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ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE Aristoteles Master-piece, or, The Secrets of Generation diplayed in all the parts thereof, 1684
Sold for £20,000 inc. premium
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ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE
Footnotes
SCARCE COMPLETE COPY OF "THE DIRTY BOOK OF THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD".
"Aristotle's Masterpiece was the most popular book about women's bodies, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and America from its first appearance in 1684 up to at least the 1870s. More than 250 editions are known, but all are very rare... It was sold furtively by country peddlers and in general stores and taverns; regular booksellers seldom advertised it, though they usually had it under the counter" (The Library Company of Philadelphia, 'Treasures', online catalogue). The work "was still on sale, contents largely unaltered, in Soho sex shops in the 1930s" (Books and Babies, Cambridge Library, 2011) and James Joyce's protagonist Leopold Bloom peruses an edition of the book in Ulysses.
This is the earliest publication date for the Master-piece, ESTC listing 3 variant settings of 1684, all printed by J. How, with no priority having been established. ESTC records only the incomplete British Library copy of our setting, which has line 11 of title ending "both", line 18 of title ends "Geni-", and the first line of imprint ending "sold". A copy of the same edition was sold in our sale rooms for £18,000, 12 November 2014, lot 47.
Saleroom notices
"Geni-" in footnote should read "Ge-", as per ESTC R504793.





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