| LIST 47 | 12 Olde-Timey Porn Books |
Lest we forget that erotic books didn't start with the stroke novels of the 1960s, or in the 1930s with Henry Miller, or even with the underground novels of the Victorians, here are some explicit pre-1800 tomes, many of which are still in print in some form or another.
1
Sonnets Lussuriosi by Pietro Aretino (1524)
After checking out sexual drawings by Giuliano Romano, who studied under Raphael and was named as his artistic heir, Pietro Aretino—an Italian satirist whose wit was the scourge of princes and popes—was inspired to put pen to paper. He wrote nasty sonnets based on the sexual maneuvers, one of which included the lines:
Forced to lean on my arms and legs, O curse you for this clumsy position. A mule would conk over after an hour of it.
This collection of sonnets is sometimes named as the first erotic book in the Western world, though this isn't true. (Pope Pius II's Historia de duobus amantibus appeared around 1488, and even that may not be the oldest.) Nevertheless, published way back in 1524, it's undoubtedly one of the earliest.
2
Ching P'Ing Mei by Wang Shih-chêng (circa 1560)
A Chinese classic, this novel has appeared in a large number of faithful and bastardized English translations, including House of Joy, The Golden Lotus, and The Plum in the Golden Vase.
3
Jou Pu Tuan [The Prayer Mat of Flesh] by Li Yu (1634)
4
Satyra Sotadica by Nicholas Chorier (circa 1660)
First appeared in Latin around 1660, with a French edition (L'Academie des Dames) 20 years later. An English translation—originally titled The Duel—showed up in 1688. The Encyclopedia of Censorship calls it “the earliest surviving piece of prose pornography in England.” In it, Tullia initiates her 15-year-old cousin Ottavia into all manner of sexual deviancy.
5
Dialogues of Luisa Sigea by Nicolas Chorier (circa 1660)
6
La Galante hermaphrodite by Francois Chavigny de la Bretonniere (1683)
Adding to the book's frisson, the author was a defrocked monk.
7
Sodom, or The Quintessence of Debauchery by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1684)
A proto-Sadean play featuring characters named Cuntigratia, Fuckadilla, and Buggeranthos.
8
A Lady of Quality by Crebillon le Fils (Claude-Prosper Jolyot) (1700s)
9
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland (1748)
Fanny Hill—as it is better known—”has the dubious distinction of being the most prosecuted literary work in history,” says The Encyclopedia of Censorship. It was the subject of trials as late as the 1960s, well over two centuries after it appeared. The US Supreme Court overturned a ban in 1966, but it remains technically outlawed in the UK, although it's widely available.
10
Felicia by Andre-Robert Andrea de Nerciat (1775)
11
Justine by the Marquis de Sade (1791)
12
Juliette by the Marquis de Sade (1798)
