Le dominateur (The Dominatrix) by Aimé van Rod – the ‘loving the rod’ a not-very-subtle indication of the contents – is typical of Librairie Artistique et Édition Parisienne Réunies publications of the time. Its entry in the publisher’s catalogue describes it as ‘A school where the harshest of disciplines reigns, and where the slightest mistake attracts every imaginable combination of whip and torture’.

Like many Librairie Artistique titles, this was actually a reissue of an earlier book, in this case a Roberts & Dardaillon publication of 1909 originally titled Le fouet dominateur, ou l’école des vierges (The Whip Dominatrix, or the School of Virgins), with illustrations by Lewis Bald.

As well as having a rather attractive cover by Carlo, the copy of Le dominateur shown here has had the monochrome illustrations quite tastefully crayoned in by its purchaser to add colour to Carlo’s illustrations.

We are grateful to Steve Mullins of the Olympia Press website (www.parisolympiapress.com) for these illustrations.