Classic Pr0n to fetch at least half a million euros
Gérard Nordmann was 17 when he began buying erotic books. By the time he died in 1992, his collection contained over 1,000 books and manuscripts. It is regarded by many as the greatest private collection of erotica in the world.
More bibliophile than voyeur, Nordmann prized rare editions unknown even to specialised dealers. Only one thing pleased him more than acquiring an example that was rarer or more complete than that in France’s Bibliothèque Nationale, and that was to find a work that the library did not possess at all.
One book, in particular, combines rarity, history and narrative with subtle, humorous imagery. In 1750 Alexandre Joseph le Riche de la Pouplinière, one of France’s wealthiest tax collectors, installed his printer in his mansion in Passy, in the west of Paris.
The man’s sole task was to oversee the secret production of a book entitled “Tableaux des Moeurs du Temps”. The author, in reality La Pouplinière himself, would remain anonymous. Only two copies were to be made.
One, which has no illustrations, is now in the municipal library at Versailles.
The other (Nordmann was delighted to own the better of the two) is a highlight of this collection. It boasts 18 watercolours featuring La Pouplinière as he saw himself. In the more discreet (as pictured above) he is seen delicately stroking a slippered calf behind the knee.
Part I of Gérard Nordmann’s erotic library was sold in April. Part II will be auctioned by Christie’s, Paris, on December 14th and 15th.
Lot 292, “Tableaux des Moeurs du Temps”, is estimated at €500,000–700,000.
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