Curious Pleasures: A Gentleman's Collection of Beastliness

by Erasmus St. Jude Croom

It has been rumored that the finest libraries in Victorian England kept this tome under lock and key, permitting access only to doctors and professors. Scotland Yard had a copy in its reference library, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself may have been allowed access to this work. There are some who claim that this encyclopaedic treasure of erotic pleasures—still shocking today—would cause any woman who gazed upon it to faint. This ironic, tongue-in-cheek look at the naughty sexual practices of Victorian England is at once hilarious and titillating, and as explicit as ever, and includes illustrations in the style of the time. With a design that leaves some wondering whether it isn’t indeed straight out of the 1890s, Curious Pleasures is as deliciously decadent as it once might have been.

Genres: Sexuality

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2007

Reviews

[Tassa DeSalada · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Curious Pleasures" had me in stitches! It's a long-overlooked collection of Victorian humor that has to be as funny today as it was yesteryear. The book is well-written and there is much easier to access these days rather than in the days when it was first published. It sort of reminds me of "The Art of War", a delicious book that survived all sorts of atrocities simply because of its greatness.

This book is for people who are not easily offended, and instead appreciate a solid dose of crude humor. It will challenge you to the far reaches of your imagination. Medical sounding names have been given to all kinds of "curious pleasures". The names and the descriptions are sure to make you scratch your head and say "huh?!?". But that's entertainment.

[T. K. Elliott (Tiffany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

With well over a hundred separate monographs and over fifty pen-and-ink illustrations this book tells you tells you all (or possibly more) than you want to know about katoptronolagnia, nipiomimetophilia and many other beastly practises you never knew existed.

Obviously well researched (by the indefatigable and self-sacrificing Rev. E. St J. Croom), and containing illustrative anecdotes along with scientific explanation, one can use this volume as a textbook, an instruction manual, or a kind of historical treasure-hunt and game of Hangman, as the names of all persons mentioned (even that of the well-known playwright W------ S----------) have been anonymised by the substitution of dashes for all letters but the initials.

[Buzz Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book for a couple different reasons.

One- Since becoming a steampunk geek I can no longer see the world of Dickens and Austin the same way, driving me closer to the grasps of Verne, Wells, and Burroughs! Drop in a giant steampowered robot into it and I am there!

Two- Having read the Other Victorians I was ready to crush my skull with a sledgehammer. Awesome book but made me feel creepy.

SO! Reading this was a none-stop laughfest! It is so irreverent and pokes so much fun at itself and the things we would rather not talk about that it is fantastic.

Not for puritans or prudes so be warned! But if you are comfortable with those things that are the reason we are here in the first place enjoy!

[Mark Farley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the style of an old Victorian facsimile, not unlike the Pimp General Jack Harris' List of Covent Garden Ladies. This list, encyclopaedia if you will, of all manner of deviances. Written in that light, literary and often humorous style of the Victorians, it's presented in a gloriously bound, retro way, complete with curious illustrations of ridiculously curved, supple felines (and other chaps, of course) in all manner of states. It's a lot of fun and very well written. Where else can you turn to these days to find essential how to information about Kapnophilia, Equitolagnia the best way to eat a piping hot omelette of a naked girl's bottom. Great stuff and the perfect gift for any jolly gent in your life.

[Alice Bizarre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delve into the deviant world of real Victorian England. Makes an absolutely fascinating read. X

[Rebee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun silliness in the Victorian style of an encyclopedia of sexual deviance.