Charles Baudelaire’s Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) was first published in 1857, but neither of the first two editions included the six poems known as Pièces condamnées (The Banned Poems), which were omitted at the demand of the French government censors. The ‘forbidden’ poems (‘Lesbos’, ‘Femmes damnées (à la pâle clarté)’, ‘Le Léthé’, ‘À celle qui est trop gaie’, ‘Les bijoux’, and ‘Les métamorphoses du vampire’) appeared in print in 1866, but were officially banned in France until the 1940s because of their lesbian and sado-erotic content. This made them particularly attractive to publishers of limited illustrated editions.

If R. Mac-Carthy is a distinct artist rather than a pseudonym, then these are the best – and most accomplished – prints attributable to them. Clean, powerful and skilful, they are a perfect complement to Baudelaire’s edgy poems.

Les six pièces condamnées was published by La Centaine in a limited numbered edition of 313 copies.