LOUYS, PIERRE; Shane LESLIE, [Trans.] Aphrodite. A Novel of Ancient Manners. London: The Fortune Press, 1928.
8vo., quarter black cloth over marbled paper boards, spine lettered and ruled in gilt; pp. [vii], viii-xix, [iii], 3-262, [ii]; qwith title page in red and black; slight lean to text block, a little bumped and rubbed to corners, with spine tips a little compressed; light cracking to gutter at p.140-141; a few minor spots throughout, but else a very good copy.
First English translation, limited to 1075 copies on English unbleached handmade paper, this No.235.
Louÿs published his first novel, Aphrodite - in 1896. It tells the love story between Chrysis, a courtesan, and the sculptor Démétrios. A depiction of daily life in Alexandria, it is considered a mixture of both literary excess and refinement, and, numbering at 350,000 copies, was the best selling work by any living French author in his day.
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