The Perfumed Garden of the Cheik Nefzaoui
Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefzawi
$300.00

s/t: A Manual af (sic) Arabian Erotology (XVI Sentury) Revised and Corrected Translation. Most likely the second edition of this translation by Sir Richard Burton of the classic erotic manual from 15th century Tunisia. At the time Burton had to conceal his involvement with this publication with dubious publication information. Britain had passed the obscene publications act of 1857 to quash any works that would offend polite Victorian society.

The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight (Arabic: الروض العاطر في نزهة الخاطر‎ Al-rawḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhaẗ al-ḫāṭir) is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefzawi, also known simply as “Nefzawi”. The book presents opinions on what qualities men and women should have to be attractive and gives advice on sexual technique, warnings about sexual health, and recipes to remedy sexual maladies. It gives lists of names for the penis and vagina, has a section on the interpretation of dreams, and briefly describes sex among animals. Interspersed with these there are a number of stories which are intended to give context and amusement. The Perfumed Garden first became widely known in the English-speaking world through a translation from the French in 1886 by Sir Richard Francis Burton. Burton mentions that he considers that the work can be compared to those of Aretin and Rabelais, and the French book Conjugal Love by Nicolas Venette but what Burton believes makes The Perfumed Garden unique in the genre is “the seriousness with which the most lascivious and obscene matters are presented.” Burton points out that not all of the ideas in The Perfumed Garden are original: “For instance, all the record of Moçama and of Chedja is taken from the work of Mohammed ben Djerir el Taberi; the description of the different positions for coition, as well as the movements applicable to them, are borrowed from Indian works; finally, the book Birds and Flowers by Azeddine el Mocadecci (Izz al-Din al-Mosadeqi) seems to have been consulted with respect to the interpretation of dreams.”

Limited edition of 150 copies. Published by Cosmopoli for the Kama Shastra Society of London and Benares for Private Circulation Only.