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In this tour, the links below DO NOT
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Anonymous Fifteen
Plagues of a Maiden-Head
The very first publication in English
to be taken to court over obscenity charges. The publisher was tried in
1708 but was found not guilty by the judge who wished that there were
better
laws to prosecute obscenity. It was not long before there were.
Anonymous Song
of Solomon
The most erotic book in the Bible.
Aristophanes Lysistrata
First produced in 411 B.C., and still
quite entertaining, this surprisingly erotic anti-war play has the
women
refusing their husbands sex unless they stop the war. Plutarch
condemned
it as obscene in 1873, and it was banned under the Comstock Law.
Honore de Balzac Scenes
From a Courtesan's Life
This is part of Balzac's massive
interlinked
collection of 100 stories and novels, including Scenes From a Private
Life,
Scenes From Parisian Life (to which Courtesan's Life is linked), etc.
1838
Translation by James Waring. Balzac's work was some of the first that
Comstock
attempted to censor when he came to power. Selling Balzac cost a mail
order
publisher two years in jail.
Giovanni Boccaccio
The Decameron
First published in Italy in 1353,
this is a collection of 100 stories told by a group of seven young
women
and three young men over ten days as they flee the plague. It
contains
many bawdy stories based on popular anecdotes and jokes of the
time.
It was banned under the Comstock laws, and many Victorian editions had
only 99 stories, leaving out Alibech Puts the Devil Back into Hell
as too racy. Considered pornography at the time, it was a popular
book to print on the early printing presses.
Giovanni Boccaccio Fifteen
Questions of Love
A series of fifteen erotic stories first
published in 1472. The fourth part of the Filocolo, Boccaccio's second
longest work (after the Decameron), it was translated into
English
in 1566.
Jeff Booth (Compiled
by)
Tijuana Bibles
Short erotic comics that parodied
well-know
figures, they reached their peak of popularity in the 1930's.
Robert Burns Merry
Muses of Caledonia
Although published anonymously in 1800,
it was later confirmed that the author was actually Scottish poet
Robert
Burns. While billed as a collection of popular bawdy Scottish folk
songs
ancient and modern, the modern ones were written by Burns himself.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 1
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 2
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 3
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 4
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 5
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 6
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 7
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 8
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 9
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translatranslatortion)
1001 Nights Volume 10
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 11
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 12
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 13
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 14
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 15
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
1001 Nights Volume 16
One of the greatest collections of stories
in all of the literature, this 16 volume set was translated by explorer
Richard Burton with the first volume published in 1885 after a decade's
worth of work. It contains hundreds of stories, all heavily annotated,
and framed within the famous structure of Shahrazad, telling
stories
each night to save her life. Many of these stories are quite erotic.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
Kalayanamalla The
Ananga Ranga
A Sanskrit erotic manual written in the
16th century, this is the 1885 Richard Burton translation originally
published
by the Kamashastra Society of London and Benares.
Sir Richard Burton
(translator)
Shaykh Nefwazi The
Perfumed Garden
Both a sex manual and a work of erotic
literature, it was believed to have been written in Tunis sometime near
the beginning of the 16th century. It borrows many of the sexual
positions
described in earlier Indian texts. This is the 1886 translation by Sir
Richard Burton
Edward Carpenter The
Intermediate Sex
First published in 1908 from a series
of previously published short articles, it looks at what it refers to
as
"transitional types of men and women" in an attempt to better
understand
homosexuality. Carpenter was one of the earliest homosexual writers on
homosexuality, and one of the few to come out publicly as a
self-described
Uranian (homosexual).
Edward Carpenter Love's
Coming of Age
A turn of the 20th century gay activist,
Carpenter discusses many forward thinking ideas in his 1896 book on
marriage
and sex, including equality of the sexes, alternatives to traditional
marriage
such as trial marriage and open relationships, and better sex
education.
This is from the 1906 edition. He had originally intended to include a
section from his Homogenic Love pamphlet, but since the book's
publication
coincided with the trial of Oscar Wilde for homosexuality, he thought
better
of it. He later published what is considered the first English positive
look at homosexuality, The Intermediate Sex.
Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales
A collection of stories, many of them
bawdy, written by Chaucer in the 14th century. He uses the frame of
travelers
telling each other stories along the road. It was banned for decades
under
the Comstock laws, and has been more recently banned in many school
libraries,
despite the difficulty of reading the archaic English making it an
unlikely
choice for titillation. In 1998, a first edition published by Caxton in
1476 sold for 7.5 million dollars, making it the most expensive book in
history.
John Cleland Fanny
Hill
Also known as Memoirs of a Woman of
Pleasure, it was first published in 1749. Since then, it has been a
frequent target of censors, and is considered the first "erotic" novel.
The Church of England demanded that authorities "stop the progress of
this
vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners." As
a result, Cleland was arrested. It was first officially banned in the
United
States in 1821. The 1963 Putnam edition was also banned, but a legal
challenge
before the Supreme Court freed the book in 1966. The book
recounts
the adventures of Fanny Hill, who turns to prostitution to make her
living.
Ida Craddock
Wedding Night
This is the short marriage manual over
which Anthony Comstock literally hounded Ida Craddock to death. Her
death
in 1902 led to the beginning of the end of Comstock's viscous reign as
official U.S. censor. This eBook includes her suicide letter, which is
a powerful and remarkably moving indictment of Comstock, as well as the
complete text from the Wedding Night and her Right Marital Living
booklet.
Daniel Defoe Moll
Flanders
This certainly wins the prize for longest
official title: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll
Flanders,
Etc. Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd Variety
for
Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five
times a Wife (whereof once to her own brother), Twelve Year a Thief,
Eight
Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest
and
died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums. Defoe,
best
known for Robinson Crusoe, is considered one of the greatest
novelists
in the English language. It was his political writings, though, not
Moll
Flanders, that got him put in prison. Moll Flanders was published in
1722.
It was banned for decades in the U.S. under the Comstock law.
Havelock Ellis On
Life and Sex
Ellis was a British doctor who became
one of the leading sexual psychologists. He had fairly liberal
attitudes
about sexuality and homosexuality (he was one of the earliest to
consider
it genetic and not a disease). He felt that the diversity of sexual
expression
was one of the things that set us apart from the animal kingdom. He
coined
the terms " narcissistic” and “autoerotic". He had an emotionally
satisfying
marriage with Edith Lees, which, as she was a self avowed lesbian, was
not very sexually satisfying. He was both mentor and periodic lover to
birth control advocate Margaret Sanger. In this book, he champions the
"love-rights" of women. This is the 1937 edition, first published in
1921
as Little Essays of Love and Virtue.
Colonel Fanin The
Royal Museum at Naples
This 1871 illustrated text covers the
erotic artifacts hidden away in what was known as the "secret cabinet"
in the Naples museum. Many of these artifacts came from the excavations
of Pompeii, and were not on display to the general public. This
is
a translation of the original 1836 limited edition written by French
antiquarian
César Famin, who wrote under the initials C.M.F. French
authorities
confiscated and destroyed most of the copies. "Colonel Fanin" based his
edition on one of the few remaining copies, and limited his edition to
a small press run. It is considered one of the rarest of erotic books.
This edition is from a 1969 paperback that sold originally for $15.00.
It includes the sixty lithographs from that edition (which were not
very
high quality). This is from the edition that includes the erotic
illustrations
by Wilde's friend and controversial artist Aubrey Beardsly.
W. C. Firebaugh (translator) Petronius
The Satyricon
Written somewhere around 60 C.E., it
details
the adventures in prose and poetry of the narrator, Encolpius,
his
friend Ascyltus, and Gito, their attendant. The primary theme is the
debauchery
of Nero's time, with orgies, bisexuality, rape, and secret phallic
rites.
It is believed that it was originally a series of some 20 books, but
all
that remains are 46 chapters from books 15 and 16. These were first
published
in 1664. In 1934, the police court of Westminster, England, ordered the
first English translation of The Satyricon destroyed. As was common in
many books of the time, the 1913 Loeb Classical Library left entire
sections
in Latin that they felt too debauched for less educated readers. This
is
from the complete and unexpurgated translation by W. C. Firebaugh,
which
incorporates the forgeries of Nodot and Marchena, and the readings
introduced
into the text by De Slas. This edition is illustrated.
Gustave Flaubert Madame
Bovary
First published in 1857, it is considered
the first modern novel. Originally published as a series of excerpts,
Flaubert
went on trial for obscenity immediately after its publication in book
form,
although he managed to escape conviction. Part of the controversy was
the
book's depiction of a woman driven by sexual desire. Emma, married to a
small town doctor, takes a rich landowner and then a law clerk as
lovers.
In 1954 it was placed on the black list of the National Organization of
Decent Literature.
Eliza Burt Gamble Sex
in Religion
The complete title is God Ideas of
the Ancients or Sex in Religion. It was written in 1899, and
looks at the development of religions under both patriarchal and
matriarchal
rule. It includes chapters on phallic worship and the efforts to purify
sensualized faiths. The sex in the title refers primarily, though, to
gender
roles, as the author developed this work while writing the Evolution
of Woman, a classic text on sex specialization inspired by Darwin's
Descent
of Man.
Elinor Glyn Three
Weeks
One of the Boston Watch and Ward Society's
first successes was banning this British novel, which sold 50,000
copies
within the first three weeks of its U.S. release in 1907. The ruling
influenced
the interpretation of obscenity laws in Massachusetts for decades, and
made the Watch and Ward Society a powerful force for censorship that
expanded
across the country. Three Weeks' scenes of sexuality kept it
popular
for years. In Ohio, a 1930 cartoon of Disney's Clarabelle the Cow was
banned
because the cow was reading a copy of the book.
Emma Goldman Anarchism
and Other Essays
First published in 1917, this covers
Goldman's
views on anarchism as well as her views on Puritanism, marriage, and
sexual
freedom. She was a strong and early advocate of free love and birth
control.
Often overlooked, she is an important figure in history. She was
the first person in the U.S. to be imprisoned for a political
offense,
and she was birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger's mentor, bringing
her
into the campaign against the 1873 Comstock Law which prohibited the
distribution
of birth control literature.
The Rev. A. Herbert Gray, D.
D.
Men, Women and God
Subtitled A Discussion of Sex
Questions
from the Christian Point of View, it was written in 1922. It is
remarkably
progressive, advocating sex education for children (and telling them
the
truth about sex), the fundamental equality of men and women, the
importance
of female orgasm, and the use of birth control. He strongly condemns
prostitution
but has some sympathy for the prostitute.
Captain Grose Dictionary
of the Vulgar Tongue
Compiled in 1811, it includes some 4220
entries, with lots of naughty slang words you never heard before.
Bernard Gulbert Guerney
(translator)
Alexandra Kurpin Yama
Yama means "The Pit", in this story of
Russian prostitution. It first appeared in print in three parts: the
first
part in 1909; the second part in 1914; the third in 1915. This is from
the 1922 translation by Bernard Gulbert Guerney.
Thomas Hardy Jude
the Obscure
So upset was Hardy over the banning for
indecency and the public burning of his novel, that he never wrote
another.
He spent the rest of his working life writing poetry. Jude the Obscure
is the story of Jude Fawley, a poor stone carver who begins a
relationship
with his free-spirited cousin. It was first published in 1896. Hardy
was
also the author of Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Scarlet
Letter
This 1850 novel concerns a 17th century
Salem woman who has a baby by her lover and is forced to wear a scarlet
letter A for adulterer. The fact that the author sympathizes with
Hester
Pryne, and that the man who got her pregnant was the town minister,
incensed
a lot of people, and has led to the book being banned repeatedly since
its publication.
Henry James Turn
of the Screw
A gothic Victorian novel published in
1898, it has strong sexual overtones, mostly open to interpretation.
This
was intentional, making it possible to find sexual connotations in
everything.
In this way, it is a brilliant but subtle parody of Victorian sexual
anxiety.
There is also an undercurrent of homosexuality (James was a homosexual
himself). What can be inferred is that the chaos produced may not be
ghosts
at all, but sexual repression.
James Joyce Ulysses
First published in 1922 in Paris, Ulysses
was barred from the United States as obscene for 11 years. The lifting
of the ban in 1933 came only after advocates fought for the right to
publish
the book. In the landmark 1933 case United States v. One Book Called
“Ulysses,”
federal judge John Woolsey declared Ulysses not obscene and rejected
the
Hicklin “bad tendency” test in favor of a test that focused on the
author's
pornographic intent and the effect on the average reader of the work
taken
as whole. This set a major precedent for future obscenity cases.
Ulysses
was actually prosecuted by John Sumner (Comstock's slightly less evil
successor)
even before it was published in book form. It was serialized in The
Little
Review, and in 1920, the publishers were put on trial for obscenity for
publishing it and fined $100 each. While one of the most censored
books, it is also one of the most difficult in which to get to the
"good
parts." Weighing in at 732 pages, many consider the book itself a very
challenging read, with endless wordplay, paragraphs that run on for
pages,
and stream of consciousness mixed in with few sexual scenes and
obscenities.
The entire novel takes place on June 16th, 1904.
Kalayanamalla The
Ananga Ranga
A Sanskrit erotic manual written in the
16th century, this is the 1885 Richard Burton translation originally
published
by the Kamashastra Society of London and Benares.
John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. Plain
Facts For Young and Old
A classic of crank medical science, in
which the author (also the man behind Kellogg's Corn Flakes, which were
created to reduce the sex drive) attempts to blame all disease on
masturbation.
Kellogg believed that any sex was debilitating, and never consummated
his
own marriage. It was a very popular book in the late 1800's. Originally
published in 1877, this is the 1891 edition.
Hubert Kennedy Sex
and Math in Harvard Yard
A fictional and erotic biography of
mathematician
James Mill Pierce and his homosexual exploits. The author, looking for
a gay role model in his chosen profession of mathematics, followed up
on
the belief that Mills was Professor X, who wrote a letter to John
Addington
Symonds that appeared in the co-authored with Havelock Ellis Sexual
Inversion. His research found additional evidence, which is
included
here from various magazine articles the author published.
A. S. Kline (translator) Ovid
Art of Love
The Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) consists
of three books written by Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, the first
two
written about 1 BCE to 1 CE and the third somewhat later. He was
banished by Augustus, some believe for writing the Ars Amatoria.
In it, Ovid instructs women in the art of seduction and men in skills
of
sexual conquest. It has been banned as obscene periodically throughout
history, as recently as the 1920's in the U.S. This text is from the
2001
ion.
Richard Payne Knight
A
Discourse on the
Worship of Priapus
Written in 1786, it is a history of
phallic
worship in the classical period. This is based on the 1865 edition,
which
also includes Thomas Wright's The Worship of the Generative Powers.
Heinrich Kramer and Jacob
Sprenger
Malleus Maleficarum
One of the most evil texts ever published.
Also known as the Hammer of Witches, it is a handbook of primarily
sexual
torture techniques used against accused witches by the Inquisition. It
tells us more about the sexual pathology of the inquisitors than it
does
about witches. It was first published in 1847, and although it became
the
standard handbook for witch hunters, it was never officially endorsed
by
the Church. The text is from the 1948 edition of Montague Summers 1928
translation.
Alexandra Kurpin Yama
Yama means "The Pit", in this story of
Russian prostitution. It first appeared in print in three parts: the
first
part in 1909; the second part in 1914; the third in 1915. This is from
the 1922 translation by Bernard Gulbert Guerney.
D. H. Lawrence Lady
Chatterly's Lover
The best known and last of Lawrence's
novels, it was published in 1928 and immediately became the object of
numerous
obscenity trials, including a landmark 1959 case in the U.S. It
concerns
the affair of the sexually unfulfilled Lady Chatterly with the game
keeper
of her husband's estate. Part of what made it so controversial was that
the sex took place between two very different classes, that the affair
was sympathetically portrayed, and one one paid a tragic price for
their
"sins". It was inspired by the affair of Lawrence's Wife Frieda with an
Italian peasant. Considered outright pornography when first published,
it was initially only printed privately in Florence.
D. H. Lawrence The
Rainbow
The Rainbow, published in 1915, was the
beginning of Lawrence's long battle with censors. A story of two
sisters growing up in the north of England, critics were scandalized by
its frank descriptions of sexuality and use of swear words (they would
later have apoplexy with his publication of Lady Chatterly's Lover).
A magistrate ordered the burning of 1,000 copies, he had difficulty
getting
anything else published, and 13 of his paintings were seized on the
grounds
of obscenity from the Warren Gallery in London by Scotland Yard. He
saved
them from being destroyed only by promising never to show them again.
It
would be five years before he published another book- the sequel, Women
in Love (the second half of what was originally to be one long book).
D. H. Lawrence Sons
and Lovers
This 1913 autobiographical novel dealt
with sexual topics more modestly than his later works, and received a
lot
less criticism. It's use of the Oedipus complex and the sexual
confusion
of its protagonist, Paul Morel, is a precursor to the much stronger
sexual
content of Lawrence's later novels.
D. H. Lawrence Women
in Love
This 1920 sequel to The Rainbow
is widely regarded as Lawrence's greatest novel. He had great
difficulty
finding a publisher and finally had it privately published in New York.
Many believe that the story has a homosexual undercurrent and that
school
inspector Rupert Birkin, is homosexual. This is especially significant
since Rupert represents Lawrence, and questions of his sexual identity
continue to remain. Lawrence left out a prologue he had written which
seems
to help make the case, specifically lines such as "It was for men that
he felt the hot, flushing roused attraction which a man is supposed to
feel for the other sex." Other scholars believe that Lawrence is
referring
to a non-sexual form of passion between men.
Arthur Machen (translator) Giacomo
Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 1
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Arthur Machen (translator) Giacomo
Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 2
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Arthur Machen (translator) Giacomo
Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 3
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Arthur Machen (translator) Giacomo
Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 4
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Arthur Machen (translator) Giacomo
Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 5
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Arthur Machen (translator) Giacomo
Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 6
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Edwin Meese The
Meese Commission Report on Pornography
Hoping to avoid the conclusions of the
embarrassingly neutral pornography report by a commission created by
President
Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, Reagan and his Attorney General Edwin Meese
wanted a slam-dunk indictment of obscenity. By stacking the deck with
anti-pornography
advocates and using distorted research, they got the results they
wanted,
at the expensive of any scientific credibility. It was completed
in 1986, and is a classic of junk social science, paid for with tax
dollars.
Dr. Albert Moll Sexual
Life of the Child
Sexuality and children continues to be
a controversial subject. This is the first comprehensive study of the
subject,
and Moll rejected Freud's now discredited theories on childhood
sexuality.
Moll was considered one of the top four names in the history of early
sexology
(along with Magnus Hirschfeld, Max Marcuse, and Iwan Bloch, the father
of sexology). This is from the 1929 Macmillan reproduction of the
original
1912 edition. It was translated by Eden Paul from the original German
edition
of 1909.
Hugh Morris Art
of Kissing
This little booklet on kissing techniques
was first sold in the 1930's.
Shaykh Nefwazi The
Perfumed Garden
Both a sex manual and a work of erotic
literature, it was believed to have been written in Tunis sometime near
the beginning of the 16th century. It borrows many of the sexual
positions
described in earlier Indian texts. This is the 1886 translation by Sir
Richard Burton
Ovid Art
of Love
The Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) consists
of three books written by Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, the first
two
written about 1 BCE to 1 CE and the third somewhat later. He was
banished by Augustus, some believe for writing the Ars Amatoria.
In it, Ovid instructs women in the art of seduction and men in skills
of
sexual conquest. It has been banned as obscene periodically throughout
history, as recently as the 1920's in the U.S. This text is from the
2001
A. S. Kline translation.
Eden and Cedar Paul (translator)
Mathilde and Mathias Vaerting The
Dominant Sex
Covering the sociology of sexual
differentiation,
this is from the 1923 English translation Eden and Cedar Paul of the
original
German. It is a classic work on sex roles.
Eden Paul (translator)
Dr. Albert Moll Sexual
Life of the Child
Sexuality and children continues to be
a controversial subject. This is the first comprehensive study of the
subject,
and Moll rejected Freud's now discredited theories on childhood
sexuality.
Moll was considered one of the top four names in the history of early
sexology
(along with Magnus Hirschfeld, Max Marcuse, and Iwan Bloch, the father
of sexology). This is from the 1929 Macmillan reproduction of the
original
1912 edition. It was translated by Eden Paul from the original German
edition
of 1909.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 1
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 2
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 3
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 4
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 5
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 6
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 7
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 8
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 9
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Samuel Pepys Diary
of Samuel Pepys Volume 10
The Diary of a 17th century English civil
servant, it covers ten years of his life and key events of the
time,
including the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague of
1665,
and the Great Fire of London of 1666. He was a notorious womanizer, and
it unstintingly recounts his many affairs. It was written in long hand
in code, and first deciphered between 1819 and 1822 by John
Smith.
The complete multi-volume 3800 page edition was first published in 1893.
Petronius The
Satyricon
Written somewhere around 60 C.E., it
details
the adventures in prose and poetry of the narrator, Encolpius,
his
friend Ascyltus, and Gito, their attendant. The primary theme is the
debauchery
of Nero's time, with orgies, bisexuality, rape, and secret phallic
rites.
It is believed that it was originally a series of some 20 books, but
all
that remains are 46 chapters from books 15 and 16. These were first
published
in 1664. In 1934, the police court of Westminster, England, ordered the
first English translation of The Satyricon destroyed. As was common in
many books of the time, the 1913 Loeb Classical Library left entire
sections
in Latin that they felt too debauched for less educated readers. This
is
from the complete and unexpurgated translation by W. C. Firebaugh,
which
incorporates the forgeries of Nodot and Marchena, and the readings
introduced
into the text by De Slas. This edition is illustrated.
Plato Symposium
A discussion of love between Socrates,
Aristophanes, Alcibiades, Phaedrus, Pausanias, and Diotima, at a
drinking
party. It deals with spiritual and physical love of both the
heterosexual
and homosexual kind (although they did not have specific terms for
homosexuality
at the time). It includes Aristophanes' famous discussion of
bisexuality
involving humanity splitting into three types. It was written
around
360 B.C.E.
Sha Rocco The
Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship
Published in 1874 and authored by Abisha
S. Hudson, who wrote under the pseudonym Sha Rocco. It deals with
Phallic
Worship and the role of sexuality in ancient religions.
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Venus in Furs
His most famous novel, it tells the story
of Severin and Wanda, his cruel Venus in Furs whom he desires to be
whipped
and dominated by. This parallels Sacher-Masoch's interests in real
life.
At the end of the story, Severin loses his desire for submission,
stating
that men should dominate women until the time when women are equal to
men
in education and rights. The writings of Sacher-Masoch inspired
Krafft-Ebing
to coin the term "masochist."
Marquis de Sade 120
Days of Sodom
A classic of erotic fiction that goes
to the edge and beyond. Written in the 1780's while de Sade was in
prison,
the manuscript was long thought lost until it was discovered in the
early
1900's. It is considered his best work, and includes almost every form
of sexual perversion imaginable. The term sadism is derived from de
Sade's
name.
Marquis de Sade Justine
Justine, a believer in virtue, continues
to be thwarted by vice, in the form of all manner of perversions in
this
philosophical tale of good versus evil where evil repeatedly triumphs.
This is a 1791 version of his earlier 1787 Les Infortunes de la vertu.
Although written anonymously, Napolean Bonaparte ordered the author
arrested
in 1801, where he was sentenced without trial. The term sadism is
derived
from de Sade's name.
Margaret Sanger Family
Limitation
Sanger opened the first birth control
clinic in the U.S., and many years later was responsible for securing
funding
that led directly to the development of the birth control pill. One of
the key figures in the birth control movement, this is the birth
control
booklet that got her husband arrested by Anthony Comstock while she was
out of the country to avoid arrest herself. The text is from a
rare
1914 edition.
Margaret Sanger The
Pivot of Civilization
Sanger believed this 1922 book best
described
her beliefs and what brought her to the birth control movement. It
includes
her controversial beliefs on eugenics that continue to be used by birth
control critics to attack her (usually with significant distortion and
misrepresentation), although at the time they were common ideas with
many
intellectual thinkers. Sanger was the pivotal figure in the birth
control
movement in the United States. It includes an introduction by H.G.
Wells,
with whom she carried on a love affair which is thinly disguised in his
novel, The Secret Places of the Heart.
Margaret Sanger Woman
and the New Race
This 1920 book with an introduction by
her mentor and lover Havelock Ellis encourages women to not depend upon
men but to believe in themselves. It also argued for the importance of
birth control. Her first book, the hardcover edition sold out
immediately.
Giacomo Casanova de
Seingalt
Memoirs of Casanova
Volume
1
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 2
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 3
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 4
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 5
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt Memoirs
of Casanova Volume 6
Written in old age, they were first
published
posthumously as a 12 volume set in Germany in 1823. Casanova died in
1798.
They recount his amorous adventures from boyhood to late in life,
spanning
across Europe. This eBook is from the rare unabridged London
edition
of 1894, translated by Arthur Machen. It also includes chapters
discovered
by Arthur Symons.
George Bernard Shaw Mrs.
Warrens Profession
The play was written in 1893, first
published
in 1898, but was not performed until 1902. Government censorship
delayed
its opening. It is the story of a well-educated young woman who learns
that her mother's wealth comes from the string of brothels that she
runs.
The play was vigorously attacked by official government censor Anthony
Comstock, which inspired Shaw to coin the term "Comstockery". This
edition
includes the Author's Apology of 1902.
Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich
Kramer
Malleus Maleficarum
One of the most evil texts ever published.
Also known as the Hammer of Witches, it is a handbook of primarily
sexual
torture techniques used against accused witches by the Inquisition. It
tells us more about the sexual pathology of the inquisitors than it
does
about witches. It was first published in 1847, and although it became
the
standard handbook for witch hunters, it was never officially endorsed
by
the Church. The text is from the 1948 edition of Montague Summers 1928
translation.
Sylvanus Stall, D.D. What
Every Young Boy Ought to Know
Another Victorian sex manual that teaches
that masturbation leads to a variety of evils, the collapse of the
nervous
system, insanity, and inevitable death. One interesting aspect is that
it was also one of the first audio books. It could be purchased as a
set
of 24 Edison cylinders. It was originally published 1897; this is
the 1905 edition.
Kenneth Starr Starr
Report
The Starr Report on the sex life of
President
Clinton represents the most expensive porn book ever produced- all at
taxpayer's
expense. Since the crux of the investigation was Clinton's lying about
an extramarital affair in a court case which was dropped, his lie was
never
crucial to the heart of the case and would never have been normally
prosecuted
for perjury. Starr's investigation, which turned up little more than
explicit
information about Clinton's sex life, cost taxpayer's over $40 million.
Dr. Marie Stopes Married
Love
First published in England in March 1918,
it was the first modern marriage manual. Marie had never consummated
her
first marriage and was still a virgin at the time this was
written.
Her sexual problems with her husband (who was probably impotent) led
her
to research sexuality. As a successful paleobotanist, a very unusual
career
choice for a woman at the time, she was no stranger to research. The
book
was wildly popular, selling over 750,000 copies by 1931. It was the
first
book to note that women's sexual desire coincides with ovulation and
the
period right before menstruation. Her assertion that semen was a mood
elevator
for women was largely considered unscientific until recent studies
confirmed
it. It also advocated the importance of women receiving sexual pleasure
and having orgasms. The book was banned in the U.S. until 1931. Marie
founded
the first birth control clinic in the U.K.
Montague Summers (translator) Heinrich
Kramer and Jacob Sprenger Malleus
Maleficarum
One of the most evil texts ever published.
Also known as the Hammer of Witches, it is a handbook of primarily
sexual
torture techniques used against accused witches by the Inquisition. It
tells us more about the sexual pathology of the inquisitors than it
does
about witches. It was first published in 1847, and although it became
the
standard handbook for witch hunters, it was never officially endorsed
by
the Church. The text is from the 1948 edition of Montague Summers 1928
translation.
John Addington Symonds A
Problem in Greek Ethics
An ethical reconsideration of
homosexuality
and pederasty in Greece and the modern age. Subtitled Being
an
Inquiry into the Phenomenon of Sexual Inversion Addressed Especially to
Medical Psychologists and Jurists, the main intent was to show that
homosexuality was common in Greece and that it should no longer be
considered
an aberration, an illness or a criminal offense. It is the first
extended
historical and literary study of homosexuality in English. Just 10
copies
were printed in 1883 This is from an unauthorized 1901 edition
published
by Leonard Smithers. Part of the material later appeared in the first
edition
of Sexual Inversion, which Havelock Ellis co-wrote with
Symonds.
The next edition, Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Vol. I. Sexual
Inversion, saw Symonds name removed as well as much of the material
from the Greek book, even though about a third of the book was still
Symonds
work. His name was also left off of all future editions.
John Addington Symonds A
Problem in Modern Ethics
While the term "homosexuality" was coined
in 1868 by the German Sexologist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, this is the
first
book in English in which the term appears. The more common term at the
time was "invert". It was originally printed in a limited edition of
fifty
copies in 1891. Part of the material appeared in a book
co-authored
with Havelock Ellis which appeared in print after Symonds death (and
from
which Symonds name was removed in later editions). In 1896,
another
edition of 100 copies was printed. This is from the 1896 edition.
Mark Twain 1601
A rare humorous work by Twain originally
published anonymously in 1880. It is quite ribald, and as Twain stated
years later, "if there is a decent word findable in it, it is because I
overlooked it". The full title is "Conversation, as it was by the
Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors". Also included in
this
eBook is a copy of a little-known humorous Twain speech on masturbation.
Mathilde and Mathias Vaerting
The Dominant Sex
Covering the sociology of sexual
differentiation,
this is from the 1923 English translation Eden and Cedar Paul of the
original
German. It is a classic work on sex roles.
Vatsyayana Kama
Sutra
The classic Indian text on sacred
sexuality.
Also titled Aphorisms on Love, it was written sometime between
the
1st and 6th century AD. It is probably best known for its
classification
and description of 64 sexual positions, and the view of sex as an art
form,
although it also has advice on relationships and good citizenship. This
is the classic Richard Burton translation from 1883.
Voltaire Candide
Because of its controversial nature,
Candide
was written by François-Marie Arouetin (who normally used the
pen
name Voltaire) in 1759 under the pseudonym "Monsieur le docteur Ralph."
It has a long history of censorship, including In 1930, when U.S.
Customs
confiscated copies bound for Harvard University, declaring it obscene.
In 1944, the U.S. Post Office sought to have it removed from a Concord
Books catalog that was sent through the mail. This satire is more
euphemistic
than explicit, but it managed to offend on sexual, political and
religious
grounds.
C. Staniland Wake and Hodder M.
Westropp
Influence of the
Phallic
Idea
Written in 1875, it looks at Phallic
Worship
in Phoenician, Egyptian, Phrygian, Greek, and Hindu cultures.
Walter My
Secret Life
While the author is anonymous, biographer
Ian Gibson believes he has discovered the true author in noted erotica
collector Henry Spencer Ashbee. Probably fiction, it chronicles the
explicit
sexual exploits of a Victorian London gentleman who claims to have
slept
with some 1,200 working-class women over 40 years. The complete My
Secret
Life, which ran in total to 11 volumes, is now exceedingly rare. A
limited
edition of 20 to 25 sets was published between 1888-1894. This eBook is
only a partial edition. In 1932, a New York publisher issued 3 volumes
of My Secret Life before being arrested. In 1969, a British printer,
Arthur
Dobson, was sentenced to two years in prison for attempting to
publish
the book. It appeared for the first time in the U.S. in a Grove Press
edition
in 1966.
T. G. Wayne Morals
and Marriage
Published in 1936, it provides a Catholic
perspective on sex. It strongly condemns birth control but does
advocate
using the "safe period", without really describing what that is
specifically.
H.G. Wells Secret
Places of the Heart
A thinly disguised novel based on his
affair with birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. It covers the
conflicts
within his own life of a satisfying emotional marriage but the need for
sexual satisfaction outside of marriage. The sex is implied rather than
implicit, primarily because, as Wells' grandson has noted, he never
felt
himself any good at writing such scenes.
Hodder M. Westropp and C. Staniland
Wake Influence
of the Phallic Idea
Written in 1875, it looks at Phallic
Worship
in Phoenician, Egyptian, Phrygian, Greek, and Hindu cultures.
Walt Whitman Leaves
of Grass
It first saw print in 1855 and went
through
numerous versions as Whitman continued to modify and add to it.
Threatened
with prosecution for obscenity in 1882, the publicity actually
helped
to increase sales. The Boston District Attorney, acting on behalf
of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, wrote Whitman's publisher
that
it considered Leaves of Grass "obscene literature," specifically
objecting to representations of women in the "Children of Adam" poems
and
to the poem "To a Common Prostitute." Whitman denied that there
was
a homosexual subtext to his famous Calamus poems. This text is from the
1881 (7th) edition.
Oscar Wilde Salome
This Oscar Wilde play was written
originally
in French and published in 1893. It was first presented in 1896 in
Paris.
Much happened between those times. The English version was
translated
by Lord Alfred Douglas, who was Wilde's younger lover. John Sholto
Douglas,
the Marquees of Queensberry (who promoted the Queensbury rules in
boxing)
did not like Wilde's association with his son, and decided to attempt
to
"out" Wilde. Wilde sued for libel, and the trial went badly. He
withdrew
the charges when it appeared that the defense had many young men who
would
testify that they had sex with him. Unfortunately, the defense turned
their
evidence over to the police, who then arrested WIlde for gross
indecency
under the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Wilde's name was removed from
playbills
of the popular "Importance of Being Earnest." It took two trials to
convict
him, and he spent two years in prison under very harsh conditions.
Salome
is based on the biblical story of the beheading of John the Baptist,
his
cruel fate due to Salome's unrequited lust for him. This English
edition
includes erotic illustrations by controversial artists and longtime
Wilde
friend Aubrey Beardsley.
Mary Wollstonecraft Maria
The final and unfinished novel by Mary
Wollstonecraft (whose daughter, Mary Shelley, would write the
Frankenstein
novel). Subtitled The Wrongs of Woman, it is the
fictional
sequel to Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of
Women.
It
depicts the sexual, economic, physical, and legal abuse of all classes
of late eighteenth century women. This is from the 1798 edition.
Mary Wollstonecraft Vindication
of the Rights of Women
Published in 1792 and one of the earliest
feminist works, it had a great influence on feminism in 19th century
America.
Her idea that that women enjoy natural rights and should have the same
political rights as men was one of the major topics at the 1848 Seneca
Falls convention in New York. In the book, she identifies male erotic
desire
as the cause of women's sexualized identity and social oppression.