Leggi e Memorie Venete sulla Prostituzione flno alla Caduta della Republica

Giambattista Lorenzi

Venice: Tipografia del Commercio di Marco Visentini, a spese del Conte di Oxford, 1870

[Sex Work: A Historical Account of Prostitution in Venice from 1228-1797]  Folio. Limited edition of only 150 copies.  Bound in contemporary leather backed boards.     Scuffing to leather, but binding sound. Includes 4 mounted albumen reproductions; 3 allegorical paintings by Paolo Veronese.  Detailed bibliographical history in pencil on front pastedown.  Spotting.

Includes 171 laws and regulations concerning prostitution.  The first law is from 1232, "Liber Promissionis Maleficii." The last is from 1796. The book collected prostitution ordnances from 1228-1797. Many of the documents deal with the prostitution's impact on public health. Also includes a catalogue of Venetian courtesans, their addresses and prices, and a list of prostitutes prosecuted by the State between 1579 and 1617.  "The text is taken from a manuscript copy at the Raccolta Cicogna in Museo Correr of Venice (Misc. 2483), which itself was derived from an anonymous Venice imprint of 1535." - Swanns. 

  Soranzo 8771 and 8965; Gay Bibl. De l'Amour II, 790.