show how the consideration of Art Brut should lead to a revision of our theoretical and museological paradigms.

Illustrated throughout with works by Rosemarie Koczy, Pascal Maisonneuve, Michel Nedjar, Vojislav Jakić, Oswald Tschirtner, Philipp Schöpke, "Max," Michel Nedjar, Katherina, Adolf Wölfli, August Neter, Comte de Tromelin.

Allen S. Weiss is a writer, translator, editor, and curator in the fields of Aesthetics, Art History, Cinema Studies, and Comparative Literature. He edited Art Brut: Madness and Marginalia (a special issue of Art & Text); co-edited Psychosis and Sexual Identity and Portraits from the Outside: Figurative Expression in Outsider Art; and wrote The Aesthetics of Excess, published by SUNY Press.

Very Good copy, light age.

File under: Rosemarie Koczy Pascal Maisonneuve Michel Nedjar Vojislav Jakić Oswald Tschirtner Philipp Schöpke Max Katherina Adolf Wölfli August Neter Comte de Tromelin Allen S. Weiss State University of New York Press / New York Theory / Essay Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Out-of-print / Rare Art Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Surrealism Philosophy Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle

Egon Schiele
Expression and Pose

2026, English
Hardcover, 128 pages, 23.5 x 16.8 cm
Published by Belvedere / Vienna

$50.00 - Out of stock

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Edited by Stella Rollig, Verena Gamper & Franz Smola.
Text by Verena Gamper, Stefanie Jahn, Monika Mayer & Franz Smola.

Egon Schiele's work combines tradition and innovation in equal measure. It demonstrates a high degree of creative innovation and expressive artistry, which, due to its radical nature, exhibits a striking modernity. Schiele creates a completely new image of the body in which expression and pose play essential roles. His paintings of nature and his immediate surroundings, on the other hand, are full of melancholy and symbolism.

This publication explores the many facets of Schiele's personality. These include dramatic events in the life of the exceptional painter, who died at the young age of 28, as well as his literary talent and his undeniable skill as a networker within the Viennese art scene before and during the First World War. By contrast, the pictures he created of nature and his immediate surroundings are steeped in melancholy and symbolism.

File under: Egon Schiele Verena Gamper Stefanie Jahn Monika Mayer Franz Smola Stella Rollig Belvedere / Vienna Painting Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Art Drawing

Edvard Munch
1863—1944

2013, English
Hardcover (in slipcase), 420 pages, 28.5 x 25.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Skira / Milan Rizzoli / New York Munchmuseet / Oslo

$380.00 - In stock -

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First hardcover, slipcased edition of this now very rare, beautifully illustrated comprehensive book published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edvard Munch (1863-1944) in 2013, for which a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition was organized by the Munch Museum and the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo.

This major new book is the most comprehensive and ambitious full-scale retrospective of Munch's artistic oeuvre ever presented. It includes an exceptional number of renowned masterpieces as well as many lesser-known works from public and private collections worldwide. With some 350 illustrations, the volume beautifully illustrates the entire development of Munch's art from the 1880s to his death in 1944, including paintings, prints, and drawings. Texts by important scholars cover various aspects of the artist's work: self-presentation and self-portraiture, places and perception, visual rhetoric, The Frieze of Life series as a lifelong project, Munch and public life, narration and abstraction, figure and representation, and the staging of gender. With texts reflecting the most recent Munch scholarship as well as a timeline, a biography, and an index of names and places, this comprehensive book provides a new understanding of Munch's groundbreaking contribution to modernist painting.

Edvard Munch was one of Modernism's most significant artists. His tenacious experimentation within painting, graphic art, drawing, sculpture, photo and film has given him a unique position in Norwegian as well as international art history.

Fine copy in Near Fine illustrated slipcase with some light shelf wear.

File under: Edvard Munch Jon-Ove Steihaug Mai Britt Guleng Birgitte Sauge Skira / Milan Rizzoli / New York Munchmuseet / Oslo Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Painting Out-of-print / Rare Art

Edvard Munch
1863—1944

1959, German
Softcover (staple-bound), 44 pages, 20 x 19.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Kongresshalle / Berlin

$50.00 - In stock -

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Lovely 1959 catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition Edvard Munch 1863—1944, at the Kongresshalle Berlin, September—October, 1959, a very significant exhibition of the Norwegian painter's graphic works, profusely b/w illustrated throughout. Munch produced a substantial body of work using intaglio techniques—such as etching, drypoint, and aquatint—on copper plates. Beginning in 1894, he embarked on engraving directly onto copper and, largely self-taught and without formal instruction, created numerous masterpieces in this medium. Texts in German on alternating paper stocks throughout the galleries, plus a full catalogue of exhibited works.

Very Good copy, light wear.

File under: Edvard Munch Kongresshalle / Berlin Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Drawing Painting Out-of-print / Rare

The Green Face
by Gustav Meyrink

1992, English
Softcover, 224 pages, 19.5 x 12.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Dedalus / Cambs

$30.00 - Out of stock

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First 1992 Dadalus English translation of The Green Face, Meyrink's second novel, published in Germany in 1916 to critical and commercial acclaim. With cover art by Richard Oelze.

"Its setting is Amsterdam, which is used in the novel as a symbol of European decadence, and is ultimately destroyed. "The novel has the classic Meyrink features - the mystical wedding, the galaxy of grotesque characters and the haunting atmosphere of the ghetto. Mike Mitchell's superb translation of The Green Face will help establish Gustav Meyrink's reputation as one of this century's most important authors of fantastic fiction."—book jacket

"Meyrink's The Green Face is second in visionary power only to The Golem... By creating an all-pervading atmosphere of kafkaesque mystery and uncertainty, Meyrink succeeds in suggesting inexhaustible depths and heights of meaning."—Franz Rottensteiner

Good—VG copy with light wear/toning.

File under: Richard Oelze Gustav Meyrink Dedalus / Cambs Weird / Speculative / Science Fiction Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Out-of-print / Rare Fiction / Poetry

Érotique du Surréalisme
by Robert Benayoun

1965, French
Hardcover (clothbound), 244 pages, 18 x 18 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / good
Published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert / Paris

$55.00 - Out of stock

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First 1965 clothbound edition of Érotique du Surréalisme, Robert Benayoun's study on the importance of the erotic in the surrealist arts, from L'Androgyne to The Sadist, Le Femme-Enfant to the Poetic Machine, surveying Symbolist and Art Brut precursors, and encompassing the multitude manifestations of eroticism across a broad array of visual and poetic works from the surrealist spectrum, even into the influence in film (a field Benayoun was known in). Reproducing poems and quotes throughout, this heavily illustrated volume reproduces many artworks in b/w and colour plates, including works and works by Max Walter Svanberg, Toyen, Hans Bellmer, Friedrich Schröder Sonnenstern, Heinrich Anton Müller, Marcel Duchamp, Jindřich Štyrský, Brancusi, Victor Brauner, Mimi Parent, Andre Masson, Louis Aragon, Yves Tanguy, Valentine Hugo, Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Balthus, Rene Magritte, André Breton, Giorgio de Chirico, Henry Fuseli, Dali, Man Ray, Henri Rousseau, Picasso, Miro, Edvard Munch, William Blake, Hieronymus Bosch, Ingrid Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Konrad Klapheck, Francis Picabia, Óscar Domínguez, Jean Benoit, Paul Delvaux, Pierre Molinier, and many more.

Good—Very Good copy with light tanning to spine and general tanning/light wear.

File under: André Breton Louis Aragon Joyce Mansour Hans Bellmer Salvador Dali Robert Benayoun Guillaume Apollinaire Jean-Jacques Pauvert / Paris Eros Fetishism / BDSM Theory / Essay Fiction / Poetry Poetry Ero Guro / Erotic / Grotesque Surrealism Dada Art Painting Sculpture / Installation Drawing Art Brut / Folk / Visionary / Fantastic Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle

Bodily Extremities: Preoccupations with the Human Body in Early Modern European Culture
By Florike Egmond, Robert Zwijnenberg

2003, English
Hardcover (w. dust jacket), 235 pages, 24 x 16.5 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / fine
Published by Ashgate / Hampshire

$300.00 - In stock -

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First 2003 hardcover edition.

A strong preoccupation with the human body - often manifested in startling ways - is a characteristic shared by early modern Europeans and their present-day counterparts. Whilst modern manifestations of this interest include body piercing, tattoos, plastic surgery and eating disorders, early modern preoccupations encompassed such diverse phenomena as monstrous births and physical deformity, body snatching, public dissection, flagellation, judicial torture and public punishment. This volume explores such extreme manifestations of early modern bodily obsessions and fascinations, and their wider cultural significance.

Agreeing that an interest in physical boundaries, extreme physical manifestations and situations developed and grew stronger during the early modern period, the essays in this volume investigate whether this interest can be traced in a wider range of cultural phenomena, and should therefore be given a prominent place in any future characterization of the early modern period. Taken as a whole, the volume can be read as an attempt to create a new context in which to explore the cultural history of the human body, as well as the metaphors of research and investigation themselves.

Fine copy in Fine dust jacket preserved in mylar wrap.

File under: Florike Egmond Robert Zwijnenberg Ashgate / Hampshire Psychoanalysis Philosophy / Psychoanalysis Philosophy Theory / Essay Crime / Violence Painting Art Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Ancient / Medieval / Gothic

Murders and Madness: Medicine, Law, and Society in the Fin de Siècle
by Ruth Harris

1991, English
Softcover, 366 pages, 22 x 14 cm
1st Edition, Out of print title / used / very good
Published by Oxford University Press / New York

$45.00 - In stock -

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First 1991 softcover edition of this 1989 interdisciplinary study of the debate surrounding crime and madness in France between 1880 and 1914. It argues that psychiatric theories of human behaviour and new sociological interpretations of crime combined to undermine the traditional foundations of the penal system, and helped to shape the new science of criminology.

The book focuses on a range of case-studies, covering many issues of contemporary concern: feminine hysteria and women's sexuality; male alcoholism, and racial degeneration; and crimes of passion, crowd violence, and revolutionary politics. Murders and Madness makes fascinating reading, and is a major contribution to our understanding of fin-de-siècle mentalités.

Ruth Harris is Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at New College, Oxford.

"[a] brilliant dive into the Parisian world of mayhem, murder and madness... her account is outstanding ... remarkably concise and well-written...
Harris' sensitivity to gender issues in these cases is exemplary ... her fine study shows that the "new medical history" is not a narrow specialism, but can be a potent agent of wider historical understanding?
French History

'Harris has written a useful, compendious, suggestive, often sensitive book.'–Times Literary Supplement

"This book represents a major contribution to the history of forensic medicine and the sexual stereotyping of men and women late in the nineteenth century ... the book's painstaking analysis of dozens of cases... gives it an authoritative tone that will not easily be challenged... fine scholarship."–Medical History

"Harris pushes beyond an analysis of existing scholarship to mine a rich vein of relevant but little-used primary source material... a fascinating and valuable book."–Journal of the British Society for the History of Science

VG copy with light wear to edges/spine.

File under: Ruth Harris Oxford University Press / New York Theory / Essay Crime / Violence Transgressive / Visceral / Abject Literary Theory / Semiotics / Language Symbolism / Decadence / Fin de siècle Psychoanalysis Philosophy / Psychoanalysis