The manuscript of Marquis de Sade’s notorious pornographic story “The 120 Days of Sodom” has been acquired by the French government for 4.55 million euros.
This infamous scroll manuscript was written by the nobleman who was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1785 for a series of sex scandals. It tells the story of four swingers seeking sexual gratification, kidnapping and sexual abuse of teenagers. Described by Thad as “the most impure story ever”, he hid the 12-meter-long scroll on the wall of his cell until 1789, 10 days before he was transferred to a mental hospital. Left it there. The Bastille was attacked.
Although the author never saw it again, the scroll survived, but it was not published by sexologist Ivan Bloch until 1904. It was acquired by the Noailles family, a descendant of Thaad in 1929, but was stolen in 1982 and sold to erotic collector Gérard Nordmann. A private foundation acquired the picture in 2014. In 2017, the French Ministry of Culture designated it as a national treasure and prohibited its export.
In February, the French government called on companies to help obtain manuscriptsThe purchase price was provided by Emmanuel Boussard, the co-founder of Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Fund. The Ministry of Culture stated that the manuscript is a “true monument” and “deeply marked many authors” from André Brittany to Georges. Bataille.
It will be added to the collection of the Arsenal Library in Paris, which is a branch of the French National Library. BNF stated that Boussard’s grandfather was the director of the Arsenal Library from 1943 to 1964.
“This manuscript is a symbol of literary and artistic freedom, with a tortuous trajectory, rejoining public collections and the records of prisoner Thad kept in the Bastille archives of the Arsenal Library,” BNF said. “It is now a classic, with huge post-mortem wealth… The entry of this manuscript into the national collection will enable researchers to continue to work on it.”
