Casanova Wins in the End

Banned by the Vatican, Casanova's Memoirs sold for $9,600,000.

·         Costume for Maurice Rostand's Casanova by George Barbier

'The Story Of My Life' by Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was long on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, (Index of Forbidden Books).¹ The manuscript was sold to the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) on February 18, 2010 for $9.6 million.

The manuscript was written during Casanova’s final years as a librarian (1785 to 1798 ) at Duchcov Chateau in the mountains of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). The history of the manuscript’s journey from Bohemia to the BnF includes its survival during the Allied bombing of Leipzig.²

The BnF has digitized the manuscript and it can be read online.

1. Bibliography of the Damned.

2. Perrottet, Tony (April 2012). “Who Was Casanova?” Smithsonian Magazine.