When you close your eyes and imagine Paris at the 20th turn-of-the-century, La Belle Époque, you wouldn’t be wrong to conjure a picture of Natalie Clifford Barney. The American expatriate poet and playwright nicknamed ‘The Amazon’ was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1876. She and her family had a brief life-altering encounter in a New York City hotel with Oscar Wilde, moved to Washington DC and soon after left for a boarding school in France with her sister.

She came out as a lesbian at the age of 12 to her family, declaring that she was sent by Sappho and never looked back. She began writing explicitly about lesbianism in 1900 at the age of 24.

Pensées d'une amazone explores sexual adversity, war, and feminism and boldly includes chapters on incest, sadism, and coupling (Barney was an advocate for polyamory). Upon receiving his dedicated copy of this book, Proust wrote to Barney that it was “ravishing and profound”.

In addition to her writing, Barney was known for her often love affairs, with such notable artists as Liane de Pougy and Renée Vivien, and although Barney herself argued to allow individuals to love without jealousy, her affairs were often tumultuous. She held popular and provocative literary salons and was a muse or model for writers including Djuna Barnes and Lucie Delarue-Mardrus.

Paris: Émile-Paul, printed 15 March 1920. (xii),210 pages. 19x12x3cm. First edition. Paperback. Handwritten and signed printer’s note on the edition. This copy is 18/30 on Japanese Vellum. Some darkening to deckled page edges, otherwise lovely, in very good condition with original glassine wrap.