The Courtesans: The Demi-monde in 19th Century France.
Richardson, Joanna.
Place Published: London:
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson,
Date Published: 1967.
Description: Dust jacket reads: "In Second Empire Paris there were a dozen courtesans who were generally known as la garde: they were the queens of their profession, the women whom visiting princes considered it essential to see. They were the women who encrusted their bathroom taps with jewels, built palaces in the ChampsElysees, fought duels in the Bois de Boulogne. They scandalised society, and influenced the Press and even politics. They also, of course, ensnared the husbands and lovers of the most beautiful women in Paris. The great courtesans could, it seemed, do anything - this was their golden age. Joanna Richardson now presents her own version of la garde: twelve of the most distinguished courtesans of nineteenth century France. Some of them were not French by birth, but all of them were, at some time, established in Paris. Their careers were part of French social history in the days of the Bourgeois Monarchy and the Second Empire. Some of them simply entertained the Parisian of the time, but they are still worth recalling as social phenomena: they gave a diamante sparkle to the art of living. Others have earned - and the word is deliberate - immortality. Had it not been for Blanche d'Antigny, Nana might not have crystallised in the mind of Zola. Had it not been for la Presidente, posterity would have lost much of the splendour of Les Fleurs du mal-for Apollonie Sabatier, who loved Baudelaire, and was loved by him, inspired some of the greatest poems of the nineteenth or any century. The courtesans raise social and moral and even political problems - but they also invite the question: is it merely coincidence that the age of the courtesan should have been a magnificent age for the arts?" The courtesans included are: Blanche d'Antigny; La Barucci; Cora Pearl; Esther Guimond; La Paiva aka Mme Villoing/Mme la Marquise de Paiva/Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck; Mademoiselle Maximum; Marguerite Bellanger aka Mme Kulbach; Caroline Letessier; Alic Ozy; La Dame aux Camelias aka Marie Duplessis/Mme la Comtesse de Perregaux; La Presidente aka Apollonie Sabatier; Mogador akaMm la Comtesse de Chabrillan. -------------------------- FIRST EDITION, 1st printing. The book is in VERY GOOD condition but has a smudge on front board edge. The dust jacket is in NEAR FINE condition with some minor shelf wear. 257 pages with index plus numerous pages of color and black white photos/illustrations. JMVINTAGE specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor...FAMOUS COURTESANS and other curious people.
Edition: First editionBinding: Hard Cover
Condition: Very Good in Near Fine dj
Book Id: 962
Price: $24.50
