The School of Venus, or The Ladies Delight | Reduced Into Rules of Practice | Being the Translation of the French L'Escoles des filles. | In 2 Dialogues

by Michel Millot

In an age where the Church ruled and anything but the missionary position with your spouse was a sin, people still wanted more. That is clear from the fact that this book exists, was translated from the original French to English, and at least one parliamentarian admitted to reading it. I’ll add in my own assumption that even without this book there would be a lot of people asking for forgiveness for their bedroom activities based on the Church’s guidelines. Samuel Pepys, an Admiral and Parliamentarian purchased his own copy in England, in 1668 when he saw it in an average book store. Though, he notes he bought it in plain binding as he intended to burn it after reading as not to disgrace himself if someone found it. He skipped church the next day to peruse his purchase and on conclusion wrote this in his “It was not amiss for a sober man once to read over to inform himself in the villainy of the world… it did force my prick beyond stand all the while.

Genres: History, Erotica, Classics, French Literature, Historical Romance, Nonfiction, Ebooks

166 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1655

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a scan of a 17th century sex manual as translated from French to English. As such, some parts of pages are missing, some pages were scanned multiple times, and the language can be hard to follow for a modern reader with outdated terms and s's that look like f's.

This is two conversations between cousins. In the first conversation, one sexually experienced cousin tells her virgin cousin, in very coarse and explicit terms about sex and about finding the right sex partners. In the second conversation, the virgin cousin has found a partner, is no longer a virgin, and tells her cousin of her experiences and asks some questions of the more experienced girl.

This is pornographic and funny. Having no access to any real information, the girls only know the coarse terms for the act and their body parts that they've learned from each other and their partners and, as such, share some very dodgy contraception methods.

It's an interesting read from a history of sex perspective and made me glad for modern sex education classes and Scarleteen. Access to real information and real contraceptives is important.

[Paras2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the most GRAPHIC sex manuals I've read. Like damn, no modern smut can even compare. The articles on this work and its influence on the libertine literature of 18th century were very interesting as well.

[Abigail]

I’m not sure what to say about this. It was strangely amusing; I genuinely laughed aloud several times while reading it. I think it was the juxtaposition of the formal conversational conventions and language of the era and the absolutely unhinged nature of the dialogue, mixed in with tedious levels of specification and detail. Basically, a pre-novel narrative published in 1650 in which a young woman is rationally convinced that being all modest and chaste is for losers and thus she makes a measured decision to become a sex addict. Completely bonkers, excruciatingly crude and historically speaking, exceptionally interesting; some very scientifically unsound advice about how to avoid getting pregnant! Apparently Samuel Pepys burnt his copy after reading.

[Rand]

This book made Samuel Pepys blush.

Read it yourself for free on google to learn all about "sweating and fluxing" 17th century style.

[Eiman · Rating 1 out of 5]

i really didn't think a 17th century french libertine novel would be this explicit but i was wrong :) anyways i have SO many thoughts on this that idek how (but also cba) to articulate. i am all for women talking candidly about sex and pleasure except this book was written by a man about very young women which makes it all the more weird when u actually read the kind of sex they're talking about

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tarses, c*nts and what to do with them. Hilarious, interesting and oddly modern in its philosophizing.

[Tammuz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is of course very interesting in several respects and deserves a good rating, even if its literary value is nowhere near that of "Venus dans le Cloitre" (Venus in the Cloister) from 1683. But what has not been noticed so far in the reviews, as far as I can see, is the fact that the English translation mostly deviates more or less from the French original; either text is added or omitted, one could say in musical language that it is a (moderate) remix. An example from the dialogue:

(French)
Hélas! je pense que c'est là ta plus grande affaire, car tu ne sors presque point de la maison, et les femmes te peuvent bien venir voir à ta chambre si elles veulent, car pour les hommes, c'est comme un couvent de religieuses, et il n'y en entre non plus que s'il n'en était point au monde.

(English)
I think you do nothing else, you live here confined to your chamber, as if it were a nunnery; you never stir abroad, and seldom a man comes at thee.

[Patrizia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si tratta di un 'libro proibito' scritto prima del settecento, concepito come un dialogo pseudo-filosofico tra due donne, una sposata ed ormai esperta, l'altra ingenua e desiderosa di sapere. L'autore è, tuttavia, un uomo, come si può evincere da qualche grave errore riguardo alla sessualità femminile e, soprattutto, dal tono, tipicamente maschile, con cui viene scartato come improbabile e irrilevante il rischio di maternità indesiderate.
Nel complesso, l'ingenua prosopopea con cui viene affrontato l'argomento ne fa una lettura piacevole.

[Sylvia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ummmmmm ok?? ....... This is just a sex manual? Thanks for assigning this Professor King it was definitely an interesting read. I mean not going to lie it was probably the most engaging read we have had in class. I do not really think that's like a good thing but whatever. Women are definitely portrayed in an extremely demeaning way which I guess is expected. If I was more immature I would have laughed at all the different synonyms this author found for the words "penis" and "vagina" He is def a creative! But luckily I am not immature and read this in an intellectual, analysis way.

[Andrea Zuvich · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was thoroughly dirty and very interesting. I learned quite a bit!

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the origins of scandalous texts. It is explicit and surprising modern in its openness.

[River · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooo 17th century French sex ed? Lmao it gave me a lot of giggles and the language in this is explicit for even the 21st century and it’s fairly graphic. But it was fun to read haha!

[Rina Kait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good of you know what they’re saying

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the funniest things I have ever read!

[Fern Banner · Rating 3 out of 5]

suffices vintage tastes

[Quanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Docela sranda, přečíst si o sexu z pohledu 17. století :))

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting from a historical perspective but really terrible in every other aspect.

[Isabelle Devitt]

For research purposes...
Very enlightening to the mindset of the 17th century (and other things)

[BigBadBear · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great because I learned the F bomb had origins earlier than the 1600's and used as liberally as today.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly found this book really amusing to read, really short read it in one sitting

[Rachel Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a link online to a book of sex education in the 1860s, and when I finished reading that one, somehow a few clicks away The School of Venus popped up. I thought it would be similar to the other one, but wow, this was perhaps the most pornographic thing I've ever read. It's a translation of a 1655 French book called "The School Girls," which consists of two cousins discussing sex, men and women, beauty, birth control and pregnancy in very frank terms. It was interesting to consider in a historical context, although some of the depictions were a little bit too much for me — not to mention they discussed some questionable sexual practices (and sure, this was written almost 400 years ago, but still).

For instance, in one section, there's very rape-like scenario, when Katy is crying out from the pain, but Roger rearranges her to a different position and keeps going: "...I gave him fair mark enough, this new posture so quickned his fancy, that he no longer regarding my crying, kept thrusting on with might and main, till at least he perfected the Breach, and took intire possession of all."

You can tell this was written by a man, because Katy then says, Oh, then it wasn't painful anymore and it was fine, and it was great. That may or may not be true, but she changes her mind awfully quickly under a great deal of pressure. She says "I was so ravished with the pleasure, that I was half besides my self," all from penile penetration, which I doubt a little bit. And still later, Frances calls the act of copulation "Sweet Rape," that the woman is expected to lie there and take it. ("I would have the Wench let the Man have a full Authority over here, and let her Body be totally at his disposal, let what will happen, she will at length find a great deal of sweet in it, for he will instruct her in what is fitting, and force her to nothing incongruous to Love and it's pleasures.") Nope, nope, nope.

Aside from those little things, I'm impressed by some of the language and frankness with with sex is discussed all the way back in 1655 (this version was published in 1680) — although I suppose there were plenty of underground sex movements just as there are today. I'm just trying to imagine this book being published today, and I honestly don't know what the reaction would be among a variety of circles. Still, it's clear that it's been a man's world in the sex business for just about all of history, because everything in this book was for a man's pleasure, even if the women say they enjoy sex. Plus, it's interesting that the two cousins holding the dialogue don't hold virginity to that high a pedestal: "Virginity is a fine word in the Mouth, but a foolish one in the Arse, neither is there anything amiss in Fornication but the names, and there is nothing sweeter than to commit it."

[Brian Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most powerful and important pre-libertine and pre-Fanny erotic dialogues. Was significant in the shaping of obscenity and pornography for centuries to come. A further investigation here http://www.annalspornographie.com/?p=266

[Olivier Saint-vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant la grande source d'inspiration de Molière version soft Sade.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, if not exactly anatomically correct.

[Geoff Wooldridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quaint but essentially dull 17th century erotica.

[Lulu]

1655

trans 1680