Cover

Illustrations for Fanny Hill by Paul-Emile Becat

Illustrations for Fanny Hill by Paul-Émile Bécat

Paul-Émile Bécat (1885–1960) was the most prolific artist to grace the genre of erotic art. He is credited with over ninety different suites of illustrations and engravings that accompanied both major and minor erotic texts.

Bécat was born and grew up in Paris and studied at l’École de Beaux-Arts, first exhibiting at the Salon de Paris in 1913. Bécat was an accomplished painter. He exhibited regularly, specializing in portraiture, and was awarded first prize in the Prix de Rome in 1920.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland was first published in 1748. Due to its erotic content it became one of the most controversial and banned books ever written. Despite its controversy it has been republished numerous times since then. It is better known as Fanny Hill, or The Memoirs of Fanny Hill.

In 1942, Bécat was commissioned by an unknown publisher (the title page just says ‘Bruxelles’) to produce illustrations for a new edition of the classic. It was produced in two volumes in an edition of 550 copies, using the translation by Isidore Liseux, and contained ten of Bécat’s drypoint etchings.

Illustrations