Sex Collectors: The Secret World of Consumers, Connoisseurs, Curators, Creators, Dealers, Bibliographers, and Accumulators of "Erotica"

by Geoff Nicholson

A behind-the-scenes tour of the underground world of erotica collectors introduces readers to the keepsakes of such aficionados as Karl-Ludwig Leonard, Linda Lovelace, and Kinsey, in a volume that describes the author's discoveries of famous works and offers insight into the practice of collecting erotica. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Geoff Nicholson was a British novelist and nonfiction writer. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex.

The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.

Reviews

[Nik Maack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp through the world of sex and sex collectors. Whether it's a mad collector of porn magazines, a literary snob gathering old books, or those obsessed with pictures and erotic art-- this book covers it all. A few chapters lost me, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

It's the sort of book where you'll want to stop and do internet searches on artists and authors. And you will not be disappointed by what you find. Who knew that artists of erotic bookplates could be so... Spicy?

I've been enjoying Geoff Nicholson's fiction. Trying some of his non-fiction was an interesting look at who he is.

[Gabbie Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like so many other readers I disliked how much this book discussed the art of collecting itself. I do not care. I just wanted to learn about super weird niche sex collections. I wish there were more photos too to compensate for the nitty gritty details of what supposedly makes or breaks someone as a collector. Glad to be over with this book and also thankful I still managed to find some new things to research.

[Roger Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really thought this was an amazing and insightful book. Super thought provoking, and not lurid in the least. Great read.

[Christie Bane · Rating 2 out of 5]

How can a book called "Sex Collectors" be boring? I can tell you how.

First, by devoting what seemed like half the book or more to discussion of the phenomenon of collecting in itself. I am not interested in what motivates collectors to collect, or in the question of whether all humans are collectors to some extent, or ANY of that. I only wanted to read about other people's accumulations of smut!

(Okay, he did talk about other people's collections of smut, but not in the voyeuristic way I was expecting. And I am going to blame that on his being British. Sometimes I just think I am too American to "get" what British people are really saying. It's almost like even though we speak the same language, we don't.)

Second, by being a really annoying author. I just plain didn't like his tone. Boring at times, superior at others, and never inclined to reveal anything personal about himself. I expected more personal revelations, you know, like, why was he REALLY interested in collections of erotica? (Not the bland reason he gave in the book, which I can't even remember, it was so boring.)

Okay, I don't even have anything more to say about this book at all except that I am stunned that ANY book took me a week to read, let alone one about SEX! How does that even happen?

I can't even imagine who would enjoy this book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wandering journey through the world of "sex collectors," with that phrase interpreted as broadly as possible so that author Geoff Nicholson can harvest enough material for his book. Some collectors that he meets specialize fairly narrowly (in erotic bookplates, for example), while other, less interesting collectors hoard more indiscriminately. Ultimately, however, this book is as much about Nicholson as the collectors themselves. A substanital portion of the text consists of Nicholson telling about his reactions to various erotic artifacts, about his theories why people collect sex objects, about his personal history (or lack thereof) as a sex collector, about the mechanics of his quest to find sex collectors, and on and on. In large part, therefore, what you think of this book will be what you think about Nicholson. I found him mostly witty and charming. Sample line: Describing his day delving through the Kinsey collection of amateur sex photography, Nicholson writes, "It was by a very long way the most fun I've ever had in a university archive." And I believe him.

[Jeff Russo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read 95% of this book on a cross-country flight with a guy reading Michael Medved next to me, so perhaps that colors my opinion, but the book was not as naughty as I was expecting, even while discussing graphic stuff.

Nicholson spends a good bit of time musing over what exactly constitutes a "collection" and who is a "collector" without resolving anything.

It seemed most of the individuals profiled just kind of stumbled into collecting whatever it is they collected, sometimes with no explicitly sexual agenda in mind.

There's also some warmed-over Freud about how any collecting at all is ultimately sexual. Psychoanalysis was one of the great frauds of the 20th century so I'm not sure why so many people still give a shit about what Freud had to say.

Still, it's not a ponderous read and has many interesting bits and pieces.

[Pamster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally fascinating to me in exploring a lot of questions about the nature of collecting. I enjoyed knowing how people displayed their collections, what they considered worth collecting, how they got started, etc. There was a bunch of stuff about Freud saying people collect things because children hoard poop? Yeah, I'd rather not have that in my brain. Infuriating on a number of levels. But other than that, I really liked reading this. The author talked to lots of cool bibliophiles, magazine collectors, art collectors, and some celebs like Richard Kern & Cynthia Plaster Caster. Yay to pervs who are out & proud!

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually picked this up as an Advance Reader Copy at Borders a while back, and I finally got around to reading it. Not sure what to say, except that it is a much more interesting and cerebral book than one might think. I guess I was afraid the book would revel in being "dirty," but it really is well written. There was even a section relevant to me professionally - on the erotic imagery in Pompeiian art ands the surprising degree to which what we would consider pornographic imagery appears to have been part of everyday iconography (i.e., non-pornographic) to the ancient Romans of Pompeii.

[Aixe · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you took one part John McPhee and another part Steve Martin and mixed these parts together with a great dose of humor, self-deprecation, neuroses and interesting subject matter, you might just wind up with this engaging book by Geoff Nicholson. Sex Collectors is a quick read, a fun piece of non-fiction consisting of Nicholson's interviews and accounts of meetings with individuals in Europe and the US who loosely qualify as sex collectors.

[JT Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was nearly a philosophical tract about collecting and Geoff Nicholson's personal search to understand it. For a book that purports to be about other people, Nicholson's voice is all over it, packed into every remote nook and cranny. The collectors themselves are almost after thoughts. Not what I was expecting though it was interesting to read.

[Elton Gsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun to read. The author is like a safari guide taking the reader down exotic and sometimes erotic, sometimes hilarious and sometimes unsettling paths.