PARIS — Ribald and X-rated, a French national library exhibit is banned to anyone under 16.
The exhibit offers a peek at France’s long-secret library of libido where, starting in the 1830s, librarians hid from the national collection books and other documents that they deemed dangerous for public morality. They called it L’Enfer, or Hell, and kept it under lock and key.
In 1849, library director Joseph Naudet described L’Enfer as “a hiding place … in which we lock up certain books that are very bad, but which are sometimes very precious for book lovers and have a great monetary value.”
The historic secrecy surrounding the collection only fanned curiosity about it. L’Enfer still exists — complete with its own special classification category — though it is much easier for patrons to access works from the collection.
The exhibit “Hell at the Library, Eros in Secret” includes 350 pieces of libertine literature, pornography, Japanese prints, photographs and audio recordings of people reading once-censored poems. Dozens of banned books — including a manuscript by the Marquis de Sade — are on show with items that might surprise visitors.
Take the political pamphlets. As revolutionary fever swept France in the 18th century, pamphlets were printed to foment anti-clerical or anti-royalist sentiment. Marie Antoinette, scapegoat for the excesses of the French nobility, was pictured raising her royal skirts in a host of undignified poses.
One 1790 anti-clerical pamphlet purported to contain a list of priests found in flagrante delicto with ladies of the night.
In the 1830s, pop-up pornography was in vogue, in the form of a paper door that could be lifted to uncover a naughty scene underneath.
The curators kept the exhibit tasteful and scholarly, but they clearly had fun coming up with its layout. In the show’s first stop — a strangely empty room — simple plaques hang on the walls. Like peepshow patrons, visitors can lift the plaques to peer into the main gallery through holes in the wall.
“Hell at the Library” runs at the Francois Mitterrand National Library through March 2.
