Reviews for An illustrated history of erotica

The average rating for An illustrated history of erotica based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-08-30 00:00:00 Jim Kirchefer This book was/is worth every penny. The best parts of the book were: 1) the blend/presentation of pieces of erotic art, alongside excerpts of the finest literary erotica in the history of publishing/the written word 2) the scope of the selected works (which span over 2000 years of both Eastern and Western cultures) I have a few other erotic anthologies (which are mostly either art, or text-focused), and this is the one that I repeatedly recall, and/or go back to. It's an excellent resource book (if you're wondering which "great erotic author to check out next"), and there have been several times where I can attribute first seeing/knowing about a particular piece of sexual art ["a Chinese nineteenth-century rosewood toilet box (with eleven concealed miniatures)", "Coloured wood-cuts by Utamaro", "charcoal drawings by the artist known as 'AL'"!!:], to this book. All of the paintings are erotic/sensual, as opposed to pornographic/degrading (with regards to both sexes in all sorts of sexual positions/situations -- I think it's best to see the paintings rather than describe them in detail here). The book is exactly what its subtitle says: "An Illustrated Anthology of Sexual Art and Literature". I may have added the adjective "Fine", before "Sexual Art and Literature", if I were the editor/copy editor of this anthology. I'd even have considered calling it "The Definitive" anthology/edition (...of Sexual Art & Literature). I mean, there are books II and III in this "immensely popular series" (description taken from the product description of Erotica III: An Illustrated Anthology of Sexual Art and Literature), which feature visuals and prose that stimulate and amuse. The authors/editors have exquisite taste, which shows in the selections they have included in this first anthology. I'll be checking out the two other books in this series, asap.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-08-26 00:00:00 Dylan Howard This collection felt really scattered to me, but it's a nice attempt at collecting erotica as an art form and not just for titillation.