Our Notes & References

From erotic sketches to moralising teachings from the Old Testament: a popular ‘guilty pleasure’ work among Russians of all classes in the end of the Age of Enlightenment.

A famous rarity, as bibliographers have emphasised: “rare and heavily read book” (Sopikov), “very rare book” (Berezin), “great rarity” (Bitovt). We couldn’t trace any example selling outside Russia in recent decades, and only one there. WorldCat locates only two holdings in public institutions (Harvard and LoC), to which we can add at least three copies in Russian libraries (RGB, RNB and MGU).

With its racy chapters about “the first wedding night, or depiction of the first tender embraces in marriage”, “tricks of a mistress” and “innocence and its loss”, Nezhnyia obiatiia… was immediately considered vulgar and in bad taste by critics, but scathing reviews did not deter the Russian public from indulging itself in the guilty pleasures of a light read. The book was well known to its contemporaries from different social stratas, as well as to the next generations: Count Aleksei Arakcheev, one of the most important close associates of tsars Paul I and Alexander I, is reported to have had a copy in his secret collection of risqué varia (Chulkov); the work also received a mention in Sobesednik liubitelei rossiiskogo slova [Companion of Lovers of the Russian Word] by Nikolai Dobroliubov (1856) and, much later, it is read by characters of Mark Aldanov’s novel Zagovor [Plot] (1926-27).

The work was first written by the German Johann Christian Siede (1765-1806) and published in 1795 as Die zärtlichen Umarmungen in der Ehe und Plaisanterieen mit Maitressen. Geschildert und abgewogen von einem Wahrheitsfreunde, dem Mann im grauen Rocke; before being translated just a few years later into Russian by Gleb Ivanovich Gromov (1762 or 1763-1830). In the same decade, Gromov published a number of popular works united by a common topic: the relations between men and women in various times and nations.

It is worth noting that the original German edition is also extremely hard to find: WorldCat shows only one copy (Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar), and we couldn’t trace any copies at auctions. As a result, for more than a century and a half, most Russian bibliographers considered Gromov to be the actual author, and that the book had appeared in 1799.

The narrative unfolds in the form of a dialogue between multiple characters in different unrelated scenes, all with pompous comments by the author. The book’s subjects are vaguely reminiscent of frivolous French novels that became popular during the last quarter of the 18th century. Nevertheless, the text is dominated by the moral element, which gradually intensifies, insisting on the superiority of marriage and family over love affairs and adultery. Such a paradoxical composition can be in fact viewed as “a tactical device to entice the reader and gradually lead him to serious matters” (Rak, our translation here and elsewhere). For a greater persuasion, the work ends with sayings of wisdom from the Book of Sirach (warning against associations with harlots) and the parables of Solomon (discussing good and evil wives). Despite Gromov’s promise, the translation of the second part of Siede’s book never saw light in Russian.

A fine example, in contemporary binding and with near contemporary provenance: this copy comes from the collection of Petr Karlovich Arnoldi (1788–1855), a Russian general-major from the nobility of Courland (now in western Latvia) and hero of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806-07 he participated in the campaign against the French in East Prussia; received the officer rank of lieutenant in 1808; and in 1812-14 took part in repelling Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and the subsequent campaign abroad. For his honours he was awarded the Cross of St. George (1807), the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree, St. Vladimir, 4th degree with a bow (both in 1812), St. Anne, 2nd degree (1813), St. Stanislaus, 1st degree (1846) and St. Anne, 1st degree (1848). Promoted to major-general in 1843, he was appointed manager of the Voronezh Commissariat Commission.

Provenance

Acquired with part of the library of Petr Karlovich Arnoldi (1788–1855).

Bibliography

Bitovt 2596 (“Bolshaia redkost” [“Big rarity”]), Bibliokhronika, Vol. 3; Smirnov-Sokolskii “Moia biblioteka” I, 82; Guberti II, 214; Berezin 71 (“Vesma redkaia kniga, tseniashchaiasia do 10 r.” [“Rather scarce book, the price comes up to 10 rubles”]); Smirding 8420 (wrongly states 1799 as the date of publication); Sopikov 6913 (“Redkaia zachitannaia knizhka” [“Rare and heavily read book”], also 1799); Svod. Kat. 2345; Hayn, Hugo. Bibliotheca Germanorum erotica: Verzeichniss der gesammten deutschen, A. Unflad, 1885, p. 323; Chulkov, Georgii. Imperatory. Psikhologicheskie portrety, 1927; Rak, V. D. “Gromov Gleb Ivanovich” // Slovar russkikh pisatelei XVIII veka, Vyp. 1, Leningrad, “Nauka”, 1988.