Introduction
"Confessions of a French Countess" is an extraordinary rarity in erotica for a number of reasons. Not only is it one of the frankest and most outspoken exposes of the love-life of the notorious Comtesse Marguerite De La Villiers, but it also gives us a very frank glimpse of the manners and morality of the French nobility.
The time of Countess Marguerite's revelations is during the reign of Louis the XIV, the "Sun King" whose immorality and profligacy with his innumerable mistresses are legendary. The wild and costly sex escapades of King Louis and his nobles were undoubtedly one of the causes of the French Revolution. The debauched escapades of the Royal Court's nobles and ladies inflamed a starving peasantry to the breaking point.
In addition, this little known volume, suppressed with good reason for more than a century in the secret French State Archives, now sheds an interesting glimpse on the secret intrigues of the Royal Court of France. The student of abnormal sex psychology will find that in the sensational love experiences of the young Countess that there is literally nothing new under the sun. Although not given the psychological tags of a later era, the reader will soon see that the amazing Countess Marguerite experienced every normal and abnormal sexual nuance with astounding frequency. It can truly be said of the indefatigable noblewoman that she left no deviation of love unturned.
"Confessions of a French Countess" has been annotated from the original manuscript now reposing in the rare exhibit vaults of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France by the French scholar Lucian Moreau. It is somewhat amusing to note how the frank revelations of some of the Countess's bawdier going-on shock the moral propriety of even this gentle scholar. However, his objectivity as a student prevails and he grimly reveals all of the Countess's peccadillos, to give them a polite name.
This rare volume was originally issued in a private printing of 300 in Paris, and is mainly in the hands of musuems, universities and some few collectors of erotica. Continental Classics now presents the completely unabridged, unexpurgated original book in another Continental Classic breakthrough.
This volume is entended for students of abnormal psychology, history and collectors of erotica. Although the general public will find much to interest him, this book is recommended for the mature, adult reader only.
Allen Saunders, M.A. New York City, August 1967