Les Chansons de Bilitis(french poems)

The Songs of Bilitis (French: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic poetry by Pierre Louÿs published in Paris in 1894 (see1894 in poetry). The book's sensual poems are in the manner of Sappho; the introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis, a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho, to whose 'life' Louÿs dedicated a small section of his book. On publication, the volume deceived even the most expert of scholars. Though the poems were actually clever fabulations, authored by Louÿs himself, they are still considered important literature.