Pope Pius II's Erotic Novel to Auction
De Duobus amantibus Euryalo et Lucretia
The incunable erotic novel De Duobus amantibus Euryalo et Lucretia by Pope Pius II will go under the hammer this weekend at Addison & Sarova Auctioneers.
Written around 1444 by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini who became the future Pope Pius II in 1458, De Duobus amantibus Euryalo et Lucretia (Venice, Petrus de Quarengiis, March, 1497, estimate: $800–$8,000) known as Tale of the Two Lovers was one of the earliest epistolary novels and first printed in Cologne between 1467 and 1470. On becoming Pope he tried to hide elements of his previous life, including the writing of this novel which is set in Siena, Italy, and full of erotic imagery, focusing on the love story of the married Lucretia and Euryalus who is part of the Duke of Austria's court.
Other highlights in the Rare Books, Manuscripts & Ephemera auction on November 1 include:
- a large assortment of 19th century material including letters, reports, and maps from and related to the Treloar mining family from Cornwall in England which also held interests and owned mines in Brazil and Argentina (estimate: $30,000-$50,000)
- an incunable folio Bible (Venice, Leonardus Wild, 1478) estimate: $3,000-$30,000)
- a first edition early bibliography from the Cottonian Library (estimate: $120-$1,200) Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum bibliothecae Cottonianae, bound with Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti cum indice alphabetico, together representing early printed attempts to systematically describe the great manuscript collections of Britain and Ireland
- The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie with Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods (London & New York, William Heinemann & Doubleday, 1910 and 1911, respectively) by Richard Wagner and illustrated by Arthur Rackham, both signed by Rackham and numbered #40 of 1,150 copies (estimate: $250-$2,500)
- The History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh, first edition (London, William Stansby, 1614), written while the author was imprisoned in the Tower of London for conspiracy (estimate: $300-$3,000)
