"The Book of the Marquise" remains the pinnacle of Russian erotic book art and the main bibliophilic myth of the early 20th century.

The concept belonged to the Austrian critic and publisher Franz Blei (1871, 1942), who compiled an anthology of gallant literature from the 18th century. He commissioned drawings from the Petersburg artist Konstantin Somov. The first edition was published in German in Munich in 1907 under the title "Das Lesebuch der Marquise," with Somov's name appearing on the cover alongside the compiler's name. Of the 31 illustrations, censorship approved only a small portion, removing everything deemed indecent. This "Little Marquise" went through six reprints.

Eight years later, Somov returned to the concept and recreated the book from scratch: he selected texts himself, edited the French translation, and ensured the layout matched the vignettes and endings. The anthology included works by Voltaire, Casanova, Chenier, Parni, Crebillon the Younger, and excerpts from "Dangerous Liaisons" by Choderlos de Laclos.

The so-called "Middle Marquise" was published in the summer and autumn of 1918 in Petrograd, in French, with a print run of 800 copies, at the Golike and Vilborg printing house, which had already been nationalized. The requisition of the enterprise did not stop printing, as the artist calmly noted in his diary. This became the last edition of the famous firm.
Half a year later, the "Large Marquise" appeared there as well: 50 copies, 31 illustrations, some hand-colored. For the sake of secrecy, Venice and fictitious publishers with indecent Italian surnames were listed on the title page. Graphic historian Alexei Sidorov wrote that here the artist allowed himself everything from which Russian art had previously refrained, but he did not dare to reproduce these sheets in his book.
Today, the "Large Marquise" is among the most expensive Russian books of the 20th century.