MALAYA KNIGA MARKIZY [THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE MARQUISE] Das Lesebuch der Marquise: Ein Rokokobuch von Franz Blei und Constantin Somoff [The Marquise’s Reader: A Rococo Book by Franz Blei and Konstantin Somov]. [Munich: Hans von Weber Verlag, 1908].

[6], 142, [2] pp.: ill.; [7] plates, 1 frontispiece; 21.5 x 15.7 cm. Edition of 850 copies: 800 on Dutch paper and 50 on Japanese paper. In German. Woodcut illustrations on separate leaves, decorative frames, headpieces and tailpieces in the text. Three of the plates hand-coloured in watercolour. Publisher’s full morocco binding with gilt tooling on the upper board after a design by K. Somov. Endpapers lined with crimson velvet. Top edge gilt. In good condition. Some scuffing and minor stains to the binding, small losses of leather along the edges of the spine and at the corners of the boards, crack at the head of the spine. The Book of the Marquise is an anthology of frivolous texts illustrated with erotic drawings by Konstantin Somov. It includes excerpts from erotic works by André Chénier, Casanova, Parny, Voltaire and Crébillon fils, and passages from Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons dangereuses. The idea for the collection came from the Austrian essayist, translator and publisher of erotic periodicals Franz Blei (1871-1942). The book was published in three editions: the German edition of 1908, with only eight illustrations (‘The Little Marquise’); two editions in Petrograd in 1918, printed at the requisitioned Golike & Vilborg press, with expanded texts in French: ‘The Medium Marquise’ (24 plates) and ‘The Grand Marquise’ (31 illustrations), the most provocative edition. A bibliophile rarity; Konstantin Somov’s illustrations are considered masterpieces of Silver Age book art and one of the summits of Russian book graphics. First edition. Literature: Bibliokhronika I, no. 165; Books for Gourmets, no. 18; Gubar, nos. 1738-1739.