Chrysis.

Paris: Charles Meunier, 1940. One of 125 copies on vélin crème, this no. 64, of a very small total edition of 147 copies. 15 gently erotic colour aquatint engravings by Louis Icart. Each page with a gold border. Pp. [iv], 28. 4to., loose as issued in the original wrappers with original gold-printed glacine, housed in the original chemise and slipcase of gold highlighted marbled paper covered boards. A very good, bright copy, the slipcase is a little rubbed at the extremities and the chemise has very subtle reinforcing of the spine.||Chrysis forms the subject of Louys’s best known erotic book Aphrodite. Set in Alexandria the book follows the fortunes of the courtesan Chrysis who is known for her beauty and her skill at winning the devotion and servility of men and her ambition of love with the sculptor Demetrios. Louys was writing to espouse his philosophy that nudity, human sexuality and pleasure should all be embraced in the pursuit of perfect love. |Carteret, Tresor du Bibliophile Vol IV, p.252