^ The Pearl

A Classic
Other than the 18th Century Fanny Hill, The Pearl is the earliest genuine Victorian erotic classic. In tone, style and subject matter, it is undoubedtly the Real McCoy of the genre.

As they say, there is something for everyone, and much that may not be of interest. The writing is varied...reflecting the different contributors, but uniformly well done. Often funny, frequently raunchy, mostly playful, The Pearl should be able to offer something you like if you have an interest in Victorian erotica.

The text follows the magazine format from which it was taken, so that the stories are arranged in installments that pick up and resume after other segments. This can be distracting if you particularly want to follow one thread, but not difficult once you get used to it. The "plots" are not significant, in any event. Great scenes of initiation into sex, voyeurism, and other delights. Interestingly, women seem to like this book (at least parts of it) which is not a given with its...

The Pearl

Among the first "Journals of Voluptuous Reading" to be spawned by the Victorians, this novel shows them as vastly different from their public image--beneath the facade of respectability and sexual repression there existed the strongest urge for sexual experimentation and enj

The Pearl is one of best selling in Classics category.

^ The Complete Marquis de Sade, Vol. 1

A most faithless translation!
It seems to me that John Yankowski must hate reading the real Sade, and wants to make sure everyone thinks it's the most boring work imaginable.

I've read the Grove Press translations of Sade's works, and his "Complete Marquis de Sade by John Yankowski" bears no similarities whatsoever to a quality translation. Under the guise of making the books easier to read, Mr. Yankowski simply removed all detail, depth of argument and, amazingly, most of the actual occurrences from the works. They are most heavily edited, and to awful effect. Whole chapters and events are skipped without a blink, and the rest are badly paraphrased. And he most certainly and thoroughly erases all sense of any "lubricity".

So, if you like your evil fiction to have a breath of life to it, stay away from this version. I'm asking Amazon for my money back on this book and lodging a complaint about its name. The last thing it is is complete!

Now, if only we could get Grove Press to...

The Complete Marquis de Sade, Vol. 1

Adorned with gripping cover art by Man Ray and translated by renowned scholar Dr. Paul J. Gillette, this dramatic collection of de Sade writings includes "Justine," "Juliette," "120 Days of Sodom," "Philosophy In The Bedroom" and many works often scattered among "pastiche" v

The Complete Marquis de Sade, Vol. 1 is one of best selling in Classics category.