Henry Spencer Ashbee
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Henry Spencer Ashbee was a book collector, writer and bibliographer. He is notable for his massive, clandestine three-volume bibliography of erotic literature published under the pseudonym of Pisanus
Ashbee in 1889
Ashbee's book plate, designed by Paul Avril
Erotic literature
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The term erotic literature refers to fictional or factual stories and accounts of eros intended to sexually arouse readers. This may overlap yet also contrast with erotica, which focuses more specific
Henry Spencer Ashbee
…21 April 1834 – 29 July 1900) was a book collector, writer and bibliographer. He is notable for his massive, clandestine three-volume bibliography of erotic literature published under the pseudonym of Pisanus Fraxi. He left his large collections of books to the British Museum, and also 48 paintings, mostly contemporary…
Clay tablet with a Sumerian love poem from the 3rd millennium BCE
Illustration based on Kama Sutra, ancient Hindu text about erotic love
Illustration by Maurice Ray for Pierre Louÿs's Aphrodite: mœurs antiques (1896)
Erotic literature going up in smoke and its distributors being put in jail, courtesy of Anthony Comstock's New York Society for the Suppression of Vice