De figuris Veneris

"De figuris Veneris", by Édouard-Henri Avril

Dildo being used by two women: lithograph from De Figuris Veneris (1906) by Édouard-Henri Avril

De figuris Veneris (On the figures of Venus) was an anthology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman writings on erotic topics, discussed objectively and classified and grouped by subject matter. It was first published by the German classicist Friedrich Karl Forberg in 1824 in Latin and Greek as a commentary to Antonii Panormitae Hermaphroditus, an erotic poem sequence in renaissance Latin Hermaphroditus by Antonio Beccadelli, though it was later also published as a separate work. It was later also translated into English (published by Charles Carrington in 1899^[1] and again by Charles Hirsch in 1907^[2]), French and German (one French edition was illustrated by Édouard-Henri Avril). It concludes with a list of 95 sexual positions.^[3]

References

1. ^ Thomas, Donald (1969). A long time burning. Taylor & Francis. p. 284. 
2. ^ Camille, Michael; Rifkin, Adrian (2001). Other objects of desire: collectors and collecting queerly. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 86–87. ISBN 063123361X. 
3. ^ Turner (2003) p.391

• Turner, James (2003). Schooling sex: libertine literature and erotic education in Italy, France, and England, 1534-1685. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199254265. 

External links

• Avril's illustrations to De figuris Veneris on Wikimedia Commons

Source

• http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Manuel_d%E2%80%99%C3%A9rotologie_classique