The Marquis de Sade: A Definitive Biography by Gilbert Lely [FIRST PAPERBACK PRINTING] 1970 • Grove Press

The product of many years of careful research, during which the author was allowed access by the Marquis' descendants to a wealth of correspondence and unpublished manuscripts, Gilbert Lély's biography does much to dispel the mists of legend and to re-create the life of one of the most remarkable men of recorded history. While clearly and meticulously following the facts of Sade's life and the increasing sexual obsessions that defined them, the book also shows how those very obsessions and drives translated themselves into the form of some of the most lucid, compelling, and significant prose ever written.