The French state has acquired the original manuscript of the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom for almost €5 million, safeguarding for the country a work declared a national treasure, the culture ministry said on Friday. The 18th-century erotic masterpiece has endured a turbulent destiny over the centuries but the future of the original text now appears secure after a private benefactor stepped in with the money. The culture ministry had in December 2017 stepped in to pull the sale of the manuscript from an auction, declaring it a national treasure and banning its export. The ministry said in a statement that it had paid €4.55 million to acquire the work for France. It hailed the text as a “monument” that has influenced numerous authors. Before the culture ministry's intervention, the manuscript had been due to be sold in an auction of historic documents owned by the French investment firm Aristophil, which was shut down in scandal two years previously, taking investors' money with it. Sade wrote the controversial work about four rich libertines in search of sexual gratification on a roll made from bits of parchment he had smuggled into his cell in the Bastille prison. When...
