•  Brunet, V, 115; De Backer-Sommervogel, VII, 532; Englisch, Der erotischen literatur, 145; Palau 294482. Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, tooled in blind, spine with inked title; binding darkened and scuffed, with clasps now lacking and with leather torn over head and foot of spine (lacking at foot, with underlying vellum showing). Title-page with inked ownership inscriptions dated 1715, later institutional stamp in lower margin, and faint shadows of pencilled notations; front pastedown and one text page also with institutional stamps. Small spots of worming to lower margins of a number of leaves. Pages age-toned, with some instances of marginalia and underlining in early inked hands and occasionally in pencil (a handful of leaves in part III extensively annotated within text); a few spots of foxing, and one leaf with paper flaws partially obscuring a few letters. A big, solid volume.

eroticism

Valentina Wasson’s upbringing in mushroom-loving Russia inspired this work, although directly Russian-related material is scant compared to the masses of international lore compiled here. Befitting a labor of love, the volume was handsomely printed by the prestigious Stamperia Valdonega (following Hans Mardersteig’s design) on heavy paper with deckle edges. Its pochoir plates reproduce beautiful life-sized watercolor paintings of mushrooms done by naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre, and other numerous plates depict other works of interest such as Gainsborough’s “Mushroom Girl.”

Provenance: From the library of chef and culinary collector Louis I. Szathmary, with the laid in, retained carbon of a letter from him to Ralph Geoffrey Newman (the late, noted, Chicago bookseller); this thanks Newman for “the interesting information on the Mushroom book.” A duplicate copy of Newman’s purchase invoice, with Szathmary’s cheque photocopied onto it, is also present.

This is copy number 412 of a limited edition of 512.

•  Green publisher’s cloth, spines with gilt-stamped labels, housed in the original neat buckram-covered slipcase. Corners and spine extremities show slight traces of wear with bindings otherwise crisp and clean; slipcase likewise shows only the faintest of wear. (In our rather bad photograph, the slipcase looks a tad bowed; in real life, it is NOT.) Glassine wrappers present (somewhat yellowed, a bit short as issued, and one with a bit missing at top of that spine). Top edges gilt. Pages and plates clean. A lovely association copy of this significant and uncommon mycological text.

The advertisement leaves are devoted specifically to books of phallic subject matter.

•  NSTC 0803266; Allibone, Critical Dictionary, 1505. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped medallion, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth rubbed at corners and pulled at spine extremities, board edges lightly discolored. Pencilled owner’s name in upper margin of title-page. Title-page and two others pressure-stamped; preface with inked annotation and stamped numeral. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean.