Les Maîtresses du Pape
(The Mistresses of the Pope)
Artist: Hope
Year: 1878

Léo Taxil was born in Marseille in 1854, and first became known for writing scurrilous
anti-Catholic books, notably The Amusing Bible (La Bible amusante) and The Amusing Gospel (La Vie de Jesus)
in which Taxil satirically pointed out inconsistencies and errors presented in these religious works. 
Taxil also created the famous sado-masochistic titles Les Debauches d'un confesseur and
in the manner of the Marquis de Sade.

In 1879 he was tried at the Seine Assizes for writing a pamphlet "A Bas la Calotte" ("Down with the Cloth"),
which was accused of insulting a religion recognized by the state, but was acquitted.  It was time for Taxil to top himself.

In 1885 he professed conversion to Catholicism, was solemnly received into the church, and renounced his earlier works as “sinful”. 
Taxil then began writing a series of pamphlets and books denouncing the occult practices of the Freemasons,
charging their lodges with worshiping the devil and alleging that one Diana Vaughan had written for him her
confessions of the Satanic "Palladism" cult.

The religious community were vocally skeptical of Taxil’s conversion, and in 1887 despite their protests
Pope Leo XIII allowed Taxil a personal appearance and gave him his blessing.

Doubts about Vaughan's veracity- and even her existence- began to grow, and finally Taxil promised to produce her at a lecture
to be delivered by him on April 19, 1897. To the amazement of the audience (which included a number of priests),
he announced that Diana was one of a series of hoaxes.

He had begun, he said, by persuading the commandant of Marseille that the harbour was infested with sharks,
and a ship was sent to destroy them. Next he invented an underwater city in Lake Geneva, drawing tourists and archaeologists to the spot.
He thanked the bishops and Catholic newspapers for facilitating his crowning hoax, namely his conversion.
Diana Vaughan was revealed to be a simple typist in his employ, who laughingly allowed her name to be used by him.

The audience received these revelations with indignation and contempt, and Taxil was mobbed on leaving the hall so that
policemen had to escort him to a neighbouring café. He then moved away from Paris and died in Sceaux in 1907.

Facsimile editions

Archival bamboo paper
44” Edition of 150…………$1850
36” Edition of 150………….$950

Cotton rag paper
36” Edition of 300…………. $550