Abstract: What if Rabelais had actually planned to write 78 books of Pantagruelism? This is, at least, what is suggested by the handwritten notes on a page of a copy of Pliny the Elder (Aldus Manutius, 1535) that Pierre-Paul Plan believed belonged to Rabelais, on account of the phalluses drawn in the margins. The item recently went on sale at Christie’s in London, and the purchaser—who wishes to remain anonymous—has agreed to make the copy available to us.
