The story of Jerome is recounted in Chapter 11 of the Marquis de Sade’s La Nouvelle Justine, ou les malheurs de la vertu (The New Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue). He is one of the monks in a monastery where Justine takes refuge – ‘Jerome, the eldest of the four recluses, was also the most debauched; every taste, every passion, every one of the most bestial irregularities were combined in this monk’s soul; to the caprices rampant in the others, he joined that of loving to receive what his comrades distributed amongst the girls, and if he gave (which frequently happened), it was always upon condition of being treated likewise in his turn: all the temples of Venus were, what was more, as one to him, but his powers were beginning to decline and for several years he had preferred that which, requiring no effort of the agent, left to the patient the task of arousing the sensations and of producing the ecstasy. The mouth was his favourite temple, the shrine where he liked best to offer, and while he was in the pursuit of those choice pleasures, he would keep a second woman active: she warmed him with the lash.’

Histoire de Jérôme was Serres’ first erotic commission, the illustrations for which were attributed to ‘un artists inconnu’ (an unknown artist), but from this point onward, knowing he needed to protect his professional reputation while continuing to explore his interest in erotica, he adopted the pseudonym Schem for all his future work in the genre. There are clear earlier influences in this portfolio, especially the work of Marcel Vertès – the first plate is almost a reworking of the ‘Schönbrunn’ plate from Vertès’ 1921 Le pays à mon goût.

This first erotic portfolio of Serres’ is probably his best; as the commissions progressed he tended to become more pedestrian and predictable.

Histoire de Jérôme was privately published in Paris ‘Chez tous les Libraires’ (‘at all bookshops’, which was certainly not the case), in a limited numbered edition of 325 copies.