I became interested in transcribing and researching The School of Venus after the scholarly journal, The Appendix, posted about finding the text, which they termed a 1680 sexual manual, digitized on Google Books.The popular culture news sources Slate,Jezebel,and Buzzfeed then contributed follow up posts on the re-discovery of this erotic text.
The text, titled in full, The School of Venus or The Ladies Delight Reduced into Rules and Practice is a pornographic, explanatory text that presents a dialogue between two women. The more sexually experienced of the two explains the basic mechanics of sexual intercourse and instructs the other in the best ways to achieve, and receive, sexual satisfaction.
While the internet was buzzing for a few weeks over this titillating re-discovery, I began further study and research on The School of Venus with the hope that what I might uncover could contribute to the scholarly community.
On this webpage you will find links to a critical introduction on The School of Venus, a transcribed excerpt of the original text, and a TEI mark up of the text (in addition to textual annotations, notes on the text, and a list of works consulted.)
This digital edition has been created as a project for Illinois State University’s Publishing Sequence Course ENG 355: Forensic Bibliography and Archival Editing
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at jtlorig@gmail.com
The School of Venus 