Month: October 2020

Wanton Words, Ribald Rhymes, & Naughty Lyrics

AWAY with silks, away with lawn,
I’ll have no scenes or curtains drawn;
Give me my mistress as she is,
Dress’d in her nak’d simplicities:
For as my heart e’en so mine eye
Is won with flesh, not drapery.
—Robert Herrick

A lusty anthology featuring titillating odes by an array of libertine poets of the XVII and XVIII centuries (Robert  Herrick, John Donne, William Congreve, Thomas Campion, et al.)  The works include gentle celebrations of the female sex; witty & whimsical whispers designed to seduce; and urgent pleas of—in the words of André Breton—L’amour fou. In this surreal realm of ribald eros, Virginity is a lost cause and Sexual Pleasure reigns supreme.

Our edition is profusely illustrated —from maidenhead to toe!—with works by more than a dozen artists, including Édouard-Henri Avril, Vivant Denon, Amandine Doré, and Thomas Rowlandson. As volume 8 in the popular Pocket Erotica series, POEMS OF LUST & DESIRE makes a delicious stocking-stuffer for all the libertines on your holiday list.

illustration by André Collot

POEMS OF LUST & DESIRE
by Libertine Poets of the XVII and XVIII Centuries
Pocket Erotica  [№ 8 ]
Illustrated; 110 pp., $12
ISBN 978-1-7356159-8-1

LOOK OUT MAMA, IT’S DEBAUCH-O-RAMA!

“A harsh, hilarious, scurrilous, and scatological satire.”
—Ed Simon, JSTOR Daily

Poet John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, was considered one of the greatest English satirists — a nimble wit and scribbler of sublime wordplay, parodies & pornographic puns.

Hailed by Graham Greene and Ezra Pound, Wilmot is perhaps best known for his outrageous libertine satires, including this wickedly funny Restoration drama.

Originally titled The Farce of Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery, DEBAUCH-O-RAMA is an absurdist “closet drama” – written to be read aloud and not performed.  It consists of five acts in raunchy rhyming couplets and a madcap cast of characters:

CAST

  • Bolloxinion – King of Sodom
  • Cuntigratia – his Queen
  • Pricket – young Prince
  • Swivia – Princess
  • Buggeranthos – General of the Army
  • Pockenello – Prince and favourite of the King
  • Borastus – Buggermaster-General
  • Pene & Tooly – Pimps of Honour
  • Officina – Maid of Honour
  • Fuckadilla – Maid of Honour
  • Cunticulla – Maid of Honour
  • Clytoris – Maid of Honour
  • Flux – Physician to the King
  • Vertuso – Dildo- and Merkin-Maker for the Court

Let the curtain rise and the laughter begin!

DEBAUCH-O-RAMA
A Restoration Closet Drama
by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Pocket Erotica  [№ 11 ]
65 pp.; paper, perfect bound; 4 x 6 inches; $10
ISBN 978-1-7357646-2-7

PAUL VERLAINE — 2 BOOKS-IN-ONE

Two complete works in one volume by the French “Prince of Poets,” Paul Verlaine. This is the first contemporary English translation, and includes illustrations by Paul-Émile Bécat.

“The two books of poetry translated and presented here are complete, just as Verlaine wrote them – sustained efforts holding to a theme, the same theme: the love between a man and a woman. But it’s not just any love, it’s physical love, as well as emotional love. They are songs lauding sex between a man and a woman. They are refreshingly honest and very modern. Chansons pour elle (Songs for Her) was published in 1891. Odes en son honneur (Odes in Her Honor), in 1893. ” — from the introduction by Richard Robinson.

Songs for Her and Odes in Her Honor
Paul Verlaine
With illustrations by Paul-Émile Bécat
Translated from the French by Richard Robinson
Pocket Erotica [№ 9 ]
paper; 88 pp., $10
ISBN: 978-1-7356159-9-8

SOLD OUT

HIGHER EDUCATION

It’s back to school with #7 in our Pocket Erotica series…another extended excerpt (over 170 pages!) from Nicolas Chorier‘s libertine novel, L’Academie des dames, translated from the French by Amandine Lévêque. This sublime edition includes the continuing dialogue between Tullie and her innocent cousin, Octavie, whom she has been charged with initiating into the world of sexual pleasure. It seems Octavie has more to learn about the Facts of Life, and Tullie is a most inspiring teacher. “Think about this, my dear Octavie: that if you want to live happily & content in the state of marriage, as you currently do, you must believe that there is nothing that is not permitted, & that all things are forbidden.”

 

 

Further Studies: The School of Women
Nicolas Chorier
Translated from the French by Amandine Lévêque
Pocket Erotica  [№ 7 ];  $12
ISBN: 978-1-7356159-7-4
SOLD OUT

 

Journey to Parts Unknown

“…her valleys are like Eden, her hills like Lebanon, her springs as Pisgah, and her rivers as Jordan; that she is a paradise of pleasure and garden of delight.”

This satirical travelogue was first published in England 1740. With Swiftian wit, it describes the female sexual anatomy as a metaphor of geography and natural history. This lovely guidebook is a must-have for the armchair adventurer, as well as timid explorers who dream of female parts unknown. Students of natural history and budding geographers will discover many hidden delights within these pages.

***This edition also includes a never-before-published map of the country***

“The Arabian Geographical Lexicographer cited by Schultens in his book observes that the exact limits of the  vast country of Merryland are en­tirely unknown, the greatest traveller never having been able to discover its utmost bounds; and whoever attempts such a discov­ery, may properly be said to grope in the dark.”

Collectors of RARE curiosa and exotic erotica rejoice! — your destination has arrived!

“…a masterpiece of wit and humour!”

TRAVELS TO MERRYLAND
Containing a Topographical, Geographical & Natural History of that Country
by Roger Pheuquewell, Esq.
Pocket Erotica  [№ 10 ]
76 pp., paper; illustrated; $10
ISBN: 978-1-7357646-4-1

BRING ME THE HEAD OF FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN!

Jason E. Rolfe‘s mesmerizing new chapbook, THE PUPPET-PLAY OF DOCTOR GALL, is a shadowy existential drama — an absurdist murder-mystery set in Vienna in 1820, with a cast of curious characters: Franz Joseph Gall, The Stranger, Ernst Sieber, Tomas Hocheder, Madam Denebecq, and Count Sedlnitzky.

Are they mere puppets whose every move is directed from above by Madam Denebecq, a self-titled mechanikus? Or are they all too human, performing their lives before our very eyes? And who, in the name of heaven, has stolen the head of Franz Joseph Haydn?

We had intended to reveal the answers to these questions but, alas, it’s too late. The lights have dimmed and the audience is holding its collective breath (if breathe they do).

Order your copy before the curtain rises.

No strings attached.