{"product_id":"9780593135686","title":"The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History","description":"\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor\/Contributor(s):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eWarner, Joel\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCrown\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDate:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e2\/21\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eHardcover\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eNEW\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eEDITORS’ CHOICE • The captivating, deeply reported true story of how one of the most notorious novels ever written—Marquis de Sade’s \u003ci\u003e120 Days of Sodom\u003c\/i\u003e—landed at the heart of one of the biggest scams in modern literary history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Reading \u003ci\u003eThe Curse of the Marquis de Sade, \u003c\/i\u003ewith the Marquis, the sabotage of rare manuscript sales, and a massive Ponzi scheme at its center,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003efelt like a twisty waterslide shooting through a sleazy and bizarre landscape. This book is wild.”—Adam McKay, Academy Award–winning filmmaker\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDescribed as both “one of the most important novels ever written” and “the gospel of evil,” \u003ci\u003e120 Days of Sodom\u003c\/i\u003e was written by the Marquis de Sade, a notorious eighteenth-century aristocrat who waged a campaign of mayhem and debauchery across France, evaded execution, and inspired the word “sadism,” which came to mean receiving pleasure from pain. Despite all his crimes, Sade considered this work to be his greatest transgression.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe original manuscript of \u003ci\u003e120 Days of Sodom, \u003c\/i\u003ea tiny scroll penned in the bowels of the Bastille in Paris, would embark on a centuries-spanning odyssey across Europe, passing from nineteenth-century banned book collectors to pioneering sex researchers to avant-garde artists before being hidden away from Nazi book burnings. In 2014, the world heralded its return to France when the scroll was purchased for millions by Gérard Lhéritier, the self-made son of a plumber who had used his savvy business skills to upend France’s renowned rare-book market. But the sale opened the door to vendettas by the government, feuds among antiquarian booksellers, manuscript sales derailed by sabotage, a record-breaking lottery jackpot, and allegations of a decade-long billion-euro con, the specifics of which, if true, would make the scroll part of France’s largest-ever Ponzi scheme.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTold with gripping reporting and flush with deceit and scandal, \u003ci\u003eThe Curse of the Marquis de Sade\u003c\/i\u003e weaves together the sweeping odyssey of \u003ci\u003e120 Days of Sodom\u003c\/i\u003e and the spectacular rise and fall of Lhéritier, once the “king of manuscripts” and now known to many as the Bernie Madoff of France. At its center is an urgent question for all those who cherish the written word: As the age of handwriting comes to an end, what do we owe the original texts left behind?","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43365543477503,"sku":"9780593135686","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0452\/0886\/2873\/files\/9780593135686_s600x595.jpg?v=1775587376","url":"https:\/\/massivebookshop.com\/de\/products\/9780593135686","provider":"MASSIVE BOOKSHOP","version":"1.0","type":"link"}