Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, Baron de

Le Temple de Gnide

      Chez le Mire Graveur, Paris, 1772. New edition. Frontispiece; pictorial title; coat-of-arms; nine full page plates engraved by N. le Mire from drawings by Charles Eisen; text engraved by Drouot. With a bookplate.This scarce, early work which was published anonymously was inspired by the author's lover, the Marquise de Grave. It is a mildly indecent erotic fantasy which was also a satire on the court of the infant Louis XV. It originally appeared in the periodical, Bibliothèque Francaise, published in Amsterdam in 1724. Purporting to be a translation from the original Greek, the narrator describes Aphrodite's temple at Gnide as well as a visit to the Cave of Jealousy and the healthy atmosphere of the Temple of Bacchus.