Vivant-Denon - Lot 48

Vivant-Denon (Dominique-Vivant, baron Denon, dit) (1747-1825) Les Priapées. 1793 (Pl. for L'œuvre originale de Vivant Denon (...) by M. Albert de la Fizelière. Paris, A.Barraud éditeur, 1873). Etching. Each [285x385]. Fine proofs on ivory vellum (without title page). Accidents, dusting and heavy soiling to a few plates (outside subject). Full margins. Set of 31p. L'œuvre priapique de Vivant-Denon, a collection of 23 erotic subjects engraved by the young Vivant-Denon, appeared in Paris at the end of 1793. The work soon came under the censorship of the Comité de Salut Public, and was never put on sale. No copies of this early edition are known to exist. It was only at the end of the 19th century, when the copperplates were acquired by the bookseller-publisher Barraud, that an edition of Vivant-Denon's complete engraved work (317 plates) was produced. Barraud added 8 new plates to the original series of 23 Priapées plates. The print run is 100 copies.