Pursed Lips

In erotica, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is something of a bible. More popularly known as Fanny Hill, it has since its debut in the late 1740s rarely been out of print, much pirated, and (well, unlike a bible,) often prosecuted for obscenity.

Among the first pirated books in America, Memoirs first saw print around 1814 and prosecution not long after. Its original British publisher, Ralph Griffiths, was reputed to have earned 10,000 pounds from the book during his lifetime. Many book historians dismiss that figure as an exaggeration born of professional jealousy by his competitors, but it shows what a high profile book Memoirs was in its day.

Similarly, book experts often argue among themselves over what constitutes a rare book and despite the many printings Memoirs saw since its introduction, supposedly its earliest editions are considered quite rare. British book expert Roy Harley Lewis wrote in his 1978 book, Antiquarian Books: An Insider’s Account, that “when many respected collectors died certain items were removed and destroyed by well-meaning executors. A good first edition of John Cleland’s Fanny Hill (1748) is a good example.”

It’s trivia like this that prompts me to buy various editions of Cleland’s famous work. I’ve got a couple of Isadore Liseaux’s editions from the 1880s as well as newer editions that caught my fancy through the years. Not too long ago, I came across a Liseaux edition that included a dozen illustrations packed between its covers. They weren’t native to the edition and there’s no evidence that they were ever tipped into any edition. But they do look like they were sized for a 20th-century hardcover edition.

Why do I suspect 20th-century? For one thing, they look nothing like the more famous Avril or Becat illustrations. Nor do they at all resemble illustrations from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. If anything, they remind me of whimsical magazine illustrations from the 1920s and 30s, all explicitness aside. At times the young women’s hair fall into a near-bobbed look while the young men sport ridiculous Prince Valiant cuts. The surroundings seem romanticized as well.

Beyond my assessments here, I have no clue who produce these illustrations or what edition they were destined for. But it’s fascinating little tidbits like these that make me a bibliophile and keep me curious.

As usual, you can see all of the illustrations at my Flickr page. Fair warning: regardless of their charm, they’re NSFW. And take a close look at the last one in the series. That’s quite the tree they’re doing it under!