TRAVIES, Charles Joseph; MAYEUX

[Les Douze journées erotique de Mayeux]

Paris: [Anonymous], 1830. Item #05351

Forbidden Laughter in the July Monarchy: Traviès’ Mayeux
Unleashed in a Rare Erotic Caricature Album

TRAVIÈS, Charles Joseph, illustrator. [MAYEUX]. [Les Douze journées erotique de Mayeux]. Paris: [Anonymous], ca 1830-35.

First and only edition.

Small octavo (7 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches; 185 x 123 mm.). Twelve lithographed leaves of text. Nine of twelve lithographed plates (missing plate numbers 7, 10 & 11. Some mainly marginal foxing.

Late nineteenth century three quarter red morocco over marbled boards ruled in blind. Spine with four raised bands lettered in gilt, red cockerel style endpapers, top edge gilt.

The title deliberately echoes Sade’s Les Cent Vingt Journées de Sodome, though the content is caricatural rather than philosophical: Mayeux is shown passing through a series of erotic “days” or encounters, each plate pairing bawdy imagery with coarse, mocking text. The humor is vulgar, misogynistic, and intentionally transgressive.

No publisher’s name appears on Les Douze Journées érotiques de Mayeux. The work belongs to the world of clandestine Parisian erotica of the early 1830s, which was typically issued anonymously, without imprint, to avoid prosecution under the strict censorship laws following the July Revolution.

The notorious Les Douze Journées érotiques de Mayeux is an anonymous erotic satire illustrated with lithographs attributed to Charles Joseph Traviès de Villers, creator of the famous caricatural figure “Mayeux.” The text - most likely by Émile Debraux (1796–1831) - presents twelve ribald dialogues, each paired with a lithograph lampooning contemporary manners. The illustrations, executed in Traviès’s familiar caricatural style, veer into the clandestine and erotic, showing how Mayeux’s popularity transcended political satire to invade the underground world of libertine literature.

The fictional hunchback dwarf Mayeux - much like England’s John Bull - emerged after the July Revolution of 1830 as a stock satirical figure, embodying the Parisian petit bourgeois and serving as a vehicle for social critique. In this rare erotic parody, Mayeux is cast in grotesque amorous adventures, highlighting both the comic and transgressive dimensions of his character.

A rare survival of one of the most unusual erotic caricature books of the July Monarchy. Combining the grotesque humor of Traviès’s Mayeux with the clandestine tradition of erotic literature, Les Douze Journées érotiques exemplifies the blurred line between satire, pornography, and political commentary in post-revolutionary Paris.

WorldCat records just one institutional copy, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and that example is imperfect, with the title and two leaves of text supplied in facsimile. Auction records are virtually nonexistent: neither AE nor ABPC list a copy, and the only recent appearance was at Christie’s London (17 November 2014, lot 157), where a copy—also imperfect—realized GBP 2,750 (est. GBP 1,200–1,800).

Émile Debraux (1796–1831): French poet and chansonnier, active in the Parisian goguette societies of the Restoration and July Monarchy. Celebrated for his witty songs and satirical verses, he often mocked censorship, morality, and politics. His libertine leanings led bibliographers to attribute to him the text of Les Douze Journées érotiques de Mayeux, situating him within the clandestine tradition of erotic and satirical literature.

References: Dutel A-299; Gay-Lemonnyer II, 38; Pia Enfer 388. See also Amanda Peters, Introducing Monsieur Mayeux (2013), p. 63; and Anonyme, attribué à Émile Debraux, Les douze Journées érotiques de Mayeux (1830).

Price: $8,500.00