Aristotle's Masterpiece: The 250-Year Banned Sex Manual Rediscovered
A remarkable Georgian-era sex manual, banned for nearly 250 years due to its explicit guidance and controversial illustrations, has been rediscovered after decades of obscurity. The volume, titled Aristotle's Masterpiece Completed In Two Parts, The First Containing the Secrets of Generation, was first published in London in 1684, with a notable edition appearing in 1720. It remained effectively prohibited until the 1960s, making its recent uncovering a significant historical find.
Shocking Content and Illustrations
The book's ban was primarily due to its racy advice and woodcut illustrations that depicted bestiality. The authors expressed deep concern about "women's unnatural lying with beasts", including explicit images of offspring supposedly resulting from such encounters. For instance, one illustration shows a woman "generating with a dog", while others feature beast-like creatures, such as a man with a bushy dog's tail or a monster born in Ravenna, Italy, in 1512. These depictions were blamed on "filthy and corrupt affection", reflecting the moral anxieties of the time.
Jim Spencer, a books and manuscripts valuer at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire, highlighted the context: "This book was written when people were still being burnt for witchcraft in Georgian England." He noted that the first edition from 1684 was as good as banned until the 1960s, with several reasons contributing to its suppression, including the explicit nature of its content.
Bizarre Advice and Beliefs
The manual offers a range of unusual guidance, rooted in the superstitions and beliefs of the era. It proposes that thoughts during intercourse shape a child's appearance, warning that if a woman's attention drifts, her child might be born with "great blubber-lips". Instead, women are urged to "look earnestly" at their husbands to ensure offspring resemble them. The book even claims that parents' imaginations can produce features like a "hairy lip" or "wry mouth" in children.
Additional advice covers nutrition and astrology to predict a child's gender. For example, to have a boy, a woman should lie on her right after sex; for a girl, on her left. Astrologically, the fittest time for procreating male children is when the sun is in Leo and the moon in Virgo, Scorpio, or Sagittarius, while female children are best conceived when the moon is in the wane, in Libra or Aquarius.
Historical Context and Social Norms
The volume reflects the gender dynamics of its time, describing man as "the wonder of the world, to whom all things are subordinate", while women are portrayed as prone to sexual indulgence. It details symptoms of puberty in maids, noting that at age 14 or 15, "their natural purgations begin to flow", leading to increased desires. The book emphasizes matrimony as essential, stating: "Without doubt, the uniting of hearts in holy wedlock is of all conditions the happiest."
Men are advised on dietary choices to enhance sexual function, with a list including eggs, sparrows, blackbirds, ginger, and turnips. The manual also touches on pregnant women's "greedy longings" for unusual items like coals, chalk, or horse flesh, highlighting the era's misconceptions about pregnancy.
Rediscovery and Auction
The book was set to go up for auction in 2018 after being uncovered, drawing attention from historians and collectors alike. Its rediscovery offers a glimpse into a period when such topics were taboo, and publications faced strict censorship. As Spencer remarked, "A century after women first won the right to vote in the UK, this book takes us back to very different times." The volume serves as a historical artifact, shedding light on the evolving attitudes toward sexuality, gender, and censorship over the centuries.
