La muse libertine (The Libertine Muse) was the first commercial commission to harness Albert Dubout’s erotic fantasy to the full, though as early as 1936 he had produced several risqué illustrations for a private press limited edition of Raymond Hesse’s spoof history De Phryné à Abelard (From Phryné to Abelard). The selection of French libertine poetry made by its editor from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century and included in the present volume clearly inspired Dubout’s creative imagination.

We have only included around half of the illustrations here; the ones not included are less interesting and mostly show Dubout’s skill in matching image to verse rather than demonstrating the graphic erotic wit which became the trademark of his later work.

La muse libertine was published by Éditions du Valois in a limited numbered edition of 4,569 copies, of which 500 included an extra suite of the illustrations in black and white.

De Phryné à Abelard was published A l’embleme du secretaire, Paris, in a numbered limited edition of 500 copies.