[Rarebooks] fa: BERTHE, ou LE PET MEMORABLE (Berthe or The Memorable Fart) - Scatological Poetry - 1807

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 21. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/yeola2dw

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


[Vincent Lombard de Langres:] Berthe, ou Le Pet Memorable. Anecdote du IXme. siecle. Par L.D.L. Paris: Leopold Collin, 1807. First edition; 12mo (14 cm) in early/period calf-backed marbled boards; 145 pp. Binding with some rubbing and light edge-wear; contents with foxing to various degrees throughout, half-title with the ink stamp of a previous owner ("Etude Tissot avocat").

A (perhaps justifiably) obscure and uncommon book whose title poem translates as: "Berthe or The Memorable Fart." The work is listed as no. 68 in the Bibliotheca scatalogica (ca. 1849): "Un vent lache involontairement procure a la pauvre Berthe un mariage des plus brillants ce qui confirme ce qu on a dit quelque part qu un pet est parfois bon à quelque chose" (An involuntarily released gust of wind provides poor Berthe with a most brilliant marriage, which confirms what has been said somewhere, that a fart is sometimes good for something). The poem is accompanied by notes and essays dealing with flatulence through the ages, as well as the author's "souvenirs [in verse] de mon enfance." Lombard de Langres (1765-1830) was an ardent revolutionary who in later years devoted himself to literary pursuits. OCLC locates only two copies of the work, in the Bibliotheque national and the Royal Danish Library.